Blair celebrates daughter's birthday at Red Fort

LONDON: British Prime Minister Tony Blair celebrated the 19th birthday of his daughter Kathryn at the Red Fort, an Indian restaurant in Soho in central London, on Thursday night.

 

Besides the prime minister's wife Cherie Blair, others present at the dinner where the birthday cake was cut were Blair's sister Kathy Blair, her husband Allan Taylor and a guest Jackie Goulding.

 

Blair and family spent over two hours at the restaurant, enjoying the Indian delicacies including Til ki tikki (sesame cakes with potatoes), poached salman and kurkuri machli (crispy fried Dover sole) as starters followed by mildly spiced Zaafrani lobster, samundari rattan (King prawns), Koh-e-avadh (lamb shaks simmered in ginger, yoghurt and cashew nut) and bhindi masaledar (stir fried okra).

 

Red Fort proprietor Amin Ali said Blair is a regular customer at the hotel, which will complete 25 years shortly.  Ali, who hails from Bangladesh, plans to open a restaurant in Dubai in the next few months.

 

Celebrities who swear by Red Fort include Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai, British Chancellor Gordon Brown and soccer star David Beckham.

 

Ashutosh Bhardwaj, General Manager of Red Fort, said, "We don't like to make too big a deal about the fact that so many celebrities come here to dine. We're so used to seeing stars from Hollywood to Bollywood walk through our doors, it has ceased to be a source of surprise. What we do take great pride and satisfaction in knowing, however, is that everyone who eats here enjoys what Red Fort has to offer and leaves feeling like a celebrity."