Meet Mirza Chowdhury and His Bangladeshi Cuisine

Chowdhury personally visits each diner in his intimate Bangladeshi restaurant

Southern Foodways Alliance

Southern Foodways Alliance

Mirza Chowdhury Oral History Highlights by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

The Southern Foodways Aliance oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Meet Mirza Chowdhury, owner of Panahar Bangladeshi Cuisine, located on Atlanta’s Buford Highway.

Mirza Chowdhury Panahar Bangladeshi Cuisine by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

Mirza Chowdhury visits personally with each diner in this intimate Bangladeshi restaurant located in a nondescript strip mall off Atlanta’s Buford Highway. He calls returning guests by name. He blesses new guests with a generous coupon to return for more.

Mirza Chowdhury Panahar Bangladeshi Cuisine by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

For many of the visitors to Panahar Bangladeshi Cuisine, this is their first encounter with Bangladeshi cooking—biriyani, halim, and dhaan-shaag—and Mirza serves as an enthusiastic culinary tour guide.

Mirza Chowdhury Panahar Bangladeshi Cuisine by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 1962, Mirza studied the English language as a child by reading grocery bags made from old American newspapers and magazines. As a freshman at Georgia Tech studying engineering, Mirza was lured away by the restaurant business.

Mirza Chowdhury Panahar Bangladeshi Cuisine by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

After working his way up the food chain of Atlanta’s food and beverage venues, Mirza seized an opportunity to open Atlanta’s first (and, to this day, only) Bangladeshi restaurant in December 2001.

Mirza Chowdhury Panahar Bangladeshi Cuisine by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

"The whole idea is to make it what I call palatable [food]—to make sure that you do not have to make the food really shockingly or profoundly different to make it nice."

Mirza Chowdhury Panahar Bangladeshi Cuisine by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

"It could be something simple, as long as it is genuine, as long as it tastes good, as long as it is consistent...

Mirza Chowdhury Panahar Bangladeshi Cuisine by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

and it is served by people who are genuinely happy that you are there."

Mirza Chowdhury Panahar Bangladeshi Cuisine by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

Mirza Chowdhury Panahar Bangladeshi Cuisine by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

Mirza Chowdhury Panahar Bangladeshi Cuisine by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

"So it’s more like it’s your home. You’re here, people are coming in as a guest and
the fact that we’re all from Bangladesh and they came in and they are curious about
Bangladesh and they want to learn about Bangladesh."

Mirza Chowdhury Panahar Bangladeshi Cuisine by Southern Foodways AllianceSouthern Foodways Alliance

"[Buford Highway] it’s a wonderful location. It works out great for us because people ...automatically know already that Buford Highway has myriads of multi-cultural restaurants from all aspects of this globe – you know all parts of this globe – from everywhere."

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