Where the journey began

Emmdees Ltd was established in 1990 on the Pensnett trading estate in Kingswinford, producing Mister Dave's curries following the success of Mister Dave's Indian restaurants, which had been operating since 1984. Over a decade later, production shifted to the former Butchers and Bakers pie factory on Parkway Road in Dudley, where Emmdees Ltd has continued to operate.

In December 2018, the founders, and co-owners of The Original Curry Company Ltd acquired Emmdees, initiating a significant refurbishment to elevate the premises to the standards expected by a broader audience, including major supermarkets, food service operators, restaurants, and pub chains.

Following the overhaul, we received certification from BRC (The British Retail Consortium) and have consistently maintained this standard each year. Additionally, we obtained site approval for Halal.

The legacy of Mister Dave's began in 1984 when Mr. Dave Homer opened a new restaurant, Balti House, in the small town of Lye, near Stourbridge. In the subsequent years, Dave successfully expanded his portfolio to include a total of five restaurants.

Mister Daves's very first blog... back in 2014

After a serious amount of earache and provocation I’ve finally succumbed to writing this, my first blog! It’s been marinating for over 30 years back to those “good old days” when I opened my first Balti House in Lye.

I worked for BT but told my mates I was leaving to open a restaurant. They thought it would be French or Italian, even a chippy! When I said “It’s a Balti” they thought I was mad as I wasn’t from India so how could I possibly produce a good curry?

I did and they even queued outside on Lye High Street for Mister Dave’s food. I eventually had 5 restaurants or Balti houses then I went into producing frozen ready meals. The rest is “‘istry” as they’d say in Dudley.

I’m always asked “Who makes the best curry” and I still reply that the best curry is the one that suits their taste. There’s an enormous variety of recipes available nowadays and thankfully the best curry isn’t judged by its heat factor as it was in the “not-so-good old days”.

If I still have a reputation, then it was built on producing the best possible meal by using only quality fresh ingredients and spices that I could obtain within acceptable cost parameters. This still goes for my frozen meals today which are E numbers FREE and always will be.

Serious producers now have to cater for the particular dietary needs of people suffering from allergies, high cholesterol, diabetes etc. so this has meant some necessary changes from the original authentic recipes such as the use of unsaturated fats rather than the original clarified butter or gee.

So I believe that the Great British Curry is certainly healthier and maybe better than when I started and is certainly here to stay. I hope I’ve played a small part in that and will continue to do so.