About Us

Our Approach

Our Story

Our Story

We are passionate about food. During our foodie adventures across London, we noticed that while North Indian food was gaining mainstream attention, South Indian food was being largely ignored. We also realized that there is a massive gap in London's comprehension of Indian food. India has 29 states, each with its own language, art, culture, traditions and food.

We want Thambi's to be the vehicle via which to discover modern South Indian flavours. While we will strive to maintain authentic flavours, we will experiment with form factors to make the food approachable to the adventurous London foodie community!

Meet the Team

Kiran (Kiki) Nichani was born and brought up in Chennai, India. She was born into an entrepreneur legacy. Her grandparents had setup a cutting edge café in 1983 in Chennai. Called Cakes n Bakes, the café introduced the concept of fast food to the otherwise very conservative city. Kiki started getting involved at the young age of 16, in 1989. Through the years she worked across every facet of the business and honed her skills under the careful guidance of her father and trained chefs. She eventually found her passion in product development – where she got to conjur up exciting new recipes and creative presentation formats.

Kiki decided to formalize her passion for the restaurant business by pursuing a diploma in hotel management from Les Roches, Switzerland. Prior to Les Roches, Kiki secured a certificate in Basic Pastry from Le Cordon Bleu in London. During her training, Kiki worked at the Centre Hospitalier Universtiae Vaudoise, Lausanne and at Restaurant Maharani, Morges. She also did a stint at the Cardinali Bakery in New York.

 

team