Pakistani restaurant caters to diverse customers in North Central Regina
A Regina couple's love for food and cooking is behind a special restaurant in Regina's North Central neighbourhood.
Mohammed Iqbal Ansari and his wife Ruby Iqbal are the loving owners of Ruby's Kitchen, located three blocks North of the Pasqua Hospital on Wascana Street.
It turns out Iqbal was born with what she calls a "God-given talent" for cooking.
Iqbal cooked her first full meal when she was 12 years old. Her family praised her cooking and when she got married, her husband offered her more encouragement
"I love food and she loves cooking so that's a very good combination between me and my wife," said Ansari with a laugh. "Whenever we'd have a party and my wife cooks food, the comment from everybody is 'you should open a restaurant'."
So eventually, that's just what they did.
Ansari worked in the IT industry in Pakistan before moving to Canada in 2002. Two years later Ruby joined him. Iqbal worked various jobs over the next decade while the couple had four children.
A year ago, they decided to take the leap and make their longtime dream of running a restaurant a reality.
Last winter, they found the perfect space for their future restaurant in a little strip mall in North Central Regina.
They share the building with a barbershop and the Eureka Fellowship Society, which helps people who are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.
Ansari said between 70 and 80 people meet there every day, and he's introduced many of them to his wife's cooking.
"New people who didn't try Indian or Pakistani food before and when they have our food they love it which gives us more confidence," Ansari said.
The two said they enjoy introducing people of different ethnic backgrounds to their food.
Why Ruby's Kitchen?
The story about Ruby's Kitchen sparked from a request from CBC Radio's The Morning Edition to recommend their favourite Regina restaurant. The show received this e-mail from listener Barbara Wickstrom:
"Has anyone suggested Ruby's Kitchen? Delicious Pakistani and Indian food. I introduced myself to Ruby at her Canadian Citizenship Ceremony this summer, she was the only woman there wearing a burqa. I asked her to come to my house for tea and she asked me to come to her cafe! I hadn't heard of it. Now, I've been there several times to eat and never have been disappointed. Unique, delicious food."
