Family friends have teamed up to open a new Indian tapas-style restaurant at Mercia Marina in Willington.

Sunny Chandhoke, who works as a chartered accountant, and family friend Sanjeev Kumar, a director at car dealership NK Motors, are taking on the challenge of opening the unique restaurant. They will also welcome Vid Patel, who previously ran Jee Ja Jee's restaurant in Littleover in Derby, as the general manager of their restaurant which will be called Lotus.

Lotus will be one of the first of its kind in the region and is based on a dining concept already popular in London and other large cities across the UK, they said.

Diners will be able to tuck into tapas-style sharing plates of Indian food at the new venue, which the team say is how people in India would eat.

Vid Patel, Sunny Chandhoke and Sanjeev Kumar are preparing for opening day

Sunny said: "We had always wanted to go into restaurants and when Vid told us about a unit being available at the marina and we thought this would be a great opportunity to introduce this concept in our home area.

"It's more about relaxed dining with 'tapas'-style sharing plates, which is essentially how people in India would eat. There are several restaurants of this nature in London but we are passionate about bringing this dining style to Derby.

"At the moment we are busy planning the restaurant's decor. It will showcase art and artefacts from India, all arranged in a way that is sympathetic to the marina's beautiful and rustic setting.

"It will be completely different to all other Indian eateries in the area, and we hope it will challenge people's perceptions and stereotypes about what an Indian restaurant is supposed to look like."

Although many people might expect Lotus to be a place that serves Chinese or Thai food, the pair chose the name due to it being the national flower of India. Lotus flowers feature heavily in traditional Hindu and Buddhist works of art.

Sunny said: "We hope to re-establish this link between the lotus and India in the popular imagination. It's also an appropriate name, given our location on the marina, as the lotus is a water plant."

The restaurant will open in June at the new Piazza building at the marina

Lotus will open at the marina's brand new Piazza building in mid-June and preparations are underway for the eatery to be ready for opening day.

The team will be offering a varied menu offering small plates of authentic Indian food. The dishes, designed to be shared by everyone around the table, will include grilled meats, vegetarian streetfood and home-style curries - all cooked to traditional recipes.

Sanjeev, who now lives in Toton, Nottinghamshire, said: "We are currently in the process of assembling a strong team in the kitchen, led by a top quality chef. The restaurant's planning, layout and fitting is being carried out by my father's specialist building company, NK Building Contractors.

"I'm really excited to be going into this joint venture with Sunny and the team to provide something different for the connoisseurs of Indian food in the Derby area. The restaurant will create up to 20 jobs, mainly full-time."

What's on offer at Mercia Marina?

Mercia Marina, in Findern Lane, is a popular tourist destination, offering shops, tea rooms, a restaurant and a farm shop to its 800,000 yearly visitors.

The marina has also become a destination for boaters as more than 500 people permanently live at the sites on their boats.

When the site's £3 million Piazza building opens later this year, around 200 jobs will have been created.

Once completed, the building will house a tapas-style Indian café, a hairdressers and three shops as well as Mrs Pincher's art gallery.

Mercia Marina has been given a gold David Bellamy Conservation Award for seven years on the trot.