Were there any other films you were influenced by?

I love Wes Anderson as a storyteller because this notion of what is fact and fiction gets so muddled. It’s almost unimportant to him, and that’s what we’re trying to do here too. That’s the only cinematic reference we looked at.

The Punjab Club in Lahore is the oldest social and athletic club in our part of the world. That’s where Kipling wrote The Jungle Book. It was a place for thought leaders, for authors and poets and economists— a lot of intellectual activity happened in and around the Punjab Club.

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There’s a very diverse range of art styles here. Is it reflective of your own tastes?

Yes and no. All these pieces come from my personal collection and my tastes have changed over the years. There’s a lot happening in terms of these elements coming together. Do you understand them all as a guest? Perhaps not, but you can feel the textures and say to yourself, "someone thought about this."

Punjabis allowed themselves to be very boisterous and have a zest for life. That’s what I’m trying to show in the bathroom which is very sparkly. During service, we play prose from a famous Punjabi poet in the bathrooms. If you don’t understand Urdu, it means nothing to you, but at least you’ll think that it was thoughtful.

How did your childhood influence the restaurant design?

Growing up in Hong Kong, my parents had restaurants so it never seemed like work—it was just what we did. We would come back every summer and spend a lot of time in the restaurant, and those are my teenage memories.

On a personal level, I also saw them struggle in the business so maybe my starting Black Sheep, especially opening New Punjab Club, is everything coming full circle. My father had an Indian restaurant up the block for 15 years, and it was a big part of my upbringing as a kid. In some ways, this is me picking up where they left off.

What about the Punjab is so evocative for the arts?

I think it’s the coming together of three religions: Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus. There’s also a Christian minority. What’s fascinating about the Punjab is it’s the only province in the two countries where the idea of being from that province is stronger than any nationalistic idea.

What makes it more fascinating is this is a shared province between two war-torn countries, but we identify as being one on both sides of the border. Our waiters look at themselves as actors in a play. Our chef, sous-chef and manager are from Punjab—these guys have a strong connection to the story we’re trying to narrate. 

The dramatic lighting helps as well.

It does. When you’re walking in, you feel like you’re about to see a play or a Punjabi film. My big mission statement was to not let this food be ethnic food anymore. We’re trying to find a new context for this story, and we have been able to do that thus far.

A lot of people come in and try to use this as another curry house, but we’re not that. We’re not going to let these outdated ideas shackle us. We’re trying to bring these references but use them in a manner that hasn’t been shown before.

Is there anything you would’ve done differently if New Punjab Club was located outside of Hong Kong?

This is a small canvas, a nine-table restaurant. I would’ve loved a bigger canvas to work with, but for the most part I’m very proud of the work we’ve done. We’ve executed this at a very high level, and we’ve almost created a new genre in Indian-Pakistani cuisine.

Nothing like this exists. No-one has taken one province, one time period and said, what can I bring back from this? This is how great movies are constructed—when the subject matter is very narrow. We have a long history, so there are other stories from different time periods to explore. We look at ourselves as storytellers first and restaurateurs second.

Discover more at newpunjabclub.com

This story was originally posted on Home Journal.