A pink-coloured advertisement on a billboard at the capital’s Farmgate area draws onlookers' attention instantly. "Kakur Kitchen" is written on the billboard but interestingly, it does not have any address suggesting where the restaurant can be found.
After a thorough search, once you are seated at the restaurant you will feel like you're sitting at someplace that is definitely not Farmgate. There is a reason for such a feeling. Elaborating, when you will enter the restaurant coming right through the concrete jungle that is Farmgate, you will enter through a stairway and find walls neatly decorated with bamboos, reminding you of nature. Once you've entered, you'll be taken by the seating arrangement as well.
It is just as if there is complete greenery on all sides. The magnificence of the environment does not end here. When you sit at the table, you will not only be handed the menu, but will also get books. After placing an order for food, you can engross yourself in the realm of poetry instead of whiling away time browsing through your phone. In this age of satellite culture, it seems as if the entire arrangement has been made to bring exposure to Bengali habits and to bring us back to our roots.
"The objective of Kakur Kitchen is not just to own and have a profitable business but rather, we started this business with an intention to provide a service," Jahidul Islam Jami, general manager of the restaurant informed. The way the restaurant functions, you can't help but believe that he has stayed true to his words. Every night at 10 o’clock, the restaurant provides food free of cost, calling this service "bandhur khabar."
The arrangement has been made as a move to extend the hand of humanity and solidarity to the local community. Kakur Kitchen can cater to a total of 80 people via four rooms called Padma, Surma, Jamuna and Karnaphuli.
When asked for the reason behind naming these rooms such, they said it was symbolic as the rivers are spread around different areas of the country but bring people together nevertheless. Similarly, people from different zones can unite at the restaurant as well. These names were chosen as a means of expressing solidarity among the people of all strata.
Different varieties of foods are available from 11am to 10pm. Moreover, they also have arrangements to host large parties and ceremonies. Another important feature of Kakur Kitchen is that young, indigenous men and women from the Chittagong Hill Tracts have been hired to serve as waiters and waitresses.
When asked about the name of the restaurant, Jami said there has been a lot of talk about the word "mama" in our country. It's a word people easily associate with, especially since it's used so often. He said they wanted to make a breakthrough by building another brand name. The image and idea of the word "kaku’ represents someone experienced who cooks food using his long-earned excellence of proficiency.
If we look into their menu, there are only three main food items: two types of kebabs and some drinks. The main dish includes Dom Biryani, Dom Tehari and Dom Murogh Polao. However, the most interesting part about their food is the use of dum ovens where a live, sealed oven is used for slow cooking. Tasty pickles, kebabs and salads of choice are also provided.
Special ghee produced from its own farm in Satkhira, Basmati rice and high quality spices are used for cooking their biryani. These special biryanis have totally changed the taste of traditional biriani and tehari. The prices too, are affordable. Dom Biryani and Dom Murogh Polao are sold at Tk190 and Dom Tehari at Tk170. Chicken Jaali Kebab and Beef Jaali Kebab are sold at Tk65 and Tk55 respectively.
Talking about future plans, Jami said, "We began this journey with a big dream. We tried to do something different in every aspect - from choosing the site to fixing the prices of the items.”
"Besides, we prefer improving the quality of food rather than increasing the number of items," he said. He also added that they want to spread the Kakur Kitchen franchise across the country with three biryani items only. They have plans to spread this restaurant in eight divisions and 42 districts. They are working to entertain the food-loving people of the country with delicious food items with the flavour of local culture and heritage.
And for this, Kakur Kithen is strongly determined to maintain their arrangement.
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