The Punjabi Tiger | Zia Ahmad
A customer walks in to Punjab da Sher to have dinner, where Zia Ahmad greets and accommodates him to his seat. At Punjab da Sher, a customer is firstly a guest and is treated like a friend. The two briefly discuss the menu; Zia explains the contents of the foods and their nutritional value. Finally, they settle on the three-lentil soup with bread, and Zia takes off to prepare it.
Zia is the owner, chef, and manager of an Indian-Pakistani restaurant, Punjab da Sher, which translates as “Punjabi Tiger” from Urdu. It is located in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, and Zia operates this business along with his family.
“The major idea [when opening the restaurant] was to cook for my family. My family, my mother, wife, brother, and my children are eating what you are eating. And I want my family to eat quality food.”
Zia gets the meat for his cuisine from Plovdiv. The spices and grains are imported Pakistan and India. The vegetables and greens Zia picks up from local markets, usually in the morning, when he starts his working day.
At 9 a.m., Zia comes to the restaurant and starts preparing the dishes for the day with his mother and wife. By noon, everything is ready to be served to customers. If the prepared dishes have been sold before closing time, Zia sets off to cook for the second time.
“I don’t like prearranged stuff. Usually how it’s done: they [restaurants] precook food and can leave it for the next day. But the nutrients are already gone — they [nutrients] are in the food for four hours, and then the food is not healthy.”
Zia says that one of the core principles when opening the restaurant was to deliver fresh and nutritious food. For example, Zia makes about ten big portions of the Beef Pulao, which is basmati rice with beef, and by 4 p.m. it is usually gone.
This also means that food waste is not an issue at Punjab da Sher. At the end of the day, Zia and his family dine with the food that is left.
Another idea of the restaurant was to give back to the community. Zia was born in Pakistan but grew up in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. After finishing higher education and gaining experience at restaurants by working as a chef, he returned home and decided to give his hometown diversity.
“I spent three months researching and creating recipes. And when I finally opened Punjab da Sher, COVID-19 happened. It was not a great time to open a restaurant.”
Having tackled the issues that arose with the pandemic, Zia now tries to become financially stable with this business so that he can pursue his main goal — helping people.
“My full name is Ziauddin. In Urdu, ‘zia’ means light, and ‘din’ means spirit. So my name means something spiritual, like light of faith or spirit of light.”
Zia recently launched an event, the essence of which is that the guests of Punjab da Sher receive coupons with every order. These coupons say “Hot Meal for a Smile,” and they can be used to redeem a free portion of lentil soup and bread. The guests can give this coupon to someone in need, and all the person has to do, is give a smile.
^^^
Darya Dolgopolova is a journalism student and loves food. She enjoyed interviewing Zia, and looks forward to visiting Punjab da Sher in the future.
