Md Shahnawaz Khan Chandan



Photos: courtesy

There are more than fifty restaurants, countless food carts in Satmasjid Road of Dhaka's Dhanmondi neighbourhood alone. In this jungle of restaurants and food courts, you may find yourself lost and surely you will pass a tough time to find out the most appropriate place for you. In some places you will find the best Indian cuisine but their Chinese menu may not suit your taste buds. Again, there are some eateries where you will find some of the best continental food but their prices may be a little too steep. So, whether you are a food connoisseur or not, if you want a relaxed, carefree hangout with your friends and family, you must pass the test of finding the best place to eat and chill.

For people like you, a new sensation called Harriken has just arrived in town with amazing features. Harriken, a state-of-the-art application, has made the tiring task of discovering a restaurant fun and simple. Available both on android and iOS, this app offers complete profiles of around 2,800 restaurants in Dhaka. Launched by a new tech start up with the same name and founded by Adeeb Shams, Harriken has already won the hearts of Dhakaites with its user friendly interface, versatile searching options and regular updates which is very rare among Bangladeshi tech start-ups.

With this app, a user can search restaurants by name, cuisine offered (Chinese, Kebabs, Indian), type of restaurant (fast food, casual dining) and also location of the restaurants for example, you can search for all restaurants in Dhanmondi through the app. The search results can be obtained with specific road direction through Google Maps which would provide accurate distance from the current spot. By clicking a restaurant tab, a user can access detailed address of the restaurant, menus and prices, phone numbers, business hours and the existing reviews of the restaurants that other users have written. Another remarkable feature of the app is that a user can share information of the restaurant with anyone by sending messages online and offline.

Besides restaurant finding features, Harriken has also launched a social networking platform. "Inspired by Facebook, this social networking platform of Harriken allows its users to follow their friends, see where they are going, which restaurants they like and also recommend restaurants to others." says a beaming Adeeb.

Within its few months of existence, Harriken has become a very popular platform for finding, sharing and engaging about food and eateries. Thanks to Harriken's innovative event called “The Hunger Games”, where the winners were handed meal coupons to some renowned Dhaka restaurants by introducing Harriken to their friends and families, this app has reached thousands of Dhakaites within the shortest time.

"Through The Hunger Games competition, we have also got an army of talented food critiques, bloggers and enthusiastic loyalists who could be our ambassadors to help us to grow," says Adeeb.

Harriken, with its dedicated team and innovative features, has carved out a niche as an iconic platform for food lovers and restaurants owners. With the hashtag #ProudlyMadeInBangladesh that it is promoting, this platform can be an example of what Bangladeshi home-grown entrepreneurs can offer with their talent and integrity.

"We are proud to be a local team, developing and hiring local talent and serving the local market. It's our collective goal to be a best-in-class Bangladeshi app, bringing recognition to the brilliant talent that's coming out of our system," shares Adeeb.