Established in 2002, MyLahore serves its hearty, home-away-from-home food of quintessentially British dishes with a twist.
Regarded as a food staple for British Asians, MyLahore, is rooted in Yorkshire, in a world of small kitchens with huge hearts, and a family-friendly atmosphere.
From their Lahori shepherd’s pie to spicy lamb karahi, the restaurant serves its British Asian dishes with its own take on traditionally British recipes.
Bringing people together around great food and vibrant, fulfilling experiences, with a famously diverse menu, including culinary strolls down memory lane, such as the back-to-school foods and desserts.
The restaurant has grown to offer other services over the years, such as transitioning to taking online food orders and having its own catering team that caters to weddings and events, with branches across Bradford, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, London, and Blackburn, which is opening soon.
As MyLahore celebrates 20 years today on 30 June, the pioneers of tailoring British food to Asian tastebuds, are celebrating by bringing back some old school memories and giving back to the community.
Ishfaq Farooq director of MyLahore tells Asian Sunday:
“20 years on, we’ve got seven branches, we’ve got a catering team and just over 550 team, members, so it’s a great achievement.
“Our concept has always been the British Asian kitchen and that basically means the whole British Asian heritage, how we British Asians grew up in the UK with our heritage from Pakistan”.
The director told Asian Sunday the restaurant could not keep up with the demands of the recipes which were inspired by the meals they’d had at school and took them off the menu as other dishes gained more popularity.
However, this year, MyLahore wanted its 20-year anniversary to be celebrated with something special, so they decided on bringing back a culinary dish, with a recipe that was developed 17 years ago, that was deemed a favourite by customers.
“We’re bringing back our shepherd’s pie and cream delight, which were our two signature dishes” Ishfaq shares his excitement.
“It’s been a bit of a challenge getting the same recipes, compared to what we had 17 years ago but we have managed to source them for all around the country”.
20 years ago, it was deemed a struggle by British Asian Muslims to source halal shepherd’s pie and other quintessentially British foods, that were tailored to their taste buds, as many Asians would find the English version of a shepherd’s pie to be bland in taste.
It comes as no surprise that the franchise’s twist on traditional foods was immensely popular amongst their customers.
“It’s not your traditional shepherd’s pie, with potato and mince, it’s with the Asian mincemeat, and Asian spices, so it’s not like a bland shepherd’s pie, even with the potatoes, it’s garnished, and the ingredients are the Asian ingredients and that’s what makes My Lahore really unique,” Farooq tells us.
Introducing back-to-school puddings like jam-roly-poly and chocolate cake with custard, to their British-Asian fusion menu, Farooq says “When we opened the restaurant, rather than sticking to the traditional Asian sweets, like falooda, and gajrala, we opted for them, because we’re pioneers in terms of what we do, so we decided to try new things”.
Giving back to the community on 23 June, MyLahore delivered a cooking class with students from Carlton Bolling school, which was the winner of the 2019 Gold Awards for the Pearson National Teaching Awards.
In what the students described as a “Masterchef” showdown, they were taught how to make a My Lahore authentic chicken masala, taught by chef Zahir Khan, who appeared in a segment of Gordon Ramsay’s Channel 4 Food show Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares.
Director Ishfaq says “I didn’t expect the kids had so much passion regarding cooking food, especially the chicken masala, I think they were really excited and I didn’t expect them to come up with this quality of dishes”.
Both Ishfaq and Khan, the head chef at MyLahore commented “When it came to choosing the winners, it was very difficult because the majority of them were very top standard”.
“I think this was a great initiative from the school and the people who have organised this, to really get in the passion for people to come into the hospitality industry,” says Ishfaq.
A student at Carlton Bolling that partook in the curry class commented “It’s a very successful chain in the UK, the food is very authentic to how we make it at home and even in 20 years’ time I think will be one of the staples in the UK to where people go and get curry and other dishes from,” says Adam.
Another student commented on how the food served at MyLahore reminds her of “home”.
Farooq, says the hospitality industry is lacking “It’s not about what you know, if you’ve just got that touch, and you’ve got the eye and mind to make a dish, especially when it comes to curries, you just go with the flow, you might put in extra coriander or extra spices and put a bit of haldi in”.
As some students stood in line to get autographs from the Director, Ishfaq, says he felt like a “celebrity”.
The official Twitter account of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wrote “evoking memories of the #RoyalVisitPakistan at MyLahore, where The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge met apprentices from Bradford college before trying their hands at making mango and kulfi milkshakes”.
Other noticeable visits by people in the public eye include the magician Dynamo, and singer Imran Khan, with boxer Amir Khan being a regular at the flagship store in Bradford.
Here’s congratulating MyLahore on two successful decades, long may they continue.