Chef Hamza Javed
From a Punjab home to Ponferrada
Hamza Javed grew up in northern India, where cooking isn't learned at a school: it's lived at home.
From a young age he watched the spices being ground every morning and the tandoor lit before sunrise.
That way of cooking, unhurried and with respect for the produce, is what marks every dish on the menu today.
When he crossed half of Europe to El Bierzo, he brought something that doesn't fit in a suitcase: the flavour of his homeland.
"If I wouldn't serve it at my own family's table, it doesn't leave my kitchen."Hamza Javed, chef at Royal Tandoori
15 years learning from the best
He has spent over 15 years at the stove. He started very young, in traditional Punjab kitchens.
There he trained alongside cooks with generations of craft, true masters of the tandoor and slow-cooked curries.
From them he learned what appears in no recipe book: the exact point of each spice and the right moment for each ember.
That craft is what you taste today in every hand-kneaded dough and every sauce reduced for hours over the fire.
What he stands for in every dish
How he sees cooking
When he arrived in Ponferrada he was clear: no toning the flavours down to go unnoticed.
At Royal Tandoori he cooks as he would for his own family, with fresh produce and spices ground daily.
That's why every dish carries his signature. And that's why, once you try his cooking, you understand why people come back.
Come and taste his cooking
The best way to get to know Hamza is to sit at his table. Book and let the tandoor take over.