A number of Indian eateries here, with clever names like the ‘Delhi Darbar’ and ’Salaam-Namaste’, serving a variety of food items including the good-old ‘Chicken Tikka Masala’ are a hit among Tajiks.

Typical Punjabi dishes like the ‘Butter Chicken’ and ’Daal Makhni’ attract a large number of foodies, mostly the Tajiks, to these restaurants who come here to taste food prepared with ingredients brought especially from India.

“We opened a restaurant ten years back when my father came here for the first time and saw the problem of getting good Indian food here. We initially opened a restaurant called ’Ashoka’

“When I came here the last time, I decided to open an Indian restaurant at the centre of this city naming it Salaam-Namaste,” said Apoorva Bhushan Mitra, an Indian who runs the eatery that serves almost all Indian vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.

“We have all the dishes from India. We have both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. Our butter chicken is very famous here among all people,” the 23-year-old entrepreneur told PTI.

All ingredients for the dishes come from India, he said.

“There are a lot of people who like Indian food. All our cooks are from India,” Mitra said.

Asked as to why the eatery was named ‘Salaam-Namaste’, he said it shows the confluence of cultures of both the countries.

“Tajik people are very friendly. Whenever they see an Indian here they say ‘Namaste’ (Greetings in Hindi). And when we (Indians) meet these people, we say ‘Salaam’ (Greetings in Arabic). That’s why we decided to keep the name as ’Salaam-Namaste’

“It shows connection between both the countries and is very catchy with the people here also,” Mitra said.

He said there were plans to open some more restaurants in the land-locked country surrounded by mountains.

“We are getting good business. We plan to expand it also.

We have got two restaurants here. We will soon open more eateries in other parts of the country,” Mitra added.

Another restaurant ‘Delhi Darbar’ also does a brisk business, with a host of guests, mainly Tajiks, relishing Indian foods here.

“I came here about 12 years ago. Since then I have been cooking food here. Tajiks like Indian food a lot,” said chef Kasturi Bali, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir.

One can enjoy snack-items like the ‘Samosa’ and main course dishes like ‘Paneer Makhni’, ‘Butter Chicken’ and ‘Naan (bread)’ here at an affordable price.

“I feel Tajikistan is my second home. Serving Indian food to them (the Tajiks) also makes me feel good,” a happy Bali said.

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