Curry house serves up free farewell feast for homeless
ACURRY house described as a ‘Rochdale institution’ has closed its doors for the final time - but not before feeding dozens of rough sleepers.
The Asia has served countless hungry punters over the years and counts singing star Lisa Stansfield among its regular customers.
And last Saturday the family-run business said goodbye to its loyal customers during an emotional farewell party.
But after years of charity work, brothers Umar and Amir Nazir felt they could not close the restaurant without one final act of kindness.
So on Monday afternoon the restaurateurs cooked batches of tikka masala, Madras, pilau rice and naan and offered up the plates of food to the homeless.
The meals were snapped up in seconds by around 35 homeless people, many of whom frequent Milkstone Road where the restaurant is based.
General manager Umar, the youngest son of founder Mohammed Nazir, said: “We’ve been feeding the homeless once a month for years. We’ve been quite heavily involved.
“When we closed the restaurant we realised they have all relied on us and their presence on the street gave us some form of solidarity.
“Although they have never been able to come in the restaurant and buy a meal they have always been around and giving us a nod.
“It was lovely to be able to do this.”
The family have worked with a nearby homeless shelter to feed refugees and rough sleepers throughout Ramadan. They will also be giving away furniture from the restaurant to those in need.
Umar, 35, said the farewell party was emotional but insisted it was the ‘right time’ to shut up shop.
He said: “For 35 years we have dominated this street.
“We never really expected the reaction we got from the community when we announced we were closing, it’s been beautiful.
“There are a lot of sad people but hopefully we’ve given them some memories we can cherish.
“Everyone came to the party, it was packed. It was really emotional but we’ve been mentally prepared for it for a while, which made the decision a lot easier. We wanted to go out with a bang.”
The restaurant originally started as The International Cafe in 1974 but became so popular the family were forced to move to a bigger venue just along the street in 1981.
Mohammed, 86, affectionately known as ‘Uncle’ to customers, created the recipes and is still involved with the restaurant.
When staff announced they would be selling 1,300 frozen curries to customers, the meals were snapped up in just four days.
Umar and Amir will continue to run an outside catering business and now plan to release a recipe book and start a cooking school.