Chef-patron Shameem Ahmed isn't just standing the heat of the kitchen. He's also running two different and very successful restaurants as he tells Tandoori.

When you have high caliber names like the Oberoi and Taj group hotels on your CV, you pretty much know all there is to know about the machinations of commercial kitchen. What chef-patron Shameem Ahmed has done, like any successful chef, is to move beyond the kitchen and take on the secondary role of an entrepreneur.

From starting his UK career at OriginAsia, in 2002, Ahmed moved on to Pappadums, in Brentford. But as luck would have it, the intervening years were not kind to OriginAsia and its then-owners gave over the running of the restaurant to Ahmed so that he could try and bring it back to its former glory. At the same time, the chef, who had clearly become more than a chef, also took over the operations of another Indian establishment doing so-so business, The Cinnamon Lounge, in Hounslow.

"Standards had really gone down since I was at OriginAsia originally," says Ahmed. "Certain maintenance issues like the flooring and the toilets had to be dealt with, service had to be brought back up to scratch along with ensuring that there were the right kind of staff in the kitchen, which meant dealing with the Home Office and so on. All these things add up to how you want your restaurant to be as good as it can be."

As for the cooking, Ahmed was adamant that the recipes and dishes that he first implemented at OriginAsia would again form the mainstay of the menu this time around. Once that was done, Ahmed set about tackling The Cinnamon Lounge, pitched as an Indian tapas bar.

"I wanted the Lounge to become a restaurant and not remain a tapas concept," he states. "So I changed 70% of the menu by introducing traditional Indian dishes whilst retaining the 30% of the menu that worked. The food not only had to be traditional, but very much curry based - with perhaps the starters having a more fusion tinge - because the customers were mainly Asian, compared to OriginAsia, where 80% of the customers are non-Asian and like seafood dishes such as lobster and fine wines.

"With the Lounge I have also ensured that in order to reflect the name of the place, the bar area has a menu which offers small snacks and starter items made up from the à la carte menu. The pricing strategy at the two restaurants is a little different in that OriginAsia is a little more expensive and the Lounge more mid-range. What binds the two restaurants together though is that I never compromise on quality so the food at one is as good as the other."

Sample Dishes - OriginAsia

Starters
-Moti Kebab - potatoes patties coated with tapioca seeds served with sweet and sour chutney
-Prawns with Avocado Chutney - a warm medley of prawns with bell peppers crushed peppercorns and curry leaves flavoured with onions and tomatoes.

Mains
-Murgh Shekhapura - chicken tikka delicately cooked In tomato gravy, onions, capsicum, mint and flavoured with royal cumin
-Samudri Khazana - scallops, prawns and cod simmered In coconut gravy redolent of garlic and curry leaves

The Cinnamon Lounge

Starters
-Babycorn Mushroom Peppersalt - (babycorn mushroom stir fried in black pepper base sauce)
-Chicken Mongolian - (fenugreek and peanut flavoured house speciality)

Mains
-Tandoori Prawn Hara Masala - (charcoal skewered king prawn cooked with spinach)
-Murgh Kalimirch - (chicken cooked in a black pepper flavoured gravy)