Where is Siddika Kabir's Restaurant?

One of the must carry essentials during my student years outside Bangladesh was a book. A book not related to any fiction, fantasy or facts of real world, a book not related to any academic requirement whatsoever. No time for Masud Rana, Sunil or Shirshendu..Humayun Ahmed or Humayun Azad. But that was a book directly related to my existence, my day to day living and well being. A cook book by famous Bangladeshi chef Siddika Kabir that I didn't forget to buy at the 11th hour prior to catching a flight. Amazon describes one of her books as 'The best book for cooking written in Bengali for decades. In very easy and informative way the author has unveiled the secrets of traditional, contemporary, modern and fast-food preparing as well. Since late 70's a copy of this book is available in each household in Bangladesh as well as a part of standard packing for those who left for abroad.'

Among many other things in life, what I don't understand much are paintings, poetry, printers, photocopiers and cooking. The last in the list appears to me as easy at times, but when I get to do it myself, it appears to be as complicated as flying a fighter jet perhaps. Hence this reliance on the Bengali food Bible composed by the respected Siddika Kabir. While I am still flipping through the recipe pages of her book trying to successfully cook and eat (and let eat) some edible items, I was wondering why doesn't Siddika Kabir have any restaurants anywhere in Bangladesh? Its common knowledge that she is a familiar and popular face in cooking shows in many private television channels in the country, but wouldn't it be nice if she did have a flagship restaurant by her own name, owned by her, run by her somewhere in the city? It would be so nice to visit her signature restaurant from time to time to be served with delicious food items prepared by her very own unique recipes. Would be even nicer if she decides to show up occasionally to ask the food-lovers how the food was. She could even arrange some sort of impromptu cooking lessons in the same premises as the diners would be enjoying their food, cooked or directed by the chef herself. In a country where we love to eat, have eateries like mushrooms, its still too crowded with 'me too' restaurants or the frankly fake ones. This sector still has room for authentic food icons such as her.

In my opinion, what Siddika Kabir had been doing since 1965 deserves her to be branded, her knowledge in terms of the recipes are certainly exportable abroad where there is a large Bangladeshi diaspora presence. Same principle applies for Fakruddin's Biriyani too, if we crave over the Biriyani, wonder why this item and the brand have not been exported massively outside Bangladesh so far? Are we waiting for the Fakruddin family to initiate partnerships abroad? Or they are just not interested? Or is it just us who don't want to take the initiative to forge a partnership with them to spread this great Bangladeshi brand beyond Bangladesh, Singapore, Australia and to the US, Europe, Middle East etc.? Try Googling 'Bangladeshi celebrity chef'....we are certainly proud of Tommy Miah but somewhere down the line, I feel we would have been prouder to see the likes of the Siddika Kabir in that search too. Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Sanjeev Kapoor etc. might be self-taught, gifted cooking geniuses, but they did not brand themselves beyong their territories by themselves. It is argued that the media, the diaspora had an instrumental role to play in transforming these culinary brands into global level which proudly carry their national entities with them wherever they go. Why can't we do something better with our culinary trailblazers such as Siddika Kabir, Fakruddin's Biriyani, Mamar Halim or Kader (or Mostakim) er Chaap? Lets not wait for foreign consultants to come and show us what great items and achievers we have which should have been rightly promoted/branded long time ago.

Eat Chinese, by Chinese, at Chinese restaurant, in Bangladesh

Have you ever thought why many people prefer to look for ‘authentic’ Chinese food from restaurants such as Bamboo Shoot or Golden Rice or for ‘authentic’ Korean food from food joints like Arirang, Koreana etc. in Dhaka city? There had been so many Chinese restaurants in the city successfully catering to the Chinese food lovers for decades. However, many businessmen and families alike have lately grown a liking for the restaurants mentioned earlier not only to entertain foreign guests but also to arrange family gatherings, occasions etc. Other than perhaps the food being of superior quality and alcohol being served on the premises, it is argued that there is the element of true Chinese or Korean staff/owner/waiters being involved in the service process, which adds a great deal to the experience inside those restaurants.

I attended a Christmas party the other day at a French restaurant in London. Other than having names of food written in French in menu with explanations in smaller font in English, French music being played in the background, photographic pieces on French culture, history, the restaurant also had French speaking waiters and waitresses who conversed with guests and took orders in heavily French accentuated English. The accent was so ‘French’ that confusions occurred frequently whether they were speaking in English or making it sound like more ‘Frenchlish’. Nevertheless, the human touch of a frenchman/woman added a great deal to the experience of having French food at a French restaurant in London. In the same note, I realised that most Indian/Bangladeshi restaurants here are run and served by either Indians and/or Bangladeshis, West Indian restaurants served by Jamaicans, Dominicans etc., sushi restaurants run by Japanese and ofcourse the Kebab and Doner shops being run by mostly Turkish people. Certainly this is a no-brainer that Italians are the best cooks for pasta and pizza, Japanese for sushi and so on. Culinary country branding this is.

But interestingly in a country like Bangladesh which is full of food lovers where eating is an important part of day to day life and where there are perhaps equal if not more number of restaurants than shopping malls and mosques, there are only a handful of restaurants which showcase the ethnic human link to the food being served at the same time. Seeing ‘Chinese looking’ staff in a Chinese restaurant in the Bangladeshi capital certainly increases the credibility and authenticity and the ‘Chineseness’ of that restaurant in the middle of the Bangladeshi capital, atleast in the case of Bamboo Shoot and Golden Rice. It cannot however be argued that Chinese or Indian restaurants in Bangladesh which are being managed by Bangladeshis are not making any profit or are not popular or don’t serve good food. The argument is that when the food belongs to a certain foreign country, it makes the experience more complete if its also being cooked and served by someone who belongs to that country and who establishes interaction directly with the consumers when they are in the process of consuming that service—that’s the intangible value addition to the experience marketing. Its true that not all foreign food restaurants should have, or can afford to have foreign staff when there are so many unemployed Bangladeshis eagerly looking for employment. However it seems those which do (showcase foreign staff, chef, owner) seem to draw a certain class of consumers may be still from a niche segment of food lovers.

If you have Turkish friends in Bangladesh, ask two of them to set up and start running a Turkish Doner Kebab shop, where they themselves should be slicing and serving the kebabs. Its highly likely that it will break even in 6 months if it’s the ‘only’ Turkish restaurant in town as of date.