Suleman Raza being awarded Curry King of the year 2019 at the Asian food and restaurant awards held at the Hilton terminal 5 London . Suleman raza who started his career as a chef in early 2000,s has been recognised for his tireless work in the food industry for nearly two decades and has shown a huge resolve efforts to claim the recognition for the British Pakistani cuisine in the UK which was previously confused with its well-known South Asian neighbour, India.

At the turn of the millennium, the United Kingdom attracted a host of dreamers who, following their passion, wanted to make it to the big league. Suleman Raza, a tall and lean Pakistani origin young man in his early 20s was one of them. Those days. he was sweating as a chef in a Brixton based restaurant with an aspiration to start his own restaurant. He always felt things could be done differently for more delectable outcomes. The he was a chef yearning to open his own restaurant with signature dishes – Every chef dreams it. But what’s it like to actually do it? For some, it’s everything they hoped, an enterprise that feeds their spirit and fills their wallet. For others, the reality can be a nightmare—a blur of complaining customers, unexpected scoot work and mounting expenses. However, as they say, the dreams seen by the open eyes are dangerous as they get materialised. The young Suleman Raza found himself captivated with London’s eclectic restaurant scene and longed to bring some of that foodie culture back to South of London.

Suleman thought that the thickly populated Tooting would be ready for finer fare—if it were presented right. “I wanted the ‘wow’ effect, a place where people could be very pleasantly surprised, but still be comfortable while eating the healthiest food prepared from the freshest ingredients.” His dream restaurant would be for “people who might drive long distances to find an authentic restaurant with great food, where they could take their time with friends and families without feeling rushed. Slow, enjoyable food. Nothing to be rushed.”
While sweating himself in kitchen, Suleman immersed himself in almost daily restaurant planning. He began collecting travel-magazine photos of restaurants, along with reviews and other articles about their food presentations. “I started spending most of my time away from cooking thinking about the components of food, blends of spices, service and ambiance,” he recollected.

Debt and all, Spice Village restaurant opened in 2004. The aroma of chicken tikka, seek kebabs, chomps and variety of curries filled the air due to the irresistible combination of spices. Suleman quickly discovered that the reality of running a gourmet restaurant is a lot grubbier than he had imagined. There was a ton of work to be done behind the scenes and not enough people to do it. But that wasn’t a problem. He rolled up his sleeves and tackled a lot of the chores himself along with his brothers. “I don’t mind the grunt work,” Suleman reminisced. “It’s a good feeling to do the little things that make it all come together. It became even easier due to the unflinching support of the family.”
His workdays usually started at 9 a.m., going over the itinerary of the day with dozens of items to source, and ended at 3 a.m. after clean-up. Suleman regularly mopped and swept the restaurant himself .
That’s not to mention hauling delivery boxes to the recycling centre, doing the restaurant’s laundry and serving as general handyman. When a leaky toilet in the men’s room puzzled the plumber, he bought parts and fixed it himself.
‘’It’s not glamorous’’, he readily concedes, “but I have always been a frugal person. Besides, not making it wasn’t an option.”

Suleman’s hard work has been rewarded. Customers have poured in, some of them from all over the country from miles away. The word of mouth spread like wild fire. Soon there was a queue outside the restaurant and people were jostling to get inside. The waiting time got longer. The happy customers started talking about the yummy spicy fish, the incredible curries, the delicious tikkas and mouth-watering kebabs. The customers were not only Pakistanis and Indians but the mainstream British and Europeans who relished spices at their best. It was a great value for money so takeaway orders multiplied. Soon Suleman felt they had to acquire the next shop and then the next shop on the high street to overcome the immense demand.

Spice Village spread to the East of London and West of London too. From Tooting it reached Ilford and then Southall. The customers flocked wherever the brand reached. People came as tasters and then became avid fans. The taste, service, ambience couple with great value for money multiplied the number of diners. And the whole expansion was secured without allowing booze. ‘I always thought it would be more challenging to bring people in without alcohol. However, I believed if we would be good enough, we could do that. I don’t believe in alcohol and do believe in getting customers intoxicated with the power of spices – a much healthier option’.

Today, Spice Village with a host of services in catering, restaurants and events serves more than half a million customers all across London and the United Kingdom. It is not the numbers only as the quality of customers also picked up. Spice village customers range from the British House of Commons and House of Lords to Lambeth Palace, the Riyal Military Academy at Sandhurst, several embassies and London’s best starred hotels and iconic venues. London’s favourite mayor Sadiq Khan ranks Spice Village among his favourites. Every now and then some movie star walks in and some celebrity sneaks out. Social media and advisory websites are abuzz with the amazing feedback. Awards are piling up every year from almost every known entity that deals with food and lifestyle.