Jai Lounge Coffee Bar Kitchen adding authentic flavours to St Annes-on Sea hospitality scene

Jai Lounge Coffee Bar Kitchen opened with little fanfare in St Annes in June this year but has been developing a following in the months since its launch.

Located on St George’s Road, directly opposite Ashton Gardens Park, Jai Lounge has been set up by Ben Solanki, who heads a team of eight staff.

By day it is a coffee bar, a relaxing venue offering good coffee, glasses of beer and Indian and South Asian light bites.

In the evening it becomes a restaurant offering full course meals.

Ben says the aim is to offer an authentic taste of India, with the freshest of meat and fish and high quality spices and ingredients.

He said: “I was born and bred in Bolton and my parents lived in Nairobi in Kenya, but they came from the Gujarat area of India and growing up here, the food was a key thing.

"Travelling to India a lot over the years, it became clear to me that there was a big difference between British-style Indian cuisine and the actual recipes they sued out in India.

“When i became involved in the restaurant business, it was always my aim to capture those authentic Indian flavours and offer something different to people over here.

“Before setting up Jai Lounge, we travelled out to Delhi to meet up with potential chefs to come over here and bring these flavours with them.

"We audition them, really, because we needed to be sure we got the right people in our kitchen.

"I would say to anyone that, say, a Chicken Tikka Masala at Jai Lounge is nothing like that dish anywhere else over here – you will definitely notice the difference!”

Ben added that the menu also included ‘Indian Fusion’ dishes , which he described as “Indian food with a Chinese twist”.

The coffee bar operates from 11.30am to 4.30pm and the evening menu is served from 5pm to 11pm.