Wed, Dec 14, 2022 page4

• Pakistani hole-in-the-wall dishes up acclaimed cuisine

  • AP, LAHORE, Pakistan
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  No menu. No delivery. No walk-ins. Advance orders only. Explanations and instructions while you eat.

  Welcome to Baking Virsa, a hole-in-the-wall in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore described as the country’s most expensive restaurant for what it serves — household favorites like flatbreads and kebabs.

  It attracts diners from across Pakistan and beyond, curious about the limited offerings, the larger-than-life owner, and the rigid, no-frills dining experience that sets it apart from other restaurants in the area.

  

  Bilal Sufi, left, serves a customer at his Baking Virsa in Lahore, Pakistan, on Dec. 3.

  Photo: AP

  The windowless space opens out onto Railway Road in Gawalmandi, a neighborhood crammed with people, vehicles, animals and food stalls. Restaurants belch out smells of baking bread, frying fish, grilling meats and opinionated spicing into the early hours of the morning, when preparations begin for breakfast.

  Lahore is a culinary powerhouse in Pakistan and, for years, Gawalmandi was famous for having a pedestrian area with restaurants and cafes.

  Many of Gawalmandi’s original communities migrated from Kashmir and eastern Punjab province before partition in 1947, when India and Pakistan were carved from the former British Empire as independent nations. The mix of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims enriched Gawalmandi’s commerce, culture and cuisine.

  Restaurants in the neighborhood tend to be cheap and cheerful places.

  Then there is Baking Virsa, where dinner for two can quickly come to US$60 without drinks because drinks, even water, are not served.

  By comparison, a basket of naan at the five-star Serena Hotel in the capital, Islamabad, sells for US$1 and a plate of kebabs is US$8. In Gawalmandi, one naan usually costs as little as US$0.10.

  There are five items in Baking Virsa’s repertoire: chicken, chops, two types of naan and kebabs. Owner Bilal Sufi also does a roaring trade in bakarkhani, buttery, savory, crispy pastry discs best enjoyed with a cup of pink Kashmiri chai.

  Everything is available for takeaway, but must be ordered days in advance, even when dining in.

  Baking Virsa is not a restaurant, but a tandoor, a large oven made of clay, the 34-year-old Sufi tells people. It has been in the same location for 75 years, serving the same items for decades.

  Sufi said he is only doing what his father and grandfather have done, detailing his marinade ingredients, cooking methods, meat provenance and animal husbandry. His sheep are fed a diet of saffron milk, dates and unripe bananas.

  He also tells people how to eat their food.

  “Pick it up with your hands. Take a big bite. Eat like a beast,” he tells them.

  There is no salad, no yogurt and no chutney, he told a potential customer on the phone.

  “And if you ask for these, you won’t get them,” he said.

  Sufi has run Baking Virsa for more than three years, taking over from his father, Sufi Masood Saeed, who ran it before him and his grandfather, Sufi Ahmed Saeed, before that.

  “In Pakistan, people think the spicier the better,” the third-generation tandoor owner said. “Everywhere in Pakistan you’ll have sauce or salad. If you have those on your taste buds, will you taste the yogurt or the meat?”

  The meal arrives in a sequence.

  First, Sufi presents a whole chicken, for US$30, followed by mutton chops at US$12.50, then a kebab, which costs US$8.

  Sufi said that one kebab is enough for two people.

  A female diner asked for a plain naan with her chicken, but is told she cannot have it until she gets her kebab.

  Her companion asked for a second kebab, but is declined.

  “All our kebabs are committed,” Sufi told him solemnly.

  Another diner requested the mutton-stuffed naan, but was told she cannot have it as it was not part of the telephone order made three nights earlier.

  Sufi is unapologetic about everything. If he does not get the quality of meat he wants, he said he would not serve it. He would cancel the order and return the money to customers.

  If there are not enough orders, he will not open on that particular day, he said.

  “It isn’t necessary to open every day,” he said.

  Baking Virsa, like the properties surrounding it, has no gas or running water. There is little to no street lighting on Railway Road. Any illumination comes from traffic, homes and businesses.

  Sufi, unperturbed by his basic surroundings, said he has no intention of changing anything.

  “Baking Virsa is a legacy,” he said. “I’m doing this out of love and affection for my father.”
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