Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Dundonian James Ferrie opens Indian delicatessen Jim’s Delhi Club offering authentic food

James Ferrie, owner of Jim's Delhi Club.
James Ferrie, owner of Jim's Delhi Club.

Dundee born James Ferrie opened his Indian-inspired delicatessen Jim’s Delhi Club six weeks ago which serves up authentic Indian food.

Having never visited India, James’ fascination with the country’s cuisine and a need for a change of career is what spurred him on to open his own eatery.

Working in social work with the Dundee City Council for 12 years, he decided it was time for a change in December 2019 after his demanding job began to impact his mental health, causing him to burn out.

He had shared his dream of having his own cafe with colleagues for five or six years and finally bit the bullet and turned to his passion, food, as a career.

How it started…

A lover of Indian food, James committed to his favoured cuisine and decided to create something out of it.

The entrepreneur rented a kitchen space at Dundee One at City Quay in January 2020 where he began delivering hot Indian meals to customers. He believed that by mid 2020 he would have his own premises to cook and serve from.

James Ferrie, owner of Jim’s Delhi Club.

However, with Covid-19 round the corner and first lockdown in March 2020, James was forced to take a break from his deliveries.

He decided to use Instagram as a way of reaching new customers and started posting videos to show people how to make Indian food with his own twist.

The response was “mad” and James says his recipes “kept people’s spirits up” during lockdown.

A few months later he went back to renting his kitchen space and instead started delivering chilled meals with instructions on how to heat and eat.

Selling out in minutes

He built up a following online and started promoted his new service online.

Every Wednesday night at 6pm, James would post an Instagram Story about what was being made with the title ‘Clubs Open’. After reaching between 30 to 60 portions the club would be closed. These meals would then be delivered on a Saturday afternoon.

He said: “The record time for selling out 30 portions was 43 seconds”

For James the most important thing is quality over quantity, with all his meals, salads, sauces and accompanying breads all homemade.

He finally acquired his delicatessen on Albert Street in Dundee, and designed the layout for the café himself. Open Thursday to Saturday from noon to 7pm, customers can sit-in or take away.

Offering three or four dishes per day, James says “the food speaks for itself” as his focus is purely on quality and this smaller menu allows him to keep things tight.

The menu features naanwiches which are sourdough naans packed with a delicious fillings, tacos plus other dishes, and changes monthly.

Jim's Delhi Club
Butter chicken naanwich

Family affair

Inspired by James and his wife, Jamie Lee’s, travels around the world, the delicatessen is somewhere guests can learn about Indian flavours.

Jamie Lee has been assisting her husband, serving at the shop alongside working her full-time job. They have been together since they were 15 and are now expecting their first child.

With a baby on the way it’s the deli owners vision to have a family business some day.

Indian beef tacos.

James feels that trying new things is one of the other catalysts that also drive him to launching his own business.

“Having new experiences and trying new things is important to anyone’s life. I hope to give a bit of that back,” he said.

And although despite having never visiting India before, James loves the diversity of the cuisine and creates his own version using social media recipes or cookbooks from Indian authors including Maunika GowardhanMeera Sodha and Madhur Jaffrey.

Jim's Delhi Club
Inside Jim’s Delhi Club

Collaborations, Christmas and future plans

Teaming up with Heather Street Food, the catering van at Dundee’s V&A is currently serving up a butter chicken bagel with picked onions, coriander and apple cider mint raita.

He is looking into offering a Christmas special of turkey keema naan with all the trimmings or small Yorkshire puddings with curried turkey.

Posted by Heather Street Food on Sunday, 28 November 2021

Furthermore, James has plans to add thali trays where he can serve up multiple dishes to people in order to allow them to try more of what’s on offer.

Since opening the shop deliveries have been old hold, but he is looking to start them up again, ideally at a weekend or for early week pick-up or delivery.

He has a zero-waste policy at his shop and is looking forward to a promising future as part of Dundee’s growing food and drink scene.


More from food and drink…