Chef Hamid Noori at his Carytown restaurant, The Mantu
Hamid Noori, chef and owner of Carytown’s The Mantu, has always felt his purpose was to serve others.
“Twenty years ago, when I started working in restaurants, I thought, ‘I could serve people,’ and that was my intention from day one,” he says.
In 2015, Noori, 36, fled his life in war-torn Afghanistan with his wife and four children. Coming to America, he was filled with hope for their future.
In August, when the United States military completed its withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, ending a 20-year war in the country, and the Taliban quickly seized power, Noori was confronted again with fears for the people of his homeland.
“If you don’t experience it, you don’t understand,” he says of the events that have unfolded in Afghanistan. “People are just watching, and sometimes I really feel like we are hopeless and there is not more hope to gain back. … It’s not OK, it’s not one person’s life, it’s 30 million Afghans. Who’s going to respond to this? Who’s going to stop it?”
Noori has responded by humbly opening the doors of his restaurant at 10 N. Thompson St. to feed newly arrived Afghan evacuees.
“Through my cooking skills, I am feeding people, and that’s very important for me,” he says. “The most important part of our life is to serve those in need.”
Often quoting spiritual philosopher Ram Dass, Noori says his desire to make people feel at home through food, such as the restaurant’s namesake mantu — Afghan dumplings packed with cumin, turmeric, cilantro, garlic paste and ginger and served with a yogurt, split pea and tomato sauce — is at the heart of his culinary ability.
“The more I see our people coming from Afghanistan, I know I have the opportunity to serve them and feed them food so they don’t feel isolated,” he says. “I always say, serving food has a spiritual connection.”
Working with the International Rescue Committee — a humanitarian and resettlement organization that helps meet the needs of refugees from disaster and conflict zones, assisting them in finding employment and transitioning to life in their new countries — Noori says there is a sense of pride in feeding his people.
Noori in the kitchen at The Mantu
It was through IRC that Noori originally landed a job at Ellwood Thompson’s market before opening The Mantu in May 2019.
His compassion and empathy for the refugees he has served is apparent. Their fears are his fears.
“For kids and the Afghan nation, it’s the same situation, just over again,” he says, holding back tears. “I’m physically saved, but mentally broken.”
According to Virginia’s Refugee Resettlement Program, since 2016, more than 8,500 Afghans have been resettled in Virginia. Afghans represent the largest number of refugees resettled in Virginia between 2016 and 2021. More than 1,200 Afghans have settled in Richmond over the past few years.
When Noori was growing up, his father was killed during a suicide bombing attack. Food was scarce for him and his four siblings, and his mother would often come home with bread or potato skins for them to eat, the latter recently making an appearance on the menu at The Mantu as an homage to her strength. Survival was their main focus, just as it is for many in Afghanistan now.
“It’s not possible to close your eyes, to pretend you didn’t see anything,” he says. “My family is still there. Each and every Afghan’s and human being’s life matters. We are human beings, and we should feel the pain of others.”
In addition to distributing meals, Noori has hosted drive-by donation events to collect items from clothes to toiletries for displaced refugees. Although his plans to return to his homeland and open a second location of his restaurant, dubbed Mini Mantu, which would serve dumplings and street food and help create jobs for local families, has been put on pause, he’s proud to continue his current efforts.
“Our job is to help those in need, to help those less fortunate, and that’s what we believe,” he says. "When God gives you fortune, don’t think it’s just because you’re lucky or in a different part of the world. It is testing you — when you’re given an opportunity, are you going to waste it?”
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