It started with a taste of home.
Before Zusshu had a counter, it had a home kitchen. What began with Bushra cooking the flavours she missed from Hyderabad became a food truck, a restaurant and a new chapter for her and Abdul.
From a quiet start in Brandenburg to the tables of Berlin
01
Before the first customer
A little closer to home.
Bushra arrived in Germany at the start of the pandemic. With everyday life on hold and home far away, she began experimenting in the kitchen. Friends came over, tasted her food and told her it reminded them of home. With Abdul’s encouragement, the idea of a food business began to feel possible.
The flavours that bring us home. 02
10 December 2024
One food truck. A winter beginning.
Zusshu served its first customers from a food truck outside a supermarket in Fürstenwalde. Bushra ran long shifts, and Abdul joined after his engineering job to help wash dishes and close up. She offered samples to passersby, introducing many of them to Indian food for the first time.
Good food. A warm welcome. The same spirit today. 03
Word started to spread
Then came the queues.
Local recommendations helped the food truck grow. A move to a location at the Tesla factory, where Abdul worked, brought a new crowd. At busy times, more than 50 people waited in line, and some days they served over 500 meals.
When Abdul’s manager joined the queue, Bushra had a simple answer: ‘He’s a customer, just like everyone else. He’ll have to wait.’
Made from scratch. Worth the wait. 04
The move to Berlin
‘Our families need to try this.’
Customers at the factory wanted their families in Berlin to taste the food too. That encouragement helped turn the next idea into a restaurant. Bushra found a space in 15 days; roughly two weeks later, they were ready to open. Abdul left his job at Tesla to commit fully to Zusshu.
A place to share the food we grew up with. 05
Learning as they went
Bushra cooked. Abdul did a bit of everything.
In the early restaurant days, Bushra worked in the kitchen while Abdul took orders, handled payments and tackled whatever came next. Once, an order for an eggplant dish sent him running to the supermarket for the missing ingredient. They learned by doing, building their own routines around the food.
Care in every ingredient. Flavour in every spoonful. 06
Finding their rhythm
From spoonfuls to grams.
As the team grew, they began recording recipes in grams so the flavours could stay consistent. They ground their own garam masala, a foundation of their biryani. With clearer recipes and more people helping, Bushra and Abdul finally took their first holiday in over a year.
The same care, every single day. 07
The next chapter
More places. The same starting point.
Today, Zusshu’s next chapter is its QSR journey: bringing Indian food to more people, with vegan and vegetarian options alongside halal meat. The ambition is to grow beyond one location, while keeping the connection that started it all—food that welcomes newcomers and reminds others of home.
Explore expansionThe Zusshu spirit, with room to grow.
A table that always has room for you.
Whether you’re stopping by Kreuzberg or Mitte, we’re serving the dishes we loved growing up—cooked from scratch, every single day.