Bold and Stunning: Mehreen Mansur pairs up with Mansha to bring you their latest designs

Food and travel have always been the norm for Mehreen Mansur. Having had an early start to the business scene, she dabbled in several ventures, first starting with her very own jewellery line back in Washington DC at the age of 20. But due to some trials and tribulations in her life; Mehreen’s jewellery venture came to an abrupt end. Upon returning to Dhaka, the entrepreneur finally found her calling in the capital’s restaurant scene.
Mehreen reckons that it wasn’t a smooth start. “Being born and raised in America, I had to survive in the rocky business terrain of Bangladesh. I felt I had only my instinct to trust to reach for success; hence there can be absolutely no room for failure,” she says.
Despite the highs and lows that she’s stumbled upon, Mehreen forged ahead as a restaurateur and brought forth ventures like Sushi Samurai, Shanghai 10 and Horse & Horse, which have become famous joints for the foodies in Dhaka. Quality control is an integral part of being a restaurateur, to ensure that everything is shipshape, Mehreen hires very senior chefs at the upper level who implement her recipes and ideas with utmost care to their clients. “They know I take this field very seriously, so they give their best,” she states.
Although there’s an influx of cuisines from around the world, there are only some places in Dhaka that solely focus on deshi food from around Bangladesh. Keeping this in view, Mehreen shares that she wouldn’t mind offering local cuisine. “My grandmother has many old family recipes and is an excellent cook. I wish to create an old-world restaurant, featuring rare exotic, ethnic Bangladeshi dishes which die out with each generation. I love and miss the grandeur and glamour of the historic bygone days.”
According to Mehreen, challenges in this line of business increase tenfold; however, she claims that trusting your instinct is both challenging yet liberating. “It forces maturity upon the subject,” she adds. When she’s not working, the ambitious entrepreneur finds a great deal of comfort in creative expressions, so she turns to writing and painting.