The newly opened restaurant, Qureshi Bab Al-Hind, at Hormuz Grand, is all set to take Oman by storm. Winola Peris reports.
For over 200 years, the Qureshis have been known for their extraordinary expertise at making available to their guests and customers, some of India’s finest delicacies. When over 60 years ago, Imtiaz Qureshi was born into a vast lineage of remarkable chefs who served the Mughal Emperors of India, it was but natural that he would imbibe the art of cooking and eventually become a chef like his ancestors. Having worked his way to the top, he spent a great deal of time researching and developing Frontier Heritage Cuisine and Dum Pukht – two cuisines that are synonymous with the Qureshi name. Following suit, his sons, Mohammed Ashfaque Qureshi, Irfan Qureshi and Imran Qureshi, being doyens of Indian food themselves, have uplifted the Qureshi brand and have maintained the family’s tradition of serving the most intricately flavoured tandoor, dum pukht and frontier heritage specialties in their many restaurants.
Qureshi Bab Al-Hind, the newly launched restaurant at the Hormuz Grand, serves authentic specialties from Indian Heritage cuisine and is the brain child of Mohammed Ashfaque Qureshi in collaboration with his brothers Irfan Qureshi and Imran Qureshi. With their roots grounded firmly in the long-standing artful traditional cuisines that they learnt under the mentorship of their father, the Qureshi brothers branched out to set up their own line of restaurants. They also built Grande Cuisines of India, a leading food consultancy company, from the ground up.
The Qureshi brothers strongly believe that their endeavour to bring traditional heritage cuisines to different parts of the world is a combination of both passion and business. “If business comes from heart, it cannot be a bad thing. It is we who think that business can be morally incorrect. If you make money by doing beautiful, right things, it is a pure business,” says Mohammed Ashfaque Qureshi, managing director of Grande Cuisines of India. “Both food as an art form and the business that we are doing today are of emotional value to us,” he adds.
In this day and age when quick-eats and fast-food rule the show, it may seem to the ordinary eye that fine-dining options don’t have many takers. However, this does not deter the Qureshi brothers. Their only challenge they admit, is having to maintain tradition and exclusivety in a world where the individuality of Indian food is often compromised. “Our philosophy is very simple. This is not just a business for us; it’s the ability to bring out good quality food and service, and bring the uniqueness of our Qureshi flavours to the international market because sometimes Indian food is perceived wrongly and our responsibility is to change that,” Qureshi asserts. Owing to the fact that the brothers have inherited a treasury of recipes and knowledge, they are known to fiercely guard their trade secrets, and with good reason; they believe that it’s the only way to secure the Qureshi experience for their guests and to maintain consistency throughout their branches.
Though the Qureshi brothers have spearheaded many brands with unique culinary concepts, Qureshi remains closest to their hearts because it bears the family name. Within a span of few years, the brand has made its mark in Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and now in Oman, and the brothers look forward to opening branches in both the Middle East and the Far East in the future.