London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Birmingham restaurant flooded with calls after Johnny Depp visit

Birmingham restaurant flooded with calls after Johnny Depp visit

Interest in Varanasi from America, India, China and Europe has ‘blown my mind’, says operations director

Mohammed Hussain’s phone has been ringing off the hook for nearly 48 hours. He’s the operations director of Varanasi restaurant in Birmingham, and has been fielding calls from around world ever since news broke that Johnny Depp dined at the establishment on Sunday.

“Our Instagram has gone mental. We’ve never seen so much activity on there,” said Hussain. “I’ve had phone calls from America, from India, from Spain, Germany, China, and I just literally haven’t had the time to even sit down. It has been manic.”

Depp has been performing with guitarist and longtime friend Jeff Beck on a string of UK tour dates, and played Birmingham’s Symphony Hall on Monday night.

The night before, the pair and their entourage tried 10 different dishes over the course of a five-hour meal at Varanasi, with Depp even taking a bag of food home afterwards.

“He said it was the best curry he had ever had and even went to the extent of asking us to make a new set of food again and take it back to his hotel,” said Hussain.

All restaurant staff were sworn to secrecy about Depp’s visit to the restaurant.


The group booked the entire 350-capacity restaurant, rather than one of the private dining rooms, as Depp has been swamped by crowds of fans as he has travelled around the country.

All staff were sworn to secrecy, while other bookings on the night were rearranged and customers compensated. The group entered through a “secret side door”, Hussain said.

The restaurant has declined to reveal how much was spent on the meal, and Hussain said he had turned down “huge sums of money” for pictures and videos taken with Depp on the night.

The Pirates of the Caribbean actor has been seen in Newcastle, Sheffield and Manchester since his high-profile lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard came to a close.
The staff at Varanasi are bracing themselves for a deluge of new bookings from people wanting to follow in Depp’s footsteps.

“We’ve had celebrities visiting since we opened, but I would say Johnny Depp is one of the biggest we’ve had,” said senior waiter Farha. “I imagine we’ll get a lot more now, they’re going to follow in his steps.”

“We’re ready for it, we’re always prepared,” said sous chef Nirmal Singh, who made the food served to Depp, which included tandoori wild king prawns, paneer tikka and butter chicken.

The high-end, lavishly decorated venue on Broad Street in central Birmingham specialises in “authentic Indian cuisine”, and is the city’s largest Indian restaurant. It has three cocktail bars and six private dining rooms spread over 20,000 sq ft.

“We will see an influx of more guests coming through now that we’ve had a celebrity of his calibre coming to the restaurant,” said Hussain. “I never expected this, to be honest. It has blown my mind.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×