Zia Arfaee (left) and his son, Sama, run the 鈥済reasy spoon鈥� Zia鈥檚 Cafe & Grill in a small industrial estate close to No. 6 and Cambie roads. Photo by Alan Campbell/Richmond News
鈥淚f I don鈥檛 make my mushroom soup on a Friday, people will kill me.鈥�
Suffice to say, whatever Zia Arfaee鈥檚 customers want, they will get鈥r else.
And that, explained Iranian-born Arfaee, is the secret behind the success of , which he runs with his son, Sama, in a little known industrial estate, tucked in behind No. 6 and Cambie roads in the east end of Richmond.
Zia鈥檚 seats around 34 or so 鈥� it鈥檚 hard to tell, as the caf茅 has two, long home-made wooden tables stretching down the middle of the caf茅, which wouldn鈥檛 look out of place in Urban Barn.
It ticks most of the "greasy spoon" cafe boxes, with its relatively humble fixtures and fitting, but there can't be too many of its ilk that have Persian owners, who sprinkle their native cuisine onto the daily specials.
One of Zia鈥檚 Cafe鈥檚 specials is the Persian kabob, which is only served every second Friday. Photo by Alan Campbell/Richmond News
Indeed, as well as listening to their loyal breakfast and lunchtime customers, many of whom work in the tech or manufacturing industries in the aforementioned estate, the word 鈥渉ome-made鈥� plays a huge role, said Arfaee.
鈥淭he food is always fresh and different. Tuesday is biryani, Wednesday is chicken teriyaki, Mondays and Thursdays are burger days. Some people come from Kitsilano for our burger and some people who used to work around here come back,鈥� added Arfaee, who took over the running of the caf茅 in 2012.
Zia Arfaee is very proud of his home-made burgers, which are made fresh every Monday and Thursday only. Photo by Alan Campbell/Richmond News
鈥淓ven the regular specials change a little bit. No matter what the special is on one day, if there is any left over, you won鈥檛 see it on the menu the next day. The leftover goes home and becomes dinner (for us).
鈥淏ut most days we completely sell out of our special.鈥�
Sama said they have about 40 items rotating around the specials menu and it鈥檚 usually, 鈥渨hatever people ask for. Someone might ask us for lasagna tomorrow. So we go and buy the ingredients and make it for the next day.鈥�
There isn鈥檛 a single day, said Zia, that 鈥淚 leave here and don鈥檛 go to the shops for ingredients.
鈥淲e have five items on our menu, so it guarantees a small inventory and everything being fresh. If you have 60 items on the menu, something is going to go bad.
鈥淟ots of places, they open the cooler and see cod sitting there for three days and call it a 鈥榗atch of the day鈥� special. Not us.鈥�
Zia Arfaee is particularly proud of his Persian kabob, which only appears on the menu once every two weeks. Photo by Alan Campbell/Richmond News
Looking across the caf茅 at the two, long wooden tables, Sama told how he had watched a YouTube video of such tables being made and suggested to his dad they give it a go, to save some money.
However, Zia butted in, saying, 鈥�(Sama) comes up with the idea, shows me the video and then he has a shoulder problem,鈥� he smiled.
鈥淏ut I enjoyed it. It took 鈥榰s鈥� three months to make, on and off.鈥�
The pair also run a very busy catering operation 鈥渙n the side,鈥� doing weddings with Indian food, Italian food and, of course, Persian cuisine.
鈥淥ne week, we served 1,000 bowls of Persian soup; then about five days later, we did an event for about 300 people, all while running the caf茅 every day,鈥� said Sama.
鈥淲e did an Irish and Iranian wedding once and we did haggis and Persian stews at another wedding - not in the same dish, though.鈥�
Zia said they鈥檇 love to open at night as well (it shuts shop at 4 p.m.), as per requests from local and out-of-town customers, but they just can鈥檛 get the staff, other than their two full- and one part-time employees.
Asked how they feel about being nominated as one of the Richmond News鈥� best 鈥済reasy spoon鈥� cafes, Zia said he doesn鈥檛 care.
鈥淎s long as they come and enjoy the food and the service and as long as they鈥檙e thinking about us, they can call us what they like.鈥�
Zia's Cafe is located at 13700 Mayfield Place in Richmond.
