National Thali Week is coming

We are delighted to support a new initiative run by the people behind the Leicestershire Curry Awards and England Curry Capital.

National Thali Week will take place for the first time between 6 and 12 January 2025 and will celebrate this often overlooked Indian feasting sensation. The word Thali literally means plate, but when you order a Thali you get to try a little bit of everything.

Thalis come served on a platter with little bowls to hold all of the delicious treats! We were lucky enough to try these delectable dishes at Leicester’s Mohanthal restaurant, a Curry Awards finalist, who specialise in vegetarian Thali.

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Punjabi, Gujarati and Kathiawadi thalis were all on offer, with guests able to sample a range of sweet, savoury and spicy foods, and during National Thali Week we'll be encouraging you to head to your nearest restaurant and try out a Thali. 

The event was hosted by Pukaar Group, the Leicester-based organisation behind National Samosa Week, the Leicestershire Curry Awards, and most recently, in partnership with Visit Leicester’s Taste the Place campaign, bringing the title of England Curry Capital back to Leicester, where we think you’ll all agree it belongs.

 Leicester was crowned the winner earlier this year, prompting founder Romail Gulzar to highlight the city’s offering further. Romail said: “Chai have a national week and eight years ago we launched National Samosa Week. I thought to myself, why not celebrate thali, something which is very traditional to our culture. Being England’s Curry Capital, Leicester is the perfect place to launch this. We are very proud and want to make as much noise as possible about it.”

Shaf Islam, owner of Leicester’s Chutney Ivy restaurant, praised National Thali Week as an initiative. “I’m surprised something like that has not been celebrated before. What a great idea – another way to celebrate the great cuisine and all the variety of cuisine which comes from the Indian sub- continent,” he said. “Leicester – being the curry capital, is the perfect place to celebrate this.”

Gabby Miller, founder of Cool as Leicester, said: “With Leicester now officially England’s Curry Capital it’s fantastic to further celebrate the rich south Asian cuisine in the city with the launch of National Thali Week. We have some incredible thalis on offer in Leicester, both meat and for vegetarians, lunchtime specials and larger evening sharing plates. Celebrate them all this January.”

For updates on National Thali Week, follow @NationalThaliWeek on Instagram and watch  out for more info as we approach the date. And check out our World on a Plate Taste the Place section to find out more about how you can taste your way round the world in Leicester.