Did The Lothian Restaurant, a simple diner on Edinburgh’s Potterrow serving spiced Punjabi stews called curries, make it onto 1947’s list of ‘Best Openings Of The Year’? History didn’t record, but it’s unlikely those rationed, rebuilding post-war years were vintage ones for the hospitality trade.

Khushi Mohammed arrived in Scotland in the 1930s from what’s now Pakistan, scraping a living as a door-to-door salesman. He opened his restaurant near the university, catering to immigrants from the newly partitioned subcontinent and securing supplies of coriander, chillis, ginger and turmeric in the suitcases of travelling students. Family stories recall live chickens clucking in the basement of the restaurant to ensure a fresh supply. Attempts were made to capture locals’ curiosity with a mince‘n’tattie curry. 

In the 1970s, what had then became Khushi’s Lothian Restaurant shuffled location to Lothian Street, then to Drummond Street. Mrs Khushi, Hamida Mohammed, took over following the death of her husband. The couple’s seven children were also involved, most prominently after the early 2000s when the simplicity of Formica tables and uncomplicated menus were left behind in a return to Potterrow that was markedly more upmarket and modern; then on to Victoria Street, an ambitious and sleek venture curtailed by a devastating fire in 2008. 

Resilient, adaptable, determined, the family reopened Khushi’s in 2011 in Antigua Street, followed by outlets in Dunfermline and an early attempt to bring fine-dining Indian to Edinburgh with Mithas in Leith: ‘Not quite the right time,’ reflects Riaz Mohammed, Khushi and Hamida’s son. He’s guiding the latest re-emergence of Khushi’s, back in its old stomping ground near the university, opposite the top of Middle Meadow Walk on Forrest Road (formerly Paolozzi Restaurant & Bar). 

This is no return to the no-frills era, however. Others now occupy that gap, Mohammed acknowledges, as he surveys an ‘ever-evolving industry, now with a number of big players in the curry scene’. Describing the latest version of Khushi’s as ‘upper casual’, with its elevated décor, colourful furnishings and extensive small-plates menu, he’s aware of a need to move with the times. Yet there’s also a reluctance to compromise on an approach which retains a loyal following in Edinburgh. Khushi’s previously ran a BYOB policy, founded in the owners’ religious commitments; but bringing in a pint from a pub next door was cheerfully accepted. This time, a bar has been installed in the new premises but its operation is outsourced.

Neither takeaway nor delivery is available, with Mohammed maintaining he wants people ‘to come to enjoy fresh food, cooked to order, which you can’t replicate with delivery’. Anchored in what’s clearly a proud history, their 1947 Club provides a very modern supporters scheme, offering perks to members. 

This curation of nostalgia is a peculiar challenge. Affection towards the home-cooking ethos of Khushi’s menu contrasts with a shuddering cringe towards the legacy of Indian dining that emerged in the 1960s and 70s: flock wallpaper, poppadums, lager, vindaloo. Nowadays, across the contemporary curry scene, you can find numerous expressions of street food, railway food-stop vibes, Irani-Bombay café fusions, Bollywood hype, regional specialisation and fine-dining aspirations. Yet, for all its dynamism, it’s also an arena of pastiche, commodified authenticity and generic globalisation.

Khushi’s is not immune from these influences, with dishes on their menu as diverse as Motherhood Mutton Bhuna, made with ‘generations of family love’, Masala Mussels and Stay Fit Salad. What they can claim as distinctively their own, however, is a 78-year-old story, rooted in Edinburgh, riding the times and tides of curry culture. 

Khushi’s, 61 Forrest Road, Edinburgh.