TURMERIC Kitchen @65, an award-winning Taunton restaurant, have responded to being named one of the top eight restaurants in Somerset sharing their gratitude and plans for the future.
Turmeric Kitchen @65 which has received Good Food Awards for four consecutive years from, was awarded the Golden Seal Award in 2024 and named the Curry Restaurant of the Year in the South West last month alongside being named in the top eight Somerset restaurants in 2025.
Founder and manager Niranjan Kumar have said how the team are all “really proud, thankful and happy” to be named a top Somerset restaurant.
Niranjan said: “Thank you so much for naming us in the top eight restaurants in Somerset. We are really proud and really happy.”
In an interview with us he went on to add that the accreditation is thanks to the hard work and passion of the team and support of their customers.
He added: “The team has worked hard and on top of that the customer support is fantastic. It’s not just the team it is also the support from the customers.
“We celebrate our wins as a team and we are just so happy to be recognised as an award winning restaurant.”
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Humble beginnings
Turmeric Kitchen @65 opened in 2020 just after the first Covid-19 lockdown, however they faced difficulties because the UK immediately went into another lockdown after they opened their doors.
Niranjan said: “We thought everything would be fine after lockdown but after opening we went into another lockdown.
“However, we continued takeaways, collections and deliveries.”
Niranjan and his team literally went the extra mile during the lockdowns, expanding their delivery radius from the typical five miles to ten miles so that people at home could enjoy their food still.
The staff have said this was the most challenging period when running the restaurant as after the lockdowns a lot of things became more expensive including the ingredients of their dishes which went up 20-30% in price.
Gas prices also doubled which was another challenge according to Niranjan but despite this he still did not want to increase his prices and inconvenience his loyal customers.
He said: “Gas doubled which was another challenge but unfortunately, we couldn’t increase our prices because we didn’t want to inconvenience the customers. We always put the customer first and the customer is always right.”
Five international chefs
To make sure the food is authentic, Manager Niranjan paid the license to bring three chefs (Chef Mathew, Chef Nassar, Chef Murali, Chef Jinu and Chef Prathap) to the restaurant with him all of which have international backgrounds.
All five chefs who prepare your food in Turmeric Kitchen @65 have 10-25 years of experience.
He said: “They know exactly what to do and how to do it. They each have excellent experience in restaurants.”
Niranjan himself has also worked in the industry for over thirty years having worked in the Gulf, on cruise lines and five-star hotels alongside restaurant management.
Before opening Turmeric, Niranjan worked as an area general manager for another Taunton chain of restaurants that closed down, giving him the push he needed to take his team and open his own restaurant.
He said: “I love the opportunity to be here for my customers.”
Community staple
After the last five years of serving the Taunton community Niranjan has told us that he feels they could have achieved what they have without the Taunton community’s support and acceptance.
He said: “We are so happy to be recognised as an award-winning restaurant and that the customers are so supportive and helpful especially of the food and the approach we take to cooking. I am happy people are liking it.
“Every time someone says they are so happy and living it, it makes us so happy and encourages us to try our hardest.”
To support the community back, Niranjan supplies food for charity and charity events including St Margarets Hospice charity night, school fundraising and supplying food to Musgrove Hospital.
The restaurant also gives gift vouchers out to schools and sponsors local sports teams.
He added: “We couldn’t do any of this without the support of the Taunton community. We always believe we need to support the community because they support us.”
Positive changes on the horizon
Niranjan and his team have plans to expand the restaurant in the near future saying they feel it is time to grow and expand as a business.
They are even considering putting in an offer for the store next door, so they do not lose their central Taunton location near the station.
Niranjan also told us he expects further nominations for Good Food Awards this year, also for the England Business Awards and Curry Restaurant of the Year again.
The restaurant will also be hosting more events celebrating Indian festivals in 2025 including the Onam Harvesting Festival banana leaf event they hosted in 2024.
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