A VEGETARIAN Indian restaurant has opened in Bournemouth which promises 95 per cent of its food will be vegan.

Open for takeaway, Kamal Somaiya and his wife, Bhavna, have been inspired to open their first restaurant, Chaat Junction, after they struggled to find enough vegetarian restaurants in Bournemouth. 

From a nation which has one of the highest populations of vegetarians in the world, Kamal shared that he wanted to bring to Bournemouth authentic vegetarian Indian street food.

Kamal said: "I've been in Bournemouth for almost 40 years and it is very difficult to go out and dine with your wife or anybody. The options for traditional vegetarian food aren't there. 

"I know there are a number of Indian families who are out there looking for this and they are not finding it so we have decided to offer one."

The former owner of the Russell Court Hotel, Kamal decided to leave the hotel after deciding it was time for a new venture.

Opening the new restaurant in the former Earthling food store, the choice to open takeaway first was to allow themselves to make sure they have everything ready to open for table service.

Kamal said: "We want to crawl first and then we'll walk before we run. We just want to know that we get the standard and quality of the food is right.

"In a week we will start offering sit down and then we'll offer traditional catering."

Kamal also wants to help build a community for the elderly Indian community in Bournemouth. 

He said: "We don't have any elderly centre for our Indian people so once a month, I'm going to do a social get-together. I want the restaurant to pay itself for all these things.

"There's a number of elderly who are housebound and hardly see other people. We want to invite them to sit down, and have a morning coffee so they can meet together."

Kamal thanked his wife for her efforts who he described as the 'backbone' of the restaurant.