An Indian chef and former cook at the Manor House in Co Fermanagh is whipping up unique street food dishes in a petrol station forecourt in Kesh.
Ankur Khurana moved to Irvinestown after meeting his wife Catherine, who is originally from Manchester, and completed his chef qualifications at South West College before working at the hotel for six years.
Ankur had previously worked at Indian restaurants in London as well, but himself and Catherine decided the time was right to start up their own business earlier this year as the impact of the pandemic hit home.
So they decided to set up Fuel, a new takeaway food business based at the Palm Bush filling station which offers interesting street food dishes from other parts of the world such as bao buns, curries and more.
Ankur told MyFermanagh: “When I moved to Fermanagh the local cuisine was obviously very different to what I was used to before.
“I have a background in business as well and always wanted to run my own business.
“I was always looking for something like this, and lockdown opened my eyes to see what was missing in the market.
“We saw people were after a bit more with their food, freshly cooked food and not just everything deep fried.
“We do have things like fish and chips obviously, but we are really trying to cater for people who want to try different things, unique things and people who are vegetarians or vegans as well.
“We try to bring something new in every week, like a weekly special of different street food from around the world.”
Catherine added that it was an exciting venture for both of them and that they have been thrilled at the response Fuel has got so far.
She said: “When lockdown hit and Ankur was furloughed at home, he saw what he was missing out on at home in terms of work life balance.
“People think it’s just a takeaway on a forecourt, it can’t really be up to much but we’re finally getting recognised for being a little bit different.”
