Ruksana's Indian Restaurant is a staple of Iringa. One of my favorite restaurants ANYWHERE, this unique restaurant also has a long history that provides some sentimentality as we feel like we've been along for the journey.
The original location was a rather nondescript location with strange blackout paper on the windows. Where I am from, this type of opaque black window and door covering is only found in one location: pornography stores. Now of course that's my own history and bias but it had practical consequences as well, it was a bit startling to suddenly enter an intimate space, sometimes to a large group. I pulled this image of the outside from the internet but it often did not have the wooden sign and the white lettering on the door had long worn off. If one had not visited before there was always hesitation when reaching like, is this possible the location of a restaurant? With no visible markings and in fact only having self-effacing features, were you about to open the door on a private residence or illegal gambling den?!
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| the old location |
Upon entering the location the first thing you noticed was that it was, may I be generous and describe it as, intimate. The room was a small rectangle with a few tables. To further complicate matters, half of the room was taken up by the owners children watching TV, playing games, or just plain hanging out. It was like there was an unspoken understanding that the two tables nearest to the door were for diners while the rest of the space was actually their living room. Suspicions were furthered when going to wash your hands; walking through a clearly residential living quarters you were met with a bucket hand washing station and a peek inside the kitchen. A two burner jiko powered away, the proprietor and his wife usually bustling about in the cramped space. It was often times a comical scene whereby he'd be shouting some orders while flipping naan, then stirring some ingredients into the paneer kadai, as she rushes over a prepped chicken biriyani mix, also taking the freshly cooked veg pakora. They'd be exchanging words and plates and then suddenly peek up through the half open door at me, hesitate, and then kick the door shut as they continued in their maniacal thought efficient kitchen.
By the time I had reached Iringa the restaurant was at this spot but I'd heard he was originally the cook at a place called the Haven. The owners of the Haven were apparently a jolly family from the UK, normal and happy members of the Iringa community. Then one day, poof, they vanished. Word got out that an investigative journalist had tracked them down to Iringa and the were fugitives on the run, allegedly owing millions of pounds to the UK government. And they named their restaurant the Haven, how delightfully cheeky.
Apparently after this all occurred, the owner got his own spot. Early on there was new ownership in the Haven and from what I could gather he was moonlighting as a cook at his own restaurant, or the other way around, it's honestly difficult to understand. Sometimes he'd be at his restaurant but then he'd get a call and jump on a motorcycle to likely go cook at the other job. It was much better when he was around though his family did a commendable job to fill in when he was not there. His children were almost always there and they transitioned from simply vacating the dining room and telling their parents there were customers to most recently taking orders and running food.
Around 2023 he made some renovations, got a proper soda machine fridge, and invested a bit in the property. Unfortunately, though the faux brick wallpaper was nice, the slightly larger tables and chairs only made a cramped space even more uncomfortable. It was a nice effort though and the food remained delicious as usual. At this time I realized there was another expat that lived in town. He was a single retired male and from what I gathered he had some type of arrangement to come in for dinner, either pick up or dine in, and he would get whatever random meal was prepared for him. We witnessed these exchanges several times and I couldn't help but feel a little jealous!
Then we received some big news, he was going to move to the former site of the Haven, later rebranded as Chimney, and have a much larger property along with a guesthouse. I was super excited and although the property was initially a bit spartan, it is now a comfortable space with both internal and external dining with plenty of space for large groups and families.
OK, I haven't even mentioned the most important thing, the food. I've been told it is Mughlai-style cuisine and the owner is indeed Indian. Some favorites are the pakora, the butter chicken, the chicken biriyani, paneer kadai, and the butter naan. I am by no means an expert on Indian food but I've had many people from all around the world express this opinion about the food. It's really a hidden gem and a classic Iringa, "punching above its weight" type of amenity!
