Islamabad: This Eid, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is in Adiala Jail and his loyalists are missing him not only in the Pakistan’s parliament, but also at restaurants and tea houses he frequented.
Dilbar Hotel in Rawalpindi, popular for its Kashmiri cuisine, is one such place that was a regularly visited by Mian sahib (as Sharif is called) and his family.
A busy, bustlling place, diners are always pressed for space at this restaurant, located near the Jamia Masjid Purana Qila in the capital.
- Malik Aslam | Proprietor of the restaurant
From the outside, Dilbat Hotel looks like an an ordinary restaurant catering to the hundreds of workers and bachelors living nearby in Purana Qila and Bohar Bazaar. But once you step in and sit down for a meal, it’s soon apparent that this is a no ordinary eating place.
What differentiates the 71-year-old eatery from the others is its speciality Kashmiri cuisine. On Saturdays, the menu includes besides the usual favourite chicken recipes, classic Kashmiri dishes such as Goshtaba, Harisa, Harastay, Tabak Maas, Mutton Yakhni and Shab Deg.
“On Saturdays, our food is ready by 1pm and there is a long queue of customers,” said Malik Aslam, the restaurant’s proprietor.
The place boasts quite a history, as many Kashmiri and Pakistani leaders, former presidents and prime ministers of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) have dined here.
“Liaquat Ali Khan was the first prime minister who came to Dilbar for lunch,” Aslam recalls.
This proved to be a masterstroke for the fledgling restaurant’s reputation and people started pouring in from far and near.
Tasty history
Aslam takes pride in the fact that the small restaurant his father Malik Jamal established back in 1947 is now an established two-storey eating place.
Kashmiri leaders who have visited the restaurant include KH Khurshid, Sardar Abdul Qayyum, Sardar Sikandar Hayat, Sardar Attique, Raja Farooq Haider, and many speakers and MLAs of the AJK Legislative Assembly.
Besides prominent Kashmiris, the restaurant is also popular with other Pakistani leaders, especially the Sharifs.
Nawaz Sharif, whose appetite for good food is well known, also frequented the place.
Aslam is full of appreciation for the former prime minister’s taste in food. “Mian sahib and his family used to be our ‘pakka grahak’ (permanent customers). His family has been visiting this restaurant for 40 years and it is an honour for me. We pray to God that their ordeal comes to an end and that they return to grace our restaurant,” said one of the kitchen staff. Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law are currently serving jail terms for corruption and graft crimes.
The country’s first popularly elected prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, also visited the restaurant in 1976. “It was Shaikh Manzar Masood, the then speaker of the AJK Legislative Assembly, who brought him here,” a staff member recalled.
About the restaurant’s famed recipes, Aslam said it’s not easy to prepare them daily. “It is a labour of love. Our cooks are from Kashmir and the head chef has been preparing our gastronomical delights for the last 50 years.”
The time his father ran the restaurant were the golden days, he says. “Back then, business was good and everyone could afford the food. Now, it has virtually become a status symbol and quite out of reach for the common man.
“Take Goshtaba, for instance. It is a mutton recipe that calls for elaborate method of preparation. You need to pound the mutton on a stone slab and then mould it into kofta shapes and cook them at a certain temperature, otherwise they disintegrate and the entire effort is in vain.”
