A small restaurant in Old Airport area’s main bazaar is cooking
up authentic Pakistani dishes, writes Umer Nangiana
He had ideas and the courage to execute them. The rest fell into place. Starting as an employed Information Technology (IT) expert, Syed Mushtaq Ahmed, a Pakistani based in Qatar for the last 40 years with his family, is well on his way to become a successful businessman.
Both his ventures, founded in sound research and analysis of the market, are doing well. While one of them caters to the technology flank, the other serves an everyday demand, the culinary requirements in a multi-cultural setting.
Having successfully run an IT solutions company for over four years in Doha, Ahmed decided to launch a restaurant offering authentic Pakistani taste. His family belongs to Gujranwala, an old city in Pakistan’s Punjab province famous for its eating trends and foods.
Gujranwala has been producing Pakistan’s finest wrestlers and is known as Pahlwanon ka Sheher (the city of wrestlers). Its inhabitants are known all over Pakistan for ‘eating well and eating a lot.’
Coming from this city in Punjab, Ahmed definitely knows a thing or two about food and particularly authentic tastes. The lack of authentic Pakistani taste in Qatar is exactly what drove him to open a restaurant here.
He did a careful research of the market and found a suitable place right in the heart of the city. Al Anhar restaurant, a centre of traditional Pakistani taste, is located in the Old Airport area’s main bazaar.
Though small in size, it is a nice and tidy facility where you can find Pakistani food that tastes close to home-cooked food.
“Pakistani taste is so rare here. There are some Pakistani restaurants but food they are selling is not authentic Pakistani taste, barring a few dishes. It is a mix of South Asian cuisines that they sell,” Ahmed told Community in an interview recently.
“I decided we should introduce purely Pakistani traditional taste with some authentic dishes from Pakistan made with typical ingredients and by trained Pakistani hands,” he explained his business logic for the restaurant.
The challenge was to make it 100% authentic. So he went to Pakistan, conducted tests and interviews for chefs and selected one from a pool of 38. This cook at Al Anhar is special. You can tell from the taste of anything you eat at the restaurant.
Ahmed told us that the cook is a specialist in preparing multiple dishes, with his family being in the business of cooking for generations.
“He can tell you what ingredients have been used by merely tasting a dish or food. He is particularly good at creating a balance among ingredients,” said Ahmed.
But the cook also needs special ingredients for his recipes, ingredients that are sourced directly from Pakistan. Even the chickpeas for the common Pakistani channay curry are imported from Pakistan.
Similarly the ingredients used to prepare Chicken Karahi in traditional Pakistani style are also not available locally.
“We get them from Pakistan through a trader here. Initially, I was importing spices and ingredients, even our special rice, directly from Pakistan but then I hired the services of a company, which now is delivering them to us,” said Ahmed.
“The happiness of our customers is the first and foremost priority to us. Our aim is not to just make money but to see people leaving our restaurant happy and satisfied,” added the entrepreneur.
Since its opening, the response is great and the customer base is quickly widening, according to Ahmed. After all, the authentic taste sells.
Ahmed told us they have not received any complaint regarding the taste. They have kept high standards of quality. “We would never offer anything half perfect to our customers,” said Ahmed.
The plans for a second, bigger branch are already afoot. “We have demands from certain areas and we are surveying them for a suitable location. It will be a bigger facility with a much bigger dining hall and a banquet for parties and other special events,” revealed Ahmed, talking about his expansion plans for the restaurant.
Al Anhar isn’t just about getting one or two dishes right. The idea is to capture the essence of Punjabi cuisine.
Qulfi (a form of ice cream), is one of them. They have imported all the equipment needed to prepare it here. It comes in the traditional cone-style and tastes the same as that of Gujranwala’s famous Rahwali (an area) qulfi.
“You will find its taste very close to the famous Rahwali qulfi, though the formula and the ingredients are not the same. It is pure in taste and is made with milk mixed with khoya (thick sweet condensed milk) in a special formula. You would not find it anywhere else in Qatar,” claimed Ahmed.
They also offer Aloo bukharay ki chutney (plum chutney), a popular dessert in marriage parties in Pakistan. You would certainly not find it here anywhere else in Doha.
Al Anhar’s chicken roast called Chicken Daboo is also a speciality exclusive in Doha. A form of fried chicken, it is prepared in traditional Pakistani style that involves 2-3 different processes and comes covered with sesame (sim sim in Arabic).
Their steam roast is also unique. Soon they are going to launch another speciality, Lahori Chargha. It is also a form of fried chicken but is very different from Daboo and has its own unique taste.
The Lamb Steam Roast available in full, half and leg roasts, is also done in typical Gujranwala-style. It is very different from its locally available Arabic variants.
Ahmed has been in Doha for 16 years. His family has been here for 40 years. His father was a foreman at Kahramaa in Qatar and is now retired. “This [restaurant] is for him. He is the owner of this project. I prepared this as a gift for him and he is now in charge of operations. He is handling it,” said Ahmed.
Ahmed started his career as an IT specialist working with Interior Ministry of Qatar. He went on to establish his own company that provides IT solutions. A Master’s in Computer Science and a Microsoft certified software/system engineer since 1999, Ahmed is also a certified Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert since 2000.
“I have been handling the 999 services system and some other critical applications for the Ministry of Interior,” Ahmed said.
From there, he saved up and invested in a company providing IT solutions to companies in Qatar. Ahmed found there was a big demand for such a service in Qatar.
However, he said he started his business after complete research and analysis of the market. Encouraging others to also go for starts-up, Ahmed said there are a lot of opportunities in Qatar.
“[But it also] depends on which business you chose to start. Every field has its own topology, its own checkpoints that you have to focus on. If you go for hoteling for instance, it has completely different requirements from that of an IT business,” said Ahmed. He advised young entrepreneurs to research well before investing their money.
Ahmed is also planning to introduce Missi Roti (a form of sweet bread) at his restaraunt. The sweet bread is becoming rare in Pakistan and is available at very few places. “We are going to start it here at our restaurant along with Kashmiri tea and carrot’s halwa this winter,” revealed Ahmed.
The restaurant is not just popular with Pakistanis. They also get a lot of Indian, Nepali and Arab nationals. The Arabs in particular like the Biryani and the lamb steam roast, said Ahmed, adding that it is in fact an Arab dish but they add more spices to it at Al Anhar to make it more Pakistani.
Catering to vegetarians as well, the restaurant offers chickpeas, kari pakora and mixed vegetables.