THE doors of a new, authentic Indian restaurant have swung open after an ‘absolutely fabulous’ launch night.

Siblings Fahsin Ahmed and Fahmida Shamim have opened the Taj Mahal Restaurant in Barrow’s Cavendish Street this week.

The pair was inspired to set up the business after their parents, Abida Bahar and Masud Ahmed, ran Mithali, latterly known as the Mitalee, in Dalton Road for 25 years.

The popular restaurant then reopened solely as a takeaway in May 2018.

Nearly four years on, Fahsin and his sister Fahmida decided to open the Taj Mahal Restaurant in their late mother’s memory. She died of vascular dementia in 2020.

The siblings are hoping to honour their parents’ legacy by serving quality Indian food to a community they both love.

READ MORE: Taj Mahal Restaurant to open in Barrow in memory of former Mithali owner

Mrs Shamim, who grew up in Barrow but now lives in Preston, works as the restaurant’s manager focussing on behind-the-scenes operations while her brother is front of house.

The mum-of-three said it ‘felt great’ to be back in the swing of things and serving Barrow customers in the community.

The opening night also helped raise much-needed funds for Ulverston charity St Mary’s Hospice.

Mrs Shamim said: “It was an absolutely fabulous night and it felt great to be back in the swing of things.

“We had a lovely guest speaker, Heidi, from St Mary’s Hospice say a few words about the charity and what it does and together we managed to raise a lot of money for our chosen charities.

“As this was proven to be very popular we are thinking to make it an annual charity event and support local charities in the future.”

The restaurant, which has created ten to 15 jobs, has a capacity of more than 40 people and will serve a mixture of both Eastern and Western cuisine.

“I wanted to open a restaurant to give back to the Barrow community,” Mrs Shamim said.

“My parents have been in this trade for many years. My mum was a chef for more than 20 years in Barrow.

“My mum passed away just before the lockdown in 2020 so we wanted to open a restaurant in her memory.

“I saw how much my mum loved running a restaurant and got to the time in my life where I wanted to do something for myself and thought why can’t I do it?

“My parents ran their business in Barrow for such a long time – they received so much love and support from the community that it only seemed right for us to open one in the town too.”