Known for its luxurious interiors and delicious Indian cuisine, Zeera restaurant in South Shields was forced to close its doors in March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but continued to deliver hot meals to their local, vulnerable community throughout the pandemic.
Working alongside local community food back and crisis response team, Hebburn Helps, the Indian restaurant helped to feed three families in need, who couldn’t reach their usual resources due to coronavirus.
Each family which was fed with Zeera’s healthy, wholesome dishes, were suffering in their own way due to the pandemic. One, is the family of a young boy going through Chemotherapy, another a low income family with a disable child and last, but most certainly not least, an NHS worker.
Shahanoor Choudhry, owner of Zeera restaurant, also set out to deliver meals to his local South Tyneside Hospital on a weekly basis, to give back to those who were giving their all for our safety.
His kind gestures did not go unnoticed either, with South Tyneside Council granting the restaurant with a Love South Tyneside award.
But, that’s not what it’s about, explained Shah;
“We didn’t do this to receive accolades, we didn’t do this for attention, we did this because we care about our community and we were in a situation where we had the means to help, so that’s what we did.
“Although the restaurant is now back open, and our takeaway service is still booming, we will not forget about those who needs us, and we’ll be doing everything in our power to continue to help out where we can.”
Zeera, located on Ocean Road, is now open to the public, with social distancing and safety precautions in place, in accordance with Government guidelines. Their takeaway and ‘Indian Drive Thru’ services will also be continuing to offer an option to those who aren’t quite ready to venture out yet.
Whilst locked down, Shah noticed the interest his customers had in his traditional recipes, and so he launched a brand new concept – The DIY Curry Kit – in which customers receive all the ingredients, plus a recipe card, to make a Zeera meal at home.
“Lockdown has been hard on everyone, and I was receiving lots of interest from our customers who were trying to recreate and Indian restaurant meal from home. So we’ve made it easy, and fun, with our DIY Curry Kit.
“It’s a great ‘Saturday night in’ and something different to do, whilst people are still not comfortable to dine out.”
To book a table, order a meal or order your own DIY Curry Kit, simple give Zeera a call on 0191 456 1811 and keep an eye on their Facebook page for more updates @ZeeraSouthShields.
