Street Food Stories: Meet the Guyanese cook who came to London for love
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00:00Hello. How are you?
00:02Hi, how wonderful. How are you doing?
00:04Welcome to Kaichor Kitchen.
00:06My name is Fago, and I'm from Guyana, South America.
00:11The name Kaichor is originated from our famous waterfalls in Guyana.
00:18I have been a trader for many years.
00:23This is my little world.
00:25This is beautiful. It's homely. It's welcoming.
00:29It's just to make people feel like they can always keep coming because of the atmosphere, the food, and the welcoming that we give them.
00:43I came here in 1992.
00:45Actually, somebody brought me here.
00:47The person came to Guyana from London, saw me and fell in love with me, and brought me here.
00:55It wasn't what I expected.
00:58It wasn't beautiful, and it was hard. It didn't work at all.
01:03And I gave up a lot at home to come here because I had my business at home.
01:07And I was doing really, really, really rare.
01:10Just the same food business.
01:12So when I came here and saw what I had to go through, I felt disappointed.
01:22But I didn't give up, and I didn't go back.
01:25I did odd jobs, really odd jobs.
01:28And then I heard about the little chaos in the shopping center for sale.
01:35I decided to take a chance, and I bought it.
01:40It's been a long journey over there, a very long journey.
01:43We had very bad experience with people coming to vandalize our premises.
01:51People would do all sorts of things there, drugs, everything, you know, robbery, killing, stabbing.
01:58And then is when I started to feel frustrated and actually want to give up.
02:02But I was encouraged by, you know, some of the management of the new shopping mall that we're in now,
02:08to just hold on and hang in, you know, so that I would wait to see what I would get over here.
02:13And that is what kept me going.
02:15So you really had to fight to make it, and still fighting to make it here.
02:23You know, Guyana is made up of six races of people.
02:26Each of the race has got their own dish.
02:29So I tried my best to bring out all of that here.
02:33Everyone can come and eat something beautiful here.
02:37They got a taste of everything.
02:41The pepper pot, the oxtail, the coconut lamb,
02:44spinach rice, my wonderful fried rice.
02:48Those are the things that stand out.
02:52I would like a bigger restaurant.
02:54I would like a bigger restaurant.
02:56Because there's so much more I can do when it comes to my cooking.
03:01I'm limited right now.
03:03And I still have a long way to go.
03:06Because I know that I haven't stopped here.
03:10I know there's another level for me to get to.
03:14I know there's another level for me to get to.
03:20I know there's another level for me to get to.