When you think of border town cuisine, the taste of samosa and peas immediately comes to mind, or perhaps you think of sweet dishes.

Halwa, puri, rowdi, and longlatta are also preferred in the border markets depending on the place. In the city of Bhairahawa in the central Terai, along with local dishes, foreign dishes have also become popular.

The story is from 25 years ago. At that time, foreign flavors had not spread their empire like they do now. Asha Gurung of Bhairahawa started Pizza King Restaurant in Bhairahawa in 2058 BS. Only then did locals start inquiring about pizza. ‘What is pizza?’ Asha said, ‘Pizza connoisseurs would come from 20 kilometers away to eat pizza.’

He said that he learned to cook and deliver pizza by working in a pizza restaurant for two years when he went to Germany for foreign employment in 1991. In Germany, pizza was delivered to the house within 25 minutes of ordering over the phone. If it was later, the service should have been provided free of charge. After returning to the country after learning the job there, he said that he started the business by renting a shutter for Rs. 1,500 at the main intersection of Bhairahawa. ‘There were no color IDs and mobile phones here,’ he said, ‘However, we started the service to deliver pizza to your home within 30 minutes.’

He said that he had arranged two Splendor motorcycles to provide home service. Initially, due to the lack of an oven, he prepared the pizza base on a tawa and cooked it in a microwave oven. At that time, there were many students from South India at Universal Medical College. They were pizza and burger connoisseurs. ‘At that time, 80 percent of the customers were Indian students,’ he said, ‘they didn’t even get a box to pack pizza.’ Initially, pizza was sold for Rs. 120 to 90. At that time, sales were worth Rs. 10,000 daily. At that time, armed conflict broke out in the country. ‘It became impossible to provide door-to-door service,’ he said, ‘we couldn’t find workers.’ After that, he operated the restaurant in Siddharthnagar-12 for about 4 years and sold it.

Tom Prasad and Ashmaya Gurung.

Locals Tom Prasad and Ashmaya Gurung, who saw the restaurant’s brilliance, bought Pizza King. Tom Prasad was working in the Indian Army. After retirement, he ran a restaurant in Kathmandu for some time. They are natives of Bhairahawa. ‘We came to Bhairahawa after buying a restaurant that was running a home-made restaurant,’ said 60-year-old Ashmaya, ‘this restaurant is where pizza started in Bhairahawa. At that time, there were no modern utensils like now. Pizzas of the same size were prepared in the traditional way.’ At that time, the then government-Maoist conflict was at its peak. Political parties used to demonstrate daily. Long-term bandhs/strikes were called. ‘Our restaurant was next to the district police station,’ she said. ‘The police would point their guns at our shop.’ At that time, there were not many restaurants in Bhairahawa. Pushpadeep, Top and Town, and Pareli Khaja House were crowded. Pashupati Lodge was in operation. This is the oldest lodge in Bhairahawa. ‘Customers would not enter just by hearing the name Pizza King,’ she said. ‘Many thought the new dishes would definitely be expensive.’ However, customers would come from far and wide to taste pizza. Gradually, a stream of customers began to flock to eat pizza, mahmah, chowmein, and chicken chili. ‘Initially, there were 7/8 employees,’ she said, ‘After a year and a half, we increased the number to 15 employees.’ Initially, the rent for the house where the restaurant was located was 10,000 rupees per month. ‘When we paid 10,000 rupees for rent, many people were reluctant,’ said 65-year-old Tom Prasad. ‘Later, we paid up to 50,000 rupees for the same house.’

Ashmaya says that she still feels embarrassed when she remembers the hard work she put in to run the restaurant. She used to buy everything from the oven, refrigerator, spoons, plates to food for the restaurant herself. After gathering all the necessary ingredients in the kitchen, she would listen to the joys and sorrows of the customers. ‘We used to make the tomato sauce ourselves,’ she recalled. ‘We would get up early in the morning, wash the tomatoes, and cook them in the oven to prepare the sauce for the pizza.’ She said that she worked from morning to 11 pm. According to her, the restaurant was always lit up all night. Even when a thousand customers came in a day, she did not face any problems. Ashmaya said, ‘I was not allowed to drink alcohol excessively. I would lovingly correct drunkards and send them home. If someone misbehaved with me, I would come the next day and ask my mother to forgive me.’ Students staying in Bhairahawa would visit me when they went home. She said that they would come to visit me after returning from home.

Since her husband was a soldier and did not know much about the Nepali market, she did the necessary equipment and shopping herself for a few years. She took a loan of Rs. 8 from the Agricultural Development Bank to meet the needs and improve the facilities of the restaurant. ‘He would stay up till 11 pm and distribute the money he had saved to the bank, staff, food, loan repayments and profits,’ she said. ‘After repaying the loan on time, the Agricultural Development Bank also recognized him as a good borrower.’

After repaying the bank loan, she handed over the responsibility of shopping to her husband Tom Prasad. He also started carrying the necessary goods to the shop on a bicycle. She said that she bought a scooter to make shopping easier when food consumption started to increase. In the meantime, her younger son Kumar and daughter-in-law Aruna had also started helping in the restaurant. They used to help their parents day and night. ‘Our restaurant was old-fashioned,’ said Aruna, ‘it had no modern decoration.’

Kumar Gurung and Aruna.

She said that she moved to a new place in 2075 BS because the decoration of the restaurant needed to be modified with time. Aruna said that in the first year of opening the restaurant at a new location at a cost of Rs 8 million, there was a rush of customers. Even now, there are musical performances on weekends. There are many birthday and wedding anniversary programs. ‘Our generation who grew up eating pizza is all over Rupandehi,’ said Kumar. ‘Even those living abroad order and have it delivered to their homes.’

He said that people living in Hong Kong, Britain, Europe, and America send money online and have food delivered to their homes. Regular customers come from the bordering Indian cities of Sunauli, Nautanua, and Gorakhpur. ‘There used to be a huge influx of students from Kerala, India, who were studying at Universal Medical College,’ said Ashmaya. The restaurant has prioritized ‘home delivery.’ They have made arrangements to deliver food to Manigram in Rupandehi in the north, Bethari in the west, Rohini in the east and Sunauli in South India. ‘I go myself to deliver food beyond Bhairahawa,’ said Kumar, ‘There is a free delivery facility throughout Bhairahawa. If you have to go beyond that, there is a fee.’

Ashmaya and Tom Prasad, who were committed to the business, handed over the business to their son and daughter-in-law after the restaurant moved to a new location. Now Kumar and Aruna are engaged in customer service. On days when there is a shortage of staff, Kumar works as a waiter. On days when there is no chef in the kitchen, Aruna prepares the dishes. ‘When there is a crowd, Kumar works as a waiter and I work as a cook,’ said Arun, ‘Kumar does the work of home delivery even to far-off places.’