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Punjab-origin restaurateur helped feed needy Londoners during lockdown
Instead of welcoming tourists, office workers and regulars to the 75-year-old Punjab Covent Garden restaurant, the team started cooking meals and delivering to thousands needy
As the second wave of Covid continues to cause menace in several parts of the world, a fourth-generation Indian restaurateur recently spoke about how he kept his Covent Garden premises open through the Covid pandemic to help feed thousands of needy Londoners.
Instead of welcoming tourists, office workers and regulars to the 75-year-old Punjab Covent Garden restaurant, the team started cooking meals and delivering to thousands needy as well as provided supplies to food banks throughout London, local media reported.
Restaurant owner Amrit Maan said: “I made a conscious decision not to close. For us, Covent Garden is a village, it’s a community. I just refuse to have the kitchens closed. It doesn’t make sense. It gives you hope.”
When the lockdown started, Maan said he soon decided to use his kitchens for helping the communities in need. The restaurant, which specialises in North Indian cuisine, was founded by his great-grandfather Gurbachan Singh Maan and celebrated its 75th birthday this year.
Talking about people who joined the cause as volunteers, Maan said: “There are people out there who are compassionate and courageous. I am dumbstruck by the incredible humanity and care of the volunteers.”
He added, “You could sit at home and just shut the curtains and watch TV but I knew I was sitting on a blessed asset our kitchens are industrial kitchens. We have been helping the homeless for three or four years.”
He even moved out of his family home to stay at the restaurant to keep his elderly parents safe during the first lockdown. Seven of the 40 staff stayed at the premises to help with the food aid. The team started making wraps for volunteers working with the charity “Under One Sky” to give to homeless people in London.
“We were really blessed with the volunteers, they are an army of angels. With lockdown, there was nobody about and so some people were very hungry,” Maan said.
Some of those people hadn’t eaten for days. They helped make 100,000 meals, while Maan started helping food banks and they’ve done about 50,000 meals for them. His team delivered urgent supplies to the food banks using their links with suppliers. Maan joined forces with other volunteers feeding the homeless and other needy communities.
