Arts
Keep a date with Date Bar
Nishreen and Roshan, the mother, daughter duo. Pix by Amila Gamage
Nishreen Savanghan and her sisters grew up accustomed to eating what might very well be the best date and lime chutney in Colombo. Their mother, Roshan Ibrahim would make it in a claypot, cooking the dates down till they were soft and yielding, the slivers of lime adding a lovely note of sourness into the thick, sticky paste. Yet the family were still pleasantly surprised when they took some of their claypots to a school event two years ago and they sold out their entire stash. The rush of orders that followed kicked off Date Bar, their business.
“It was a fun thing, the whole family got involved,” says Nishreen, sitting on a sofa with Roshan in their family home in Dehiwala. “We realised its potential when we saw no one else on the market was focusing on dates.”Roshan says she has always loved to experiment and the two are enjoying coming up with unique new combinations. They recently debuted tamarind and date, and ginger and date chutneys.
Today, Date Bar is still very much a family affair. While Nishreen and her mother are primarily responsible, her sisters pitch in to taste and generate marketing ideas. Roshan’s husband of 37 years K.M. Ibrahim will often help by procuring the best dates available in bulk. Everything is made at home in Roshan’s own kitchen but the finished chutneys are available at Barefoot and PaanPaan’s outlets. A local restaurant is even considering having dishes inspired by the chutney on the menu.
The chutney is very versatile and goes well with a surprising range of dishes, working not only as a dip and on the side with rice and curry but as the perfect accompaniment to fried fish, barbeque chicken and even Chinese rolls.It is priced at Rs.380 for the full jar of date and lime and Rs. 280 for half jars of date and tamarind/date and ginger. Roshan says being fair in what they charge has been one of her priorities.
Friends (I count myself among them) and family have long loved not just the date and lime chutney, but also Roshan’s wonderfully moist, sticky date cake. It’s a staple on the table at Eid and other festival days and on birthdays as well. To sample it, you have to place an order a day or two in advance, but it’s worth the effort. Consider requesting toppings (glazed icing, dark chocolate, buttercream, Nutella and toasted cashew) or simply pair a warm slice with cold ice cream for your dessert fix. Other signature offerings include their date pound cake and gooey date chocolate fudge brownies. The recipes for the cake and chutneys are a family inheritance, passed down from mother to daughter over three generations. While Roshan and her sister each learned from their mother, they have added their own tweaks that make their cakes and chutneys unique to their kitchens. Though she was a tomboy growing up, and the least “domesticated” in her family, Roshan adores baking now.
Setting up the business has not been without its challenges. Nishreen left a career in corporate banking so that she could spend more time with her husband Maas Savanghan and their little girls Iman and Sanya. But working with her mother has allowed her to prioritise her family and still pursue her long-time desire to be an entrepreneur and nurture a venture of her own. For Roshan, discovering a new career at age 58 has been a fun challenge. Mother and daughter have always been close, and Nishreen says they manage to run two families and keep on top of a growing business by staying in close contact and relying on their family to support them. “It’s a lot of work for two people, but I couldn’t choose a better person to do this with,” she says, smiling at her mother. Look for Date Bar on Facebook to find out more or email datebar60@gmail.com
