New Orange restaurant offers halal Pakistani, Indian dishes

ORANGE — Food orders at the new Dera BBQ restaurant may take longer than expected, the owners admit, because all their traditional halal Pakistani and Indian dishes are made to order except for stews and other offerings that need to simmer.

Those selections that need to be cooked ahead are made in small batches so they are fresh daily, said Muhammad Haroon, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Neelem Haroon.

“Nothing is cooked or half-cooked” before being served, he said.

The couple, who have two young children and live in Orange, opened the restaurant about a month ago in a shopping center at 85 Boston Post Road, an ideal location, they say, because they’re so close two destination Indian food markets and an Islamic Center attended by 500-600 people for Friday prayer services.

The 5,000-square-foot restaurant with an adjoining “event hall” is located in a small plaza alongside Farmer’s Indian Market, across the street from the large Farmer’s India Market and less than a mile from New Haven Islamic Center.

Business done in those locations draws restaurant customers, the Haroons say, as Dera BBQ serves only halal meats in keeping with Islamic law.

Having the stores nearby also helps with accessibility to ethnic products used in cooking.

Customer Asif Shah of Orange, originally from Pakistan, is a returning customer.

“The Indian, Pakistani community in this neighborhood needed a restaurant of this kind,” he said. “I like the taste here. It’s really good.”

Visually, the place has a “wow” factor.

Along both sides of the deep space are brightly colored, velvet-like couches — purple, hot pink, blue — with low, glass table held by ornate, dark wood bases.

In the middle are rows of regular-height tables and colorful, majestic looking, hand-painted chairs from Pakistan that the couple assembled.

They also stenciled the ceilings with an eye-popping design and colorful parasols hang from that space.

The “curtains” are of a bamboo-like material with colorful threads and little, diamond-shaped mirrors.

Everything is handmade, Neelem Haroon said, including the artwork of Pakistan/India that adorn the walls and the vases on the tables. There are sequins and shiny things everywhere.

The couple met in Pakistan while Neelem Haroon, 31, was visiting, and moved to Connecticut to be close to her family.

Opening a restaurant seemed like a natural, as Muhammad Haroon, 29, grew up in the family’s restaurant business in Pakistan, starting as a young teen.

The couple saw a need for a traditional halal Pakistani and Indian restaurant here, as they used to have to drive to New York City to get their fix.

“This was always my dream. I used to drive to New York just to eat Pakistani food,” he said, noting they would leave for Brooklyn at 4 a.m. just to get a Pakistani breakfast buffet. “There were no authentic restaurants in this area.”

A “dera” is a settlement or public gathering place in the Pakistani and Indian cultures, where snacks are served, hence the name.

They added the barbecue component because while the style is big in those countries, it’s not often found here Pakistani/Indian-style. Muhammad Haroon said the barbecue items are marinated and have a fabulous taste.

Muhammad Haroon has been involved in all aspects of his family’s restaurant business and sweets manufacturing company in Pakistan, once overseeing a staff of about 200.

While he has preparation and other staff at the new Orange eatery, Haroon oversees every dish that goes out to customers.

“I can walk through and smell the food” and tell if anything is wrong with the spices or taste, he said. “If something’s off (about the flavor) we’re never going to serve it to the customer.”

Returning customer Usha Menon of Prospect said she and her husband used to drive to New York to get kabobs and other traditional Pakistani food, but now she can shop at the market next door and order at Dera BBQ.

She was back recently lunching with a friend and said of the visit with her husband, “We had kabobs and we really loved it — the taste, the size. It was good, fresh.”

So far, the first month in business is “going really good,” Muhammad Haroon said.