Mahboob Hussain has been described as the Willy Wonka of luxury buffets (Picture: Channel 4)
Welcome to the world’s biggest curry house – a British restaurant feeding 500,000 diners a year and overseen by the Willy Wonka of luxury buffets.
While Stockport might not be an obvious culinary hotspot, Mahboob Hussain, the 75-year-old owner of Royal Nawaab Pyramid has created an eaterie so famous guests travel from the US and across Europe for a taste.
And while British pubs and restaurants have recently been closing at a rate of two a day, demand here means its weekly bill comes to £100,000 a week for produce including 520kg of rice, 5000 poppadoms, 220kg spices and enough detergent to wash 100 uniforms a day.
It’s such a unique feat that it’s about to become the focus of Channel 4’s one-off special, The World’s Biggest Curry Restaurant, following one of the few businesses that isn’t just surviving during a cost-of-living crisis, but is innovating and growing, powered by a team of more than 150 staff.
It serves more than 500,000 diners a year – the equivalent of the entire population of Bristol. And Metro couldn’t resist joining the crowd of up to 6,000 customers who sample its spicy dishes daily.
At its heart is Mr Hussain, who emigrated from Pakistan at 15 and worked his way up through the mills of Bradford before opening his first restaurant at 28.
He later expanded to the Canary Islands, pioneering the luxury buffet concept in the 1980s. Opening the largest curry house in the world was always the vision — an impossible dream for many, but a thriving reality for him now.
It hosts as many as nine weddings and events each weekend across its four lavish private spaces, all inside a restored pyramid located beside a Stockport highway that had been abandoned for the best part of a decade until it was revived by Royal Nawaab.
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More than 500,000 people eat at the vast restaurant every year – and Metro went along to try the cuisine (Picture: Adam Miller)
Despite its huge clientele, quality remains impressively prioritised over quantity. Every curry, starter, side dish and even salad is meticulously inspected by Mr Hussain, whether he is in the country or not.
‘We’ve been in situations where our chefs have cooked something for 200 people and he’s sent it all back when he wasn’t even in the building.
‘There’s a bit in the show they missed out, but one day during filming there were 190 canapés made, he spotted mistakes on FaceTime and sent them all back,’ said marketing director Bilal.
On a miserable rainy day, I made the 157-mile pilgrimage to this unlikely landmark.
The restaurant team curated a meal for me – I still haven’t mastered the art of eating a reasonably sized meal (Picture: Adam Meal)
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After a two-hour train ride from London, followed by a surprisingly pleasant 15-minute walk along the river, I’m suddenly confronted by the 37-metre-high Stockport Pyramid.
Its glossy blue glass exterior might not scream luxury from the outside, but the moment I walk through the doors into reception, it feels like being transported to Dubai, complete with glistening marble floors I’m told are cleaned three times before a single customer walks in each day.
‘The cleaner cleans this area, then the floor manager, then their manager too,’ Bilal said.
Royal Nawaab in numbers
- Serves up to 6,000 a day, or 500,000 a year – the size of Bristol’s population
- Weekly bill of £100,000 for produce including 520kg of rice, 5000 poppadoms, 220kg of spices and enough detergent to wash 100 uniforms a day
- Led by owner Mahboob Hussain, it has more than 150 staff, including around 40 cleaners, 65 chefs, dozens of front-of house staff (each serving just two tables) and at least eight pot washers to clean around 10,000 dishes a night.
- Hosts up to nine weddings and events each weekend across its four private spaces
- Followed by more than 300,000 on TikTok
- Cost of all-you-can-eat buffet is £31.99
When the doors open at 5pm on an unremarkable Wednesday afternoon, 100 customers immediately walk through the entrance.
They’re the first of the 510 people who will dine at Royal Nawaab that night, blissfully unaware that Bilal and his team have been meticulously preparing for their arrival for the previous 12 hours.
Royal Nawaab is never empty. Its army of staff work around the clock – including around 40 cleaners, 65 chefs, at least eight pot washers to clean around 10,000 dishes a night and dozens of front-of-house staff.
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Don’t judge a book by its cover – the ‘simple green dish’ I thought was just salad which is rising up the food trends rankings (Picture: Adam Miller)
With the quality of food, it quickly became clar that the world’s largest curry house isn’t relying on its size as a gimmick (Picture: Adam Miller)
There is always one waiter attending to every two tables, even when the restaurant is at full capacity, looking after diners with unrivalled care and attention.
One chef’s sole job is preparing a street food dish called Manipuri, made of a deep-fried puri shell hollowed out and filled with chickpeas and salad, with a hole punched in the top to pour in a sour syrup.
It’s so delicious I can’t believe it isn’t a staple in every Indian restaurant, but it’s apparently far too complicated for the typical kitchen.
With such a gigantic operation, it feels inevitable that the quality must suffer somewhere. I’ve been bombarded with impressive statistics, but the proof is quite literally in the starter, main and pudding.
Given the option of helping myself to the endless buffet or trusting the team to curate a menu for me, I go with the latter. In my 38 years, I still haven’t mastered the art of eating a reasonably sized meal that won’t instantly comatose me.
The vast kitchens are staffed around the clock, including 40 cleaners, 65 chefs and eight kitchen porters (Picture: Adam Miller)
I have a pang of regret when the first dish served looks like a simple green salad – but it’s far from it. It’s fattoush, a Lebanese salad the team noticed was becoming increasingly popular as part of their focus on spotting the latest food trends and ensuring Royal Nawaab stays ahead of the curve.
It’s packed full of Middle Eastern flavour and entirely fresh, made moments before serving – as is everything on offer – and it quickly becomes clear the world’s largest curry house isn’t simply relying on its size as a gimmick.
That’s followed by spectacularly tender pieces of chicken tikka and wings, served with homemade mango chutney and Royal Nawaab’s signature fries, which become a major talking point in the show — and it’s immediately clear why.
Left to my own devices, I could easily have picked the entire tray from the rack and eaten the lot.
One of the chefs, Rafaqat Saleeh pictured chopping some of the mountain of veg needed every day (Picture: Channel 4)
For the main event, the team selects a range of curries.
I’m also treated to a vegetable curry and chicken biryani, and I become almost emotional at what a staggering triumph the meal is. The sheer scale of the operation would be enough to overwhelm even the most established kitchen, yet every mouthful has clearly been created with enormous care.
For dessert, I revert to childhood and opt for the restaurant’s own Mr Whippy, created in collaboration with a French ice cream specialist to produce a custom recipe. It is, by this point unsurprisingly, so good that I also help myself to three cakes – a brownie, salted caramel cake and sticky toffee pudding.
This is the one moment I’m given free rein at the buffet, and, predictably I’m a pig. Still, I leave with absolutely no regrets.
A visit to Royal Nawaab was such an unexpectedly fascinating experience. More than 1,100 pubs and restaurants closed in the UK between October 2024 and August 2025 – the closure rate running at two a day amid rising costs.
So why, during such desperate times, is a curry house beside a Stockport highway breaking records?
One chef’s sole job is preparing a street food dish called Manipuri, made of a deep-fried puri shell hollowed out and filled with chickpeas and salad (Picture: Channel 4)
‘Places are spending too much on interiors and not enough on delivering service, while cutting corners on marketing and produce,’ says Bilal.
‘I remember fish and chip shops when I was younger. You knew the lady, and she knew how you wanted your meal. That’s all gone now. You’re ordering on screens.
‘We don’t need as many staff as we do – we could have screens, you could order yourself, and the drinks would come. But a lot of people come back because the managers know what our customers want.
‘We have floor managers who have been with us for 20-odd years. It’s about remembering what made Britain great at service. In Dubai, they’ve based their whole system on British service and we’ve gone the other way. We’re all on screens now.’
The price will also appeal to many too, with entry to the all-you-can-eat buffet costing £31.99.
Sadly, Mr Hussain is mid-flight back from Pakistan when I visit the restaurant. After watching The World’s Biggest Curry House, I’m desperate to meet the man who, at 75 years old, works harder than most people I know.
Head chef Honey’s personal favourite is a dark, rich chickpea curry cooked with egg through it (Picture: Channel 4)
As a programme, it’s a mesmerising watch packed with wonderful characters. Mr Hussain is its star – the godfather of Indian cuisine.
Sweet-natured Honey, the head chef, pulls off miracles in the kitchen every day when so much can – and does – go wrong.
Saaj oversees the weddings and events, each one bringing increasingly outlandish requests.
Then there’s the impressive social media team, who have attracted more than 300,000 followers to Royal Nawaab’s TikTok channels by showing viewers this is not just a restaurant – ‘it’s an experience’.
Filmed over ten weeks, there’s clearly enough footage for a full series, but for now Channel 4 will air a one-off celebration of a truly remarkable accomplishment that, until now, hadn’t been on my radar at all.
I can’t reveal names, but I’m told prime ministers from around the world have personally requested Royal Nawaab food waiting for them aboard their private jets.
After watching the episode and witnessing the sheer scale of Royal Nawaab’s operation, its future – still unwritten – feels incredibly exciting.
Watch World’s Biggest Curry Restaurant Friday 22 May, 8pm on Channel 4
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