The three-strong restaurant group, which operates sites in Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool, has secured a 4,000sq ft site that will have space for 120-140 covers. However, the “jewel in the crown” of the group’s latest venture, according to co-founder Marko Husak, will be its nine brewing vessels that will be able to produce 28,500 pints of beer each month.
The restaurant will have the same menu as the existing Bundobusts, which serve meat-free Indian street food such as paneer and mushroom tikka; tarka dhal and rice; and onion, broccoli and kale bhajis, but will feature the brewing tanks at street level for customers to see as they dine.
“Beer and Indian food is what we’ve always done and this seemed like the next step for us,” says Husak. “Quite a few people have jumped on the Indian street food and beer bandwagon and we wanted to show the world we know what we are doing. Nobody else is going to have a brewery in their restaurant.”
The company says it will continue to do collaborations with other breweries and has already lined up some key breweries to come on board for future collaborations at its new venue.
Bundobust, which takes its name from an Anglo-Indian word that means binding or coming together, opened its first restaurant in 2014 in central Leeds. The company has been working with former Byron CEO Tom Byng - who stepped down from the burger brand he created in late 2016 - for the past year to help it grow.
“We couldn’t do it by ourselves,” says Husak. “We’ve got to three sites, but we needed someone with the experience who can guide us to open a few more restaurants without pushing it and to help us get our back of house in order.”