Essex Everest Tandoori reopens as sit-down restaurant

Family run Indian Everest Tandoori was established in 1989 on Canvey and operated purely as a takeaway building a loyal base of regular customers. 

Now owner Samiuel Hoque, 33, has completed the takeover of an empty restaurant on Canvey High Street to create the “sit down experience” customers have been pleading for.  

New bar - Samiuel in the new bar (Image: Samiuel Hoque) Owner - Samiuel Hoque (Image: Samiuel Hoque)

Samiuel, who took the reins in 2022, has completed the takeover of former Saqui on Canvey High Street and is now fully open. 

He said: “It has been amazing.

“I am still dreaming really, I really did it, I opened my restaurant. I am not sure it is real still.

“The staff here I went to school with, everyone knows me and all of us are family, friends or close, we are keeping it friend and family-run.

“This is properly bespoke, even the way we advertise, all my business is world of mouth.
 

Now open - Everest Tandoori Restaurant (Image: Samiuel Hoque)

“There is a bar in there and whatnot, one of my old schoolmates spent a life in catering and worked in a kebab shop over ten years, then literally just after opening I had no staff and my purpose was to employ local people.

“All of a sudden, she brought a cousin along who dropped everything to join us and now we have a cocktail menu and drinks, we have tried to keep it cheaper, at £7.99 for a cocktail and we have tried to keep the price low.

“Even my restaurant menu is the same price as the takeaway.”

Samiuel added he has dreamed of opening his own restaurant since he was 16-years-old and is now looking ahead to many more years of success.  

The original Everest was based at 76 High Street and was purchased by the Entertainers toy shop on Canvey after it was sold in 2022.

Samiuel added: “Opening night was bumpy but our second was really heartfelt, as the staff posed for a picture with firefighters who visited the restaurant.”