My trip to the Sher-E-Punjab Restaurant!
If you're ever in RAK and are looking for somewhere to eat (especially breakfast) then Sher-E-Punjab is one of the best places to go, and today that's what we did. Sher-E-Punjab is located opposite the Commercial Bank of Dubai on Al Rams Road in the Al Nakheel area of RAK, and their food is primarily Pakistani cuisine. Their name means "tiger of the Punjab" which you gotta admit is kinda cool, and their "mascot" for lack of a better word is as a matter of fact also a tiger. They opened up in 1976 and ever since then their low prices and delicious food have kept them going strong. The restaurant is tucked away in an unpaved, super tight, and store-filled area that I would most closely relate to a souq (market). It used to be open from around 5AM to 1AM, but then they decided that this was pointless and got themselves a 24-hour permit.
We went there early in the morning for some great breakfast to start off the day and then I decided that it would also be cool if I could make a blog about it since it is such a staple for my family. When we got there we parked the car pretty much wherever it wouldn't be blocking traffic and entered the cave-like entrance of the restaurant. Upon entering we were immediately met with the smell of spices and egg wafting through the room. As soon as you walk in, there is on the left a small sweet section where they have many traditional Indian sweets that they make there fresh. On the right is a refrigerator area where they store some ingredients and dessert items, and just a little further up to the right is the cashier's counter where the manager usually sits.
The rest of the area is all seating except for the bathrooms towards the far left and a couple more fridges with drinks and other stuff in them. Then in the far left corner there is an entrance that takes you into the kitchen where all the magic happens. When we got there and walked up to the manager we had already ordered by phone so our food was ready and we were confronted with the task of seeing whether or not he would allow us into the food creation studio or not. So with eager but still uncertain voices we requested permission to enter and as I'm sure you can guess since you're reading this right now, he said yes. The only problem was that the main chef was not on his working hours yet so we could certainly go into the kitchen but all there was to see were a few guys mostly cleaning and occasionally cooking some basic stuff that people ordered. Nevertheless I went back there and tried to get the best video I could, of course when you have six guys all stop working and just stare at you the whole time you're videoing it's kinda awkward but I survived.
So after I went through one of my top cringe moments of 2019, we stood around and had a nice talk with the manager who was quite intrigued with this thing that I called a vlog, and was eager to answer some questions. According to him the restaurant's prime time is the afternoon on Fridays and they get all sorts of customers, from construction workers to company chairs. He said interestingly enough that they didn't want to get a 24-hour license because it is more expensive and in those five or so hours from 1AM to 5AM they get all kinds of, let's say, "party" people. Not that it's a huge issue but he said the occasional fight might occur and it's just easier to avoid that stuff all together.
Anyway once we were done talking he said that we should come back in a few hours cus then the main chef would be in so I could get some video of them actually cooking. So about 4 hours later he called and said that we should come by, so we did. It was around 10am when we got there and things were really starting to pick up. So we said hey and went into the the kitchen again, the main difference this time being that all the people were too busy working to stop and stare at me like they did the first time. So I was able to get some nice shots of them doing different things. Come to think of it they were doing a lot of stuff with bread, like I say in the vlog one of their most popular items is different flavored Paratha or "flat breads" so it does make sense that they focus a bit more on that. They also had a traditional deep bowl oven that they were putting, you guessed it, more bread in. My favorite thing that they make is the Paratha with a chopped up Indian style omelet so once we were done documenting, we got some food, took it home and enjoyed.
Well that's it from me for now, I hope y'all enjoyed this post and I highly recommend that if you're cruising through RAK any time in the future you stop by Sher-E-Punjab and get yourself some good eat'n. Anyway thanks for reading and make sure to come by in a couple weeks for whatever comes next.