Peshawar: ‘Cherry Berry Restaurant’ journey from footpath to Suzuki

I have been running this restaurant for almost 25 years. Earlier I used to sit on the pavement and after that I shifted to Suzuki to take care of cleanliness.’

Shaukat Ali, 60, owns a Suzuki restaurant, also known as ‘Cherry Berry Restaurant’, outside the gate of Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar. Their customers range from rickshaw pullers to university students and doctors.

Shaukat Ali is now so old that he cannot sit and cook by himself with the stove installed in the Suzuki, but his children now do it under his supervision.

He told Independent Urdu: ‘Now the beard has turned white and I am still sick, but thankfully, running the restaurant supports the family and the sons and waiters help in this.’

He said that all the food in his restaurant is cooked at home.

According to Shaukat Ali: ‘The special thing about my food is that I cook it at home and cook it in high quality oil while also taking special care of cleanliness and that is why people from all walks of life come here. People come to eat.’

He further said that every day hundreds of people come to eat.

“Since my Suzuki is near the doctors’ hostel, some doctors used to come to me when they were in the university and now even as doctors they come to eat with me.”

What is a cherry berry?

When asked in this regard, Shaukat Ali said that he has introduced one of his dishes, which is made with chicken.

He said: ‘The chicken breast is cut into small pieces and fried in tomato and other spices. For this I also make a special spice and it is called cherry berry.’

Shaukat Ali said that most of the customers prefer Cherry Berry only.

A customer, Nabi Jan, told Independent Urdu that he has been coming here with his friends on different occasions for about five years to eat cherry berries.

Nabi John said: ‘Cherryberry still has the same taste as it did five years ago, but the price has clearly changed because inflation is high. Some time ago, a plate of cherry berries was available for around one hundred rupees, but now the same plate has become 250 rupees.’

When Shaukat Ali was asked why he does not open a restaurant? So he said that once he had experimented and rented some shops nearby but the problem was that customers used to come to the same place and leave without eating.

He said: ‘This place has now become my identity. The customer also knows that Shaukat Cheriberry Wala will be sitting here. After renting the shops, most of the customers would go to the footpath area but I was not there and they would go back, so again he finished the shops and shifted to Suzuki.’

According to Shaukat: ‘This place is for both the poor and the rich. People also come for the purpose that they will get cheap and clean food here, so I am content to just continue this restaurant here and thank God that the work is going on.’