A dad born in a rural mountain village in Nepal now runs one of Merseyside's best-rated restaurants.
Deepak Gautam, originally from Baglung in Nepal, opened Great Himalayas Nepalese, in Southport, just 19 days before the first UK lockdown was announced during the coronavirus pandemic, with the restaurant having to battle the changing landscape the pandemic presented.
The 35-year-old chef and restaurant owner said: "We opened on March 4, 2020, and just 19 days later the Government announced the nationwide lockdown. That was the biggest challenge we and many others had to face. We stayed open for takeaways gradually building a clientele and within six months we were rated top spot number one on TripAdvisor without even having people dine in for the majority of that time.
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"While we overcame the challenge that covid produced, we are now having a head-on collision with the cost-of-living crisis. Prices have sky-rocketed in every aspect. I'm almost certain it's going to get worse but one thing I know, with a team like mine and a community in Southport, we will come out stronger from this crisis just like we did with covid."
Moving into a vacant unit in the newly dubbed Northern Quarter on Lord Street, the restaurant found itself part of a rejuvenation that transformed that end of the road as bars and restaurants found themselves often full on weekends. Before the dad-of-three opened his pride and joy, he spent much of his life as a chef, working in London for a number of years after moving to the UK from Nepal.
He said: "Before the restaurant, I was working as head chef in a restaurant in London for many years. The current head chef in the restaurant now has travelled the world spreading the authenticity of Nepali food in places such as India, the UK and obviously Nepal.
"All staff apart from one in the restaurant are from Nepal. I'm from Baglung high up in the mountains whereas there are others like Ujwal who is part of the team in the restaurant who lived in Pokhara which is very touristy and more party central."
Deepak, as well as the staff at Great Himalayas, have learned the meaning of the saying "blood, sweat and tears", with the owner saying the last two years have meant everyone involved with running the restaurant has come out stronger. He said: "As I learned the saying when I arrived many years ago 'blood, sweat and tears'. I didn't think I'd ever use that as a figure of speech, now I understand it.
"The team and I have bled ourselves dry, sweated with worry and drowned our sorrows with tears with the closures from the governments and stresses that come with the restaurant. But we have found this journey has made us stronger, mentally and physically. The Great Himalayas Team are ready for anything."
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