Copper & Spices in an Indian and South East Asian restaurant owned by husband and wife team, Nitin and Carmel Gautam. This hidden gem is located in Navan. Copper and Spices produce some of the best authentic Asian dishes in Ireland. Described by a recent visiting food writer as ‘an exceptionally good neighbourhood Indian restaurant. Clearly, all the food here is cooked from scratch and there is nuance to the spicing in the dishes’.
We interviewed Nitin Gautam and here’s what you need to to know about Copper & Spices:
Can you get authentic Asian spices in Ireland or what would be good alternatives?
Indian cuisine becoming popular day by day has made it little easy to get Asian Spices. To keep authenticity we buy whole spices & grind them in our own kitchen to keep flavours fresh & genuine.
What is your favourite flavour to cook with?
My favourites flavours are Cumin, Asofatoieda, Fresh Ginger, Cloves and Tea.
Copper & Spices is a ‘South Asian’ restaurant – explain that?
Copper & Spices is South Asian Restaurant as we have incorporated Indian,Nepalese,Indonesian,Malaysian dishes. Our aim is to give customers a good Asian food experience.
You are from India, tell us how day to day food in India differs from what we see on Indian restaurant menus here in Ireland.
Day to day food in India includes a lot of vegetarian food (Pulses,Lentils,Fresh Vegetables). In Indian we prefer meat on bone. Kidneys,Livers are very popular in our daily routine. In Ireland Indian restaurants offer very basic taste of Indian cuisine but nevertheless as more people in Ireland are acknowledging Indian cuisine we have seen Indian menus evolving & offering better taste.
Why do you think Indian food is so popular in Ireland and how would you change the image of the ‘Curry House’ as representing Indian food.
Indian food is becoming popular very slowly. It’s not easy to change a nation of Meat & Two Veg to Exotic spices. But some chefs have done really well to break that hype of a Indian cuisine to be spicy.
To change the image of Curry House we need to inform people about the difference in Spices & Chillies & Herbs. We offer a basic cooking course in C&S to serve the same purpose & trust me we have created a lot of awareness locally.
Tell us something we might not know about Indian food and Indian flavours.
India is a sub continent & offers 29 different sub cuisines. A lot of flavours are still unknown to the west world. India offers so many versatile styles of cooking,”Kashmiri,Andhra,Goan,Calcutta,Punjabi etc cuisines”
How does Copper and Spices fuse Irish ingredients with Indian and what effect does this have on the food produced?
We try source Local Irish ingredients as much possible. Meat,Poultry & Seafood available in Ireland is of very good quality which proves Irish seafood export to be justified. Indian spices & herbs do great job in enhancing the end product.
What makes Copper and Spics different to other Indian / Asian Restaurants?
Copper & Spices create asian food with heart. Our customers often describe our food as Healing Food which compliments the hard work team puts in on daily basis. We offer cooking courses on regular basis to increase awareness.
Are health benefits (i.e. Aryuveda) influential in Indian cooking, or your cooking?
Indian spices & herbs are well known for their health benefits.Cumin,Turmeric, Asofatoieda, Ginger, Garlic, Jaggery, Fenugreek are just some of many. Our menu include dishes which needs all the above ingredients.
For more information on Copper & Spices see Copper and Spices on Facebook
