Rola Wala plans London expansion

The Indian street food specialists opened at Street Feast London in Lewisham on 17 April and are launching the ‘Rola Cage’ in Dalston Yard from 1 May, which founder Mark Wright promises will be ‘unlike anything people have seen on the street before’.

Alongside the six month pop-ups Wright is currently scouting for fixed London sites following a successful opening in Leeds in 2014.

Bringing something new to Indian cuisine​

Rola Wala was founded after Wright travelled around India in 2012 and discovered cuisine ‘a world away’ from the curry houses of the UK.

“Indian food in the UK is good but very heavy; it’s not something you can eat every day,” he told BigHospitality.

“We are bringing something new to Indian cuisine in this country in terms of ingredients. I can’t find anyone who does the amount of flavour we do without the calorie count. Our food is all about being healthy and the way we cook and prepare it is really focused on that.”

Leeds and London food scene​

The company opened its first permanent site in Leeds' Trinity Kitchen in 2014 after recording the venues' best fast food trade ever when popping-up there earlier in the year.

Wright said that both Leeds and London have a lot to offer in terms of the street food scene.

“Yorkshireman are really proud of where they are from and that comes through in the street food, but London is setting the pace for everyone, not just in UK but internationally,” he said.

“A lot of people are looking to street food in London as an indication of where the industry’s going, around 40 per cent of our online traffic comes from USA.”

Looking ahead, Wright said he hoped the brand would eventually expand across the UK and ultimately back to his native Australia.

Rola Wala is open daily at Leeds’ Trinity Kitchen and in London from 5pm every Friday and Saturday at Street Feast in Dalston Yard and Lewisham’s Model Market.