No listicle about ‘must-have food in Lahore’ or recommendation about the best culinary experience the city has to offer is complete without the mention Arif Chatkhara that’s synonymous with its dark, green-chilli laden, spicy, barbequed and fried tawa chicken.

The chicken has almost attained a legendary status for its high spice level that many find hard to brave. And as you walk by the two-storey restaurant located smack amidst the Heera Mandi in Taxali Gate, you catch a whiff of the spice mix wafting from the large tawas (griddles) placed outside the eatery in a row, in the middle of which batches of chicken pieces are cooked in ghee and a good handful of green chillies, guaranteed to leave one’s mouth watering.

Arif Chatkhara is the baby of Muhammad Arif Butt that he set up in a small rented shop in the Taxali Gate area in 1996 after spending around a year in Karachi and exploring the food business there. “After quitting my newspaper job in Lahore in 1994, I went to Karachi and opened up a small food joint there. But I had to return within a year after a political party targeted me and had me shot at on the basis of my identity. In 1996, I rented a small shop a few yards from the current location, set up a tawa and started selling chicken pieces,” Butt recalls while talking to Dawn.

The recipe they use today took Butt a couple of years to perfect after rigorous research and trials to balance the spice level. About his initial days of struggle, he says he had to sell his belongings and wife’s jewellery to survive. “I did everything myself from buying a tawa to washing dishes to sweeping. As business picked up, I bought this shop in early 2000s, stepped back and handed over the main operations to my younger brothers. Luck also favoured me because the food business had not flourished enough at that time but I was apprehensive about creating a name among the giants in the area.”

Guarding the secret recipe, Butt’s younger brother, Muhammad Yaseen, says they use saffron that is rarely used at restaurants and gives their food the aroma. But he was generous enough to share that the spice mix they cook the chicken in includes saffron, black pepper, white pepper (that’s very good for eyesight and kidneys), some cinnamon and red chilli all mixed in yogurt.

He also clarified that the generous amount of green chilli found on the dish is only meant for garnishing and to make the plate look pretty.

Undoubtedly, anywhere in the country, the mention of tawa chicken means Arif Chatkhara. Yaseen, who started looking after the restaurant around 20 years ago, says anyone who has had Arif Chatkhara always returns to it. About the peculiar location of the restaurant surrounded at one point by brothels, he says androon sheher (the Walled City) has always been a crowd favourite and a happening place, especially when they started off. “Androon was always considered a khaaba house, so who would not do food business here.”

Serving daily from around 5pm to 3am, Arif Chatkhara sells somewhere between 800 chicken pieces a day and 1,200 on a good day, as per Yaseen. “We operate all year round but business is unsurprisingly slow during Ramazan when we sell somewhere between 100-300 pieces, as nobody would want to eat such spicy food after fasting all day. But it starts picking up during Eid holidays. The weather also impacts the business, as summers are difficult because tawa chicken is hot.”

Each day as service starts, the chicken pieces are first barbequed and a batch of them is placed on a tawa, ready to be cooked. As orders are placed, a good quantity of the yoghurt-spice mix is smothered over the barbequed piece that’s then cooked in ghee, and voila, a succulent, juicy tawa chicken piece is ready to be devoured with a rumali roti and raita -- in just Rs400! While one cooked in butter costs Rs450, as does a boneless tawa piece.

While many may get intimidated by the green chillies and the atomic spice level, Yaseen and Arif both say it’s eventually up to a customer how hot they want their chicken piece to be; some even ask for no spice at all. “The regular tawa piece we make is actually mildly spicy,” they said.

Besides tawa chicken, Arif Chatkhara have also had daal-anda tikki on the menu since the beginning and five years ago introduced qeema cooked in desi ghee. Their menu also includes regular daal, daal makhni and pota-kaleji.

The tawa chicken piece has been a star attraction at many a food festival in Lahore and other cities across the country, and has had renowned people as customers. “Malik Riaz’s son often flies my team to Karachi to make the chicken piece live for him,” says a beaming Yaseen.

Two years ago, they had planned to launch a branch in Bahria Town, but the pandemic threw a wrench in the works.

Arif believes the younger generation that’s more inclined towards fast food and foreign cuisines also loves their food, but the diminishing popularity of traditional food needs to be revived. “We have been pushed forcefully towards fast food. Our culture, tradition everything has been snatched. Research shows that fast food isn’t good for health. The taste conscious wouldn’t care about ambiance and only about taste, while the tasteless fall for the environment and experience. People will need to return to tradition and traditional food.”

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2021