Chuton Miah manager of Maisha Spice at the Mexborough Arms, Thorner.
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00:00 So my name is Chuthon Mir and we are in Thorner Village in LS14.
00:06 Can you just tell us about this restaurant?
00:09 How long has it been here? How did it come about?
00:13 What is the relationship? Because you are in the pub aren't you?
00:16 Yeah, we are inside, well, back of a pub.
00:19 And first of all, we opened on 22nd June 2021.
00:25 And I worked in the restaurant for nearly 30 odd years.
00:28 And obviously, I was working in York and I always wanted to do a restaurant inside a pub.
00:36 Because I have seen my friends and other families done it.
00:39 And it really worked out great.
00:41 And then one day I went to one of the pub in York and asked the landlady if she wanted to rent one of her side houses as an Indian.
00:49 And obviously, she said let me know within a couple of weeks.
00:53 And then a couple of weeks later, she phoned me and said we cannot rent this out.
00:58 So bleated. I meant by that.
01:01 So obviously, I just left it as it is.
01:05 Then this one came up in the market and she said to me, one day she phoned me, I was coming from York and she phoned me and said,
01:12 "Oh Chuthon, I am opening a new pub in Thorner. So obviously, are you still interested in doing an Indian restaurant in the back of this pub?"
01:20 I said, "Oh, Thorner. I recognised that name before because before we used to go to York this way, down the A64 rather than the M1."
01:27 So I said, "Okay, that's fine. I will come down. When do you want me to come down?"
01:30 She said, "Oh, we will be there on Monday."
01:32 So I came down on Monday. They were all here.
01:35 And then sat down and stuff like that.
01:37 I came down, checked this place out, checked the kitchen out, did a bit of research about the place.
01:43 If there was any other Indian restaurant surrounding or how many miles it was and stuff like that.
01:48 And I just thought, "Okay, that's fine. I will go for it."
01:50 Take a gamble, you know what I mean?
01:52 So I spoke to the landlady and the landlord and said, "Look, I will go for it. You have to give me at least four weeks before I can open.
01:59 So I need to get prepared, make the preparation and stuff like that."
02:02 And then obviously, then I started doing the work in the kitchen, bit of work in the kitchen, bit of flooring, new chairs and tables and stuff like that.
02:09 I just put up banners saying, "My Chef's Spice is opening soon" and blah, blah.
02:15 And everybody was shocked because there was nothing. There was no eating out place in Thorna.
02:21 So people were really happy and stuff like that.
02:23 So obviously, we opened on the 22nd of June, 2021.
02:29 It's a nice small village and people are very friendly.
02:33 Well, obviously, I've known this landlord for two years and I just can't fault him.
02:37 He's a really great guy. He'll help you out in any way.
02:40 So clearly, two years on since you've opened and the community really has taken you to the next level.
02:46 They are like a family now, to be honest with you. They are now my customers. They are my family now.
02:49 Because I know them, they know me, I'm delivering the right food because feedback is important to me.
02:58 So if anything that customer wants, if I can, I will do it.
03:02 And obviously, I've got to know them, they know me now.
03:06 "Hello, Chuton. How are you? Hello, John. You all right?"
03:08 It's nice. When they come in, they sit down, I actually feel comfortable and I sit with them, have a chat.
03:14 You know what I mean?
03:15 Like a normal customer, I would say, "Hello, sir. How are you? Hello, John."
03:18 It makes you feel more, not a friend, like a family.
03:22 Everybody knows me, they know my kids. It's really great. I just can't fault them.
03:26 The restaurant's a family business, isn't it?
03:28 That's right. All my kids work for me. All my three boys work for me and stuff like that.
03:32 One of my cousins works for me as well. Two of them work for me at the back as well.
03:36 So obviously, they've been supportive as well for the past two years and they've been looking after us.
03:40 And obviously, like I said, I will keep an eye on my things because I've got a bit of experience for 30 years.
03:44 And I know what's right, what is wrong.
03:47 And I try to, obviously, I get all my chicken fresh. It's not frozen.
03:51 So I get like, every day, I'll get maybe 10 kilos or whatever, what I need from my experience.
03:56 And I just, end of the day, it's more or less finished.
04:00 Whatever is left over, obviously, we'll probably use it next day.
04:03 And that's after, if it's left, it's still left over, we'll chuck it away. Simple as that.
04:07 Do you offer anything different to other Indian restaurants? What sort of food do you do?
04:13 We do Indian food. We do a bit of English food like steaks, scampi, nuggies and stuff like that.
04:17 We do children menus, small portion for kids and stuff like that, nuggets and chips and stuff like that.
04:22 We do vegetarian option, vegan option, gluten-free and stuff like that.
04:27 So this, I don't think anybody who doesn't like a curry may be able to come here and have like English dishes.
04:33 It's not a problem. If they want something, accept them. I can get it in and prepare for them.
04:39 It's not a problem at all.
04:40 And clearly, you get on with the landlord.
04:42 The landlord is a very great guy. But obviously, I haven't known him that well.
04:46 But like I said, I've known him for two years. If anywhere, he has helped me for the past two years.
04:51 And he's really friendly. He'll help you. Anything that, you know, like if you're out of stock or whatever,
04:55 if he's got it, he'll just say, "No problem, just take it. Just help yourself."
04:59 He's a great guy. I've worked in restaurants, I've seen landlords in a few pub restaurants,
05:05 which I've seen and I've worked in one as well in York.
05:08 But I've got a landlord like Greg or anything, I can't fault him. I'm really happy with him.