1. Can you share a bit about your early experiences with cooking and who influenced you the most?
The first influences I had in the kitchen while growing up and also the reason why I learned and developed a sense for always making everything from scratch were my grandmother, who taught me how to cook on a wooden stove, I can bake cakes and other desserts on a wooden stove thanks to her, my nanny taught me how to make butter, makai ki roti, parathas etc. and she was a perfectionist, so there were no shortcuts when learning from her. Last but not least my mother who was a seasoned cook herself and knew an array of cuisines from her time in the UK passed them on to me,French, Italian , Spanish etc. cooking was my happy time with her in the kitchen and I still feel connected to her when I cook. Everything I cook is dedicated to her in a way
2. What cuisines are you most passionate about, and why?
Growing up in Peshawar I was accustomed to eating food that didn’t rely on spices, but the main ingredients shone, I also had neighbours from around the world who introduced me to a wide range of cuisines and I ate food not common or even heard of in Pakistan back then. I’m lucky in that way that my palate was so diversified at a young age but if I had to pick one it would have to be French food. The finesse of it the delicacy of flavours is what I’m fascinated by. I’m inspired by many chefs who shaped my culinary journey through my childhood, Marco Pierre White being my favourite , who cooks French food. I also love the authenticity of Italian food. The no nonsense, no façade of it. Just real good food respecting the ingredients.
3. How has cooking and baking become a therapeutic activity for you?
Oh! baking bread is the most therapeutic thing one can do to alleviate stress. I bake croissants, I make baklava, all the tough things one can bake and I forget what I was stressing over! If you walk into my home when I’ve been particularly stressed it smells divine with the smell of cupcakes, cookies, breads and whatever I could manage.
4. Could you tell us about any informal training experiences you’ve had with professional chefs?
I’ve followed chefs since I was a child, not knowing this would one day lead to me being in the same profession as them. Madhur Jaffreys show was the first one I started watching when my peers were watching cartoons! Keith Floyd, Anthony Bourdain, Martin Yan, Sanjeev Kapoor are some chefs I grew up watching and learning recipes from. As the years went by my passion increased and I somehow got into catering. Without any formal training, and no thought in the least of pursuing a serious career in the field I happened to cross paths with the late maestro Antonio Carluccio whom I learnt from, to enhance my own cooking skills. It is by far the highlight of my career till date.
5. What values do you prioritize when it comes to preparing food, and why is freshness important to you?
The values are those which all us Pakistanis have when catering to a guest, prepare the food with love and care and make it better than you would for yourself.Freshness is important because it’s the ingredients that make a dish good or bad. The best ingredients with hardly any effort can produce a great dish and bad ingredients can’t save the most exquisite recipe. Its as simple as that. We don’t freeze things for months, we make everything fresh, sometimes customers get annoyed but they must learn to notice that in a restaurant where your main course is served in 10 minutes it is not fresh. Dining out is an experience, and each course should be savoured and enjoyed along with the company one is with.
6. What motivated you to turn your passion for cooking into a profession, and why did you choose Lahore as your starting point?
A number of reasons, covid-19 being one, made me think life is so unpredictable and can end in the blink of an eye so why not pursue one’s dreams. After some deliberation I felt Lahore was the place in Pakistan to start a food venture because we have all heard how much lahoris love food.
7. How do you handle challenges as a small business owner, especially in a competitive market like Lahore?
It is very challenging indeed especially for an outsider with no social circle, with no PR which is apparently what matters more than the food. You have to know the right crowd which I don’t! Fortunately we have built a slow and steady customer base and its growing organically Alhamdulillah. Our customers are the ones who make the job worth it despite all the challenges and I’m immensely grateful to each and every one of them for supporting me in my endeavor. We get messages from customers in NYC which is famous for pizzas that they crave our pizza, such encouragement is what keeps me going.
8. In what ways do you think the government could better support small businesses like yours, particularly in today’s tough economy?
Unlike most other establishments owned by big corporates and industrialists we are a small restaurant, learning the workings of the industry and the environment as we are going, I would really appeal to the government to facilitate small businesses rather than making conditions so difficult in an already near impossible economy with inflation so high, over heads are through the roof, the list is endless, that we cannot survive. All over the world small businesses are encouraged and supported by their governments because they may be small but they are many in number and together they not just add to the economy, they make the economy. It is time to see what we are missing that successful economies are doing and this is what the difference will be found in- lack of flourishing small businesses. Not to mention giving jobs and teaching valuable skills to a population that is vastly unemployed and uneducated. Especially the CM Punjab I would request, who being a woman and must understand the difficulties women entrepreneurs face to look into this and help us all so we can help Pakistan
