THE world’s biggest curry house is in Britain – and it serves up 1,000 chickens & 10,000 poppadoms every week.
Entrepreneur Mahboob Hussain is the man behind the Royal Nawaab Pyramid – dubbed the “eighth wonder of the world” – which towers over Stockport.
The Royal Nawaab Pyramid in Stockport is the biggest curry house in the world Credit: Steve Allen
Director of operations Asad Mahmood and restaurant owner and founder Mahboob Hussain Credit: Steve Allen
The staggering structure is housed within an already-existing and formerly derelict glass pyramid that cost a staggering £15million to revamp before its grand opening last year.
During The Jattvibe’s visit, proud Mahboob told us he has around 200 staff serving up to 2,000 customers every night.
Sign up for The Jattvibe newsletter
Thank you!
They dish up 2,000 naans daily – along with getting through a thousand chickens, and 10,000 poppadoms and 15,000 chillies a week.
Meanwhile, the weekly food shopping bill is a bumper £100,000. An all-you-can-eat buffet, it carries 180 dishes and stretches 165ft.
BALTI TOWERS
Inside the world’s biggest curry house in UK with 10,000 diners a WEEK
YUM YUM
First look inside world’s biggest curry house as ‘Great Pyramid’ is transformed
The restaurant serves 180 dishes Credit: Steve Allen – Commissioned by The Jattvibe
The army of curry house staff cooking the food in the kitchen Credit: Steve Allen
The buffet stations are designed to present freshly prepared South Asian dishes Credit: Steve Allen
Some of the Indian starts on offer Credit: Steve Allen
The Jattvibe arrived to dine around 5pm on a weekday and it was already filling up with famished customers, many had no doubt spotted the place on recent Channel 4 programme World’s Biggest Curry Restaurant.
Front of house more than 30 chefs operate in a “theatre kitchen” while another 65 operate out of sight – with eight massive fridges the size of living rooms alongside the main restaurant kitchen.
Mahboob gave us a behind the scenes tour and in the kitchen proclaims, among his smiling staff: “I love it here in the kitchen – I’ve never lost my love for this.”
As the inspirational founder invited us to try some samples from the buffet, we trusted floor manager Mo Ismaelji to make the recommendations.
Mahboob as a young man when newly arrived in the UK Credit: Steve Allen
The pyramid before £15million was spent to revamp it Credit: Steve Allen
They don’t serve alcohol here, but a Mint Cooler and a Mango Lassi are ideal accompanying drinks.
The starters include lamb chops, well spiced chicken tikka, delicious seekh kebabs and a poppadom. Each nibble is naughty, but very nice.
The main courses are numerable and the Butter Chicken is delightful, alongside a Lamb Handi and a mouthwatering vegetable curry.
On a personal level, Mahboob’s best creation was definitely the highly spiced Lamb Nehari – cooked, apparently for eight to nine hours, so the meat just falls away and floods the tastebuds with flavour.
Mahboob, now 70, says he’s never the lost the buzz for running his businesses Credit: Steve Allen
The entrance to the restaurant is most impressive Credit: Steve Allen
The Lamb White Korma, Lamb Haleel and Lamb Khorai are all impressive dishes, each delicately flavoured, each very different from the next and the Mango Lassi goes great with them all.
At about this stage, both myself and photographer Steve Allen were feeling a little like Mr Creosote in Monty Python’s Meaning Of Life.
Yet, charming Mo moves in, not with a wafer thin mint, but a selection of six different desserts.
We decline politely, but before we can make our excuses and leave, we’re handed teaspoons and the puddings are all duly sampled.
An estimated 10,000 poppadoms are served every week Credit: Steve Allen – Commissioned by The Jattvibe
No alcohol is served on site, but among the drinks on the menu is this refreshing mint cooler Credit: Steve Allen – Commissioned by The Jattvibe
Each one equally delicious, but the nibbles were only tiny yet very tasty.
Mo insisted we taste the Royal Firni, which is a creamy sweet pudding made “with love” – it was totally lovely, as was the Gajar Halwa, a carrot concoction with milk, sugar cream and garnished with nuts and of course there was some ice cream.
Mo teasingly talked us through the lot, which was a feast for the ears as well as the eyes. No wonder Mahboob was happy to leave us in his hands.
Marketing director Bilal Jogi even popped along with takeaway bags, so we could feed the family.
The centuries-old recipes are blended with a modern elegance, featuring the rich flavours of Indian and Pakistani cuisine Credit: Royal Nawaab Pyramid
The Jattvibe also sampled a wide selection of desserts during our visit Credit: Steve Allen – Commissioned by The Jattvibe
Would we comeback? You’ve got to be kidding, we’ve got about another 165 dishes to sample, so it’s evidently a return destination.
It’s pretty easy to find as well, it’s the only pyramid on Manchester’s M60 ring road, but it’s best to book to avoid disappointment.
Mahboob has come a long way from his childhood in Rawalpindi, but the Asian flavours from his homeland have certainly spiced up Stockport.
As a teenager, Mahboob, 70, left his roots in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and moved to Britain in 1969.
Naan man Akbar Khan (right) and his assistant Ghulab Abbas Credit: Steve Allen – Commissioned by The Jattvibe
Every meal is expertly made with passion and skill in the vast kitchen Credit: Steve Allen – Commissioned by The Jattvibe
The then-budding businessman started his working life as a labourer in a textile factory, so very much beginning at the bottom.
The Pyramid curry house stands alongside the Art Deco Hoover building in London as another iconic structure at the fore of the Royal Nawaab empire of destination dining venues.
Mahboob, owner of both and a converted Cineworld in Ilford, Essex, is massively appreciative of his British bosses back in those dark satanic mills of West Yorkshire, as they rewarded his hard work and attempts at innovation.
After 18 years in textiles Mahboob, a self-confessed hard worker, left the textile trade as general manager with 1,400 staff under him in 1988.
The salad station on the buffet Credit: Steve Allen – Commissioned by The Jattvibe
A selection of restaurant staff – Rafaqat Saleem, Abdul Majeed, Jehangir Mohammed, Mubashir Inayat, Naga Nabi and Asif Muhammed Credit: Steve Allen – Commissioned by The Jattvibe
Self-effacing Mahboob told The Jattvibe: “People in Britain appreciated somebody’s skills and I was a good operator and worked hard. No university, just hard work and good ideas.
“I got appointed supervisor, then promotion after promotion and was developing the way we worked and making new ideas that increased productivity.
“When I left in 1988 I was very fond of food, eating, creating recipes and dishes. It was my passion.
“I started my first restaurant in Bradford from Manor Road and it worked. We expanded to Huddersfield and Manchester, but my customers used to come back from their holidays and tell me they could never get a decent curry.
Some more of the restaurant’s starters Credit: Steve Allen – Commissioned by The Jattvibe
Mahboob poses outside the Pyramid Credit: Steve Allen – Commissioned by The Jattvibe
“So I went to Majorca, where many of them visited in the 90s and opened a restaurant at San Agustin.”
It was in Majorca that Mahboob met a charming young Spanish speaker, Asad Mahmood, now 46, who is testimony that the boss is very keen on keeping good people around him.
Asad recalls fondly his boss learning Spanish and when the overseas operation closed a decade or so ago, he was happy to relocate to Manchester and is now floor manager and guest liaison at the Royal Nawaab Pyramid.
Mahboob said: “In Majorca most of my existing customers visited and we opened up in Palma Nova and Benidorm.
One of the banqueting suites in the restaurant Credit: Steve Allen
The Pyramid is hard to miss Credit: Steve Allen
“Our restaurants are destinations and the biggest advantage for the customer is they get the chance to try up to 180 different dishes.
“The concept I have got now demands a lot of manpower, but I’ve adapted machines like the kebab grill to ensure the food is cooked correctly. I went to the manufacturers and asked them to adapt the machines for us.
“I have the mouths to feed and I have the manpower and machines to ensure they don’t go hungry.
“Coming up with ideas helped us expand. The first restaurant I did in Manchester was an old cinema and it was big enough for this concept.
Among the desserts are scores of ice cream flavours Credit: Steve Allen – Commissioned by The Jattvibe
Hardworking kitchen staff during our visit Credit: Steve Allen – Commissioned by The Jattvibe
“This place was a former Co-Op bank building and was virtually derelict as images will show. When we did the Art Deco former Hoover building in London we filled 700 skips.
“I always look for an iconic building – hence the Pyramid. We faced a lot of big challenges, but we succeeded and with a lot of change we have turned this place into a destination.”
And like with all his ventures, Mahboob has used local trades to good effect with tiles from Preston, Lancashire, furniture from Knutsford, Cheshire, and lighting from Nelson, Lancashire.
He said: “I wanted to prove a point that in this country we can still produce and manufacture to a high standard. I wanted to employ as many local tradesmen as possible, so most of the work was done by workers from Stockport and Manchester.
The Royal Nawaab can only accept bookings currently Credit: Steve Allen – Commissioned by The Jattvibe
Mahboob took a gamble with the derelict glass pyramid when no other business would touch it Credit: Steve Allen – Commissioned by The Jattvibe
“We don’t have to go to China for everything. When we started here no one would go near it, but we’ve turned it round.”
The building was a shell, with neither floors nor walls, just a mass of wires, broken office furniture and his labourers filled 900 skips emptying the place.
Mahboob spent £15million transforming it into a palatial restaurant, with marble floors, a fountain in the reception area, as well as exceptionally ornate chandeliers imported from Iran.
The restaurant is on the ground floor with seating for 450 guests, who can book for a 90-minute buffet, before being replaced by new customers after they’ve finished dining.
The space is divided up to stop that canteen feel and the seating is comfortable accompanied by very efficient service.
Many of his chefs have been working with him for a quarter of a century, like Rafaqat Saleem, 61, main course head chef Abdul Majeed, 50, and Jehangir Muhammed, 48.
Yet their colleagues Mubashir Inayat, 40, and Naga Nabi, 52, are virtual newbies, with just 15 and 12 years as employees respectively.
Naan man Akhbar Khan, 37, has worked for Mahboob for 22 years and his assistant Ghulam Abbas, 32, helps with the industrial scale production of the naan bread.
It’s important to Mahboob that his workers are recognised for doing a good job. He said: “People ask me – what is your success down to?
“I always say that I have a very good team and I treat them like my family. I strongly believe that my success is down to this team.
“Putting the customers first and making sure the team do the same is so important.
“When I went to Spain I was following my customers there as they often complained they could not get a good spicy curry.
“We did that for them and Asad was one of the lads who made the restaurants in San Agustin, Palma Nova and Benidorm a success.
“I like to keep my staff with me and he’s here in Stockport now. I respect my team.
“I strongly believe that one person can’t do anything on their own, to be successful and win the war in business you need your soldiers.
“I am so pleased and proud that the local community is supporting me. All through my career I’ve never looked at my work in terms of hours – I enjoy the work.”
