“Afghans, we socialise around tea,” says Waheed Kazemi, co-owner of Leyton’s stylish new restaurant Azra. “Azra is inspired by the mehman khanah, the guest room found in Afghan homes where family, friends and visitors are greeted with food and tea.”
Tucked away at the far tip of Tilbury Road’s increasingly interesting railway arches, this new Leyton Midland arrival is indeed a family affair, with Waheed roping in brother Rohullah and sister Zohra, along with their mother Sakeenah on head chef duties. Serving Afghan dishes not easily found in London, the family hopes to highlight “the educated and progressive nature of the Hazara community,” he says.
An Afghan ethnic group with a large global diaspora, the Hazara – or Azra, “which is how we pronounce it back home” he explains – are known for their “resilience, kindness, and determination in the face of hardship”.
And this is borne out in the Kazemi’s own story: after Waheed’s father arrived from Afghanistan in east London in the early 1990s, the rest of his family moved here in 2006, with the three siblings growing up between Walthamstow and Leytonstone.
Waheed himself has history on Tilbury Road with his long-established studio Model Platform, which provides bespoke joinery, furniture and interior design. The restaurant’s 40-capacity interior naturally reflects this keen visual eye, with raised platform seating at the rear, upholstered banquettes, blue spindle-back chairs and a window counter overlooking the slim urban thoroughfare beyond. And such attention to detail extends to the crockery, too, made by east London artisans. “Our coffee cups are by local maker Lulu and all our plates are from Alice Guillaume Ceramics, based in Hackney,” he says.
And what of the food? The menu riffs on classics: the signature kabuli pulao is the focus of the “traditional feast” option, with meltingly soft lamb slow-cooked in a large pot that holds no less than 70 portions. “It takes four hours to perfect,” says Waheed. “One ingredient absorbing the flavour from another, just rice, meat, carrot, raisins, cumin seeds and cardamom. The result is slightly sweet but seasoned correctly.”
Other highlights include bolani, pan-fried Afghani flatbread stuffed with potato or leeks and served with a fiery dipping sauce; yakhni, an easy-going chicken and vegetable stew whose clear broth is utterly reviving on the palate; sabzi, a tasty spinach dish with red kidney beans; and mantu, delectably squishy steamed dumplings filled with minced beef and onions, and smothered with a rich yoghurt and tomato lentil sauce. There are also skewers, kofta and kebabs, along with fragrant rice, studded with saffron or orange peel.
With an afternoon Afghan-style green tea service and useful BYOB policy in the evenings, this elegant dining room reinvents an industrial arch in an almost unprecedented way for Leyton. And importantly, its female kitchen team purposely defies the ongoing challenges women currently face in Afghanistan, especially after last year’s intensifying of restrictions by the Taliban.
“Azra has given me the opportunity to step beyond the walls of my home and connect with the wider community through our food,” says head chef Sakeenah. “For me, every meal is a way to preserve our traditions, share our story, and celebrate the resilience of Afghan women. These are the simple freedoms and rights that have been taken from so many women in Afghanistan over the years – and even more so today.”
Stephen Emms writes a weekly Substack called Leytonstoner about the food and drink scene primarily in Leyton, Leytonstone, Stratford, Forest Gate and Walthamstow.
Azra
Arch 136 Tilbury Road, E10 6RE
Hours:
Fri 5pm–10pm
Sat 1pm–10pm
Sun 1pm–8pm
