Mumbai’s Parsi-Irani Restaurant Redux!

Cashing in on the newfound nostalgia generated by Mumbai’s legendary old Parsi-Irani Downtown joints are a whole new wave of ‘homage’ restaurants in the city. Each of them hoping to recreate the magic of a bygone era with their inspired cuisine and ambience.  

By Raul Dias

It’s sad, but true. The original South Mumbai Parsi-Irani restaurant is dying a slow death in the city of its birth, with stalwarts like Dhobi Talao’s Bastani & Co. and Colaba’s Paradise already downing shutters and others like Kyani and Sassasian barely limping along. But elsewhere around the city, slick faux-Parsi-Irani-style restaurants have sprung up, paying homage to their predecessors and giving a new twist to Parsi-Irani cuisine mainstays like berry pulao and patra-ni-machchi among others, all in a setting that’s dripping with nostalgia and mock old-world charm. 

SodaBottleOpenerWala
at BKC, Lower Parel, Thane and Powai
At SodaBottleOpenerWala (SBOW) there is no shortage of typically Parsi-Irani tropes that take you back to an era that will soon be relegated to old history tomes. Think bottles of ice-cold raspberry soda and a menu peppered with Parsi-Irani dishes like bun maska and Parsi choi and you’ll get our drift. And so popular is this all-day dining Parsi-Irani café style restaurant that it has multiplied from one outpost in Mumbai to four in the last few years, like some sort of culinary virus! Yes, besides its flagship branch in the glitzy suburban commercial super hub of BKC, SBOW’s Lower Parel, Thane and Powai branches are just as well-visited, dishing out delectable, nostalgia-inducing wonders like the bheeda par eeda, chicken farcha and mutton dhansak that sit pretty atop the red and white checked cloth-draped tables. And while diners perch themselves on those typically Irani café style Bentwood chairs, they can marvel at the toy train that zooms past them on rails suspended from the walls. Speaking of walls, the ‘No smoking/spitting/sleeping in toilet etc. etc.’ sign is hilarity at its genuine best and an ode to the legendary, now defunct Bastani & Co. restaurant, in Dhobi Talao, Mumbai. Cocktails like the zanily named brandy-based brandied bawa and the ripe mango-spiked rustom buntawala take the spicy edge off other dishes like the eggs kejriwal and aloo aunty’s vegetable cutlets.

Bombay Coffee House
at Ballard Estate
A chain of vintage cafés spread across the city, Bombay Coffee House’s Ballard Estate outpost is all about nostalgia, art deco and delicious Parsi fare. The interiors of the restaurant—that’s itself housed in a wing of an art deco-style petrol pump—tell tales of erstwhile Bombay with black and white photo frames and flooring, rustic furniture and interesting elements like vintage telephones, Tintin comics, and a floor to ceiling bookshelf. One can spend their entire day at Bombay Coffee House as the café offers plug-points on each table, ambient music and a comfortable and friendly environment, making it easy for the city’s professionals to work out of. But it makes it to this list thanks to its ultra-authentic Parsi-Irani food on offer like the sublime kid gosht with pav and the crunchy potato straws-topped salli murgh, that more than make up for the fact that no alcohol is served here. But besides the aforementioned a la carte options, patrons can opt for more authentic Parsi favourites like the mutton cutless, the frilly, egg-coated murgh na farcha, dhansak with brown rice and the lagan nu custard as part of a set, 3-course Parsi celebratory feast called a bhonu.

Gymkhana 91
At Lower Parel
This one’s slightly different from the others on this list, in that—as its name suggests—it pays homage to another Parsi mainstay—the gymkhana. Once, ultra-exclusive havens of relaxation and leisure, where affluent Parsis went to socialise and indulge in something they love best—eat, the gymkhana today has morphed into the club, losing a bit of its prized exclusivity. And Gymkhana 91 seeks to bring that sophistication back. Located in the center of Mumbai’s de facto restaurant super hub of Lower Parel, Gymkhana 91 has an ‘Old Boys Club’ look and feel without being stuffy. A loft-like mezzanine area has as its focal point a large, circular, porthole-like stained glass sky light window. Neo-gothic architectural styled walls and windows, colonial designed furniture and lights, green terracotta tiled roof reflect the old-world charm of gymkhanas, while the façade of the building houses an 8-foot clock keeping with the old times when gymkhanas had a clock tower in the vicinity to tell them of the time. Inside, one can sip on a vodka-based rustom nu soda or a bourbon-spiked Mumbai presidency beneath wrought iron chandeliers that hang from a dark-lacquered oak pitched roof and snack on the whimsically named Parsi-style appetisers like rati aunty’s chutney eda pattice or an order of Byculla’s chicken Russian cutlets. For mains, the berry pulao and the old school Parsi akuri hit that nostalgic spot perfectly, as does the clichéd, yet yummy classic caramel custard for afters.

CAFÉ IRANI CHAII
at Mahim
Grabbing headlines a few years ago as the first new Irani restaurant to open in Mumbai in 50 years, Café Irani Chaii (yes, quirky double ‘i’ pat in place!) is an inexpensive and modest little café that sits along a tiny lane in central Mumbai’s Mahim neighbourhood. What makes this place stand out as being radically different from the others in this piece is that it is not paying homage to the restaurants of yore as a modern day faux Irani joint, but it is actually a bona fide Irani café that’s bringing in the nostalgists and even a whole new lot of younger patrons by the drove. And it truly is like a shiny, new portal into a moth-eaten era, with its glass countertop bearing egg trays and glass jars of bull’s eye peppermint candy and Parle-G biscuits. Besides an entire section dedicated to various scrumptious confections like the fresh off the oven buns served with jam, honey and yes, dollops of salted butter, it is the savoury egg dishes that gets us all excited. Given the great love of the Parsi-Irani community for the humble eedu (egg), Café Irani Chaii pulls out all the stops offering everything from the famed spicy scrambled eggs akuri to the unmissable kheema ghotala that is made up of spicy lamb mince with a sunny side egg sitting jauntily atop it. Its single page menu is also peppered with iconic Parsi-Irani dishes like the Irani zereshk polow and mutton paya soup that are best washed down with a Pallonji brand ginger or masala soda, or better still, a piping hot (chipped) mug of its namesake—Irani chai!

A li'l extra...

London’s very own Parsi-Irani homage
The nostalgia for the Mumbai-style Parsi-Irani restaurant has long crossed continents and landed in balmy London with homage restaurants like the many outposts of the Dishoom chain of Parsi-Irani eateries across the city and the celebrated Parsi restaurant Cafe Spice Namaste at Whitechapel by famous British-Parsi celebrity chef Cyrus Todiwala.  

Chai or Choi? That’s the question!
While it may be a distant cousin of the good old Mumbai-style masala chai, Parsi choi is a whole other kettle (pun intended!) of tea. The main difference between regular chai and choi is that the Parsis add mint leaves and lemon grass to their iteration with a whole lot of sugar and milk. In the winter months, or on cold rainy days, it is not uncommon to have black pepper powder added to the tea for some soothing warmth.

(An edited version of this article first appeared in the September 2019 issue of Travel 360, the in-flight magazine of Air Asia India)

Who put the savoury in my dessert?

From kidney beans and goat’s cheese to olive oil as dessert ingredients—and a whole lot more in between—restaurants around the city are pushing the envelope as far as their new summer desserts are concerned, with many that seemed to have merrily skipped off the savoury menu onto the desserts’ one!

By Raul Dias

Pink Peppercorn Mousse with Passion Fruit Curd
Now, usually desserts end on a sweet note. But in this case, the idea behind it was to create a combination of a sweet taste with a strong sharpness to the palate. Bordering on spicy, but yet, clearly a sweet, summery dessert, this one is the quirky sum of its rather incongruous (yet supremely complementary) parts! A visually vibrant dessert is an infusion of 70% dark cocoa that has a bitter sweet taste mixed with pink peppercorns. It is further enhanced by the sweet and sour passion fruit curd and edible chocolate soil that completes it.
Chef Speak: “The inspiration behind this dessert was the pink peppercorn as an ingredient. It is versatile in nature and is vastly used in European and Mediterranean cuisine. But in this case, we wanted to experiment with it in a dessert course. The blending of ingredients that leads to a combination of sharpness and sweetness lends that ‘X Factor’ to the dessert.”
- Chef Anil J, executive chef, Razzberry Rhinoceros
Price: Rs 375
Available at: Razzberry Rhinoceros, Juhu

Wasabi Ice Cream Sandwich with Fried Nori Strips
Think of a typical K Rustom ice cream sandwich. Now, imagine it going to Japan and retuning back! Voila, you’ve decoded this sinus-busting dessert that is composed of a thick slab of piquant wasabi ice cream ensconced by two malt shortbreads and served up with crisp, fried nori seaweed sheets. Dripping (quite literally!) with nostalgia, this bordering-on-savoury dessert has done so well with diners since the restaurant opened two months ago, that the team is planning to add two more rather outré flavours; pan pasand and gulkand.
Chef Speak: “We wanted to make a modern dessert drawing inspiration from our childhood’s nostalgic elements. K Rustom ice cream sandwich has been part of our lives for the longest time. Hence, we came up with the idea of an ice cream sandwich. I have a background of oriental food and the (restaurant’s) owner Aditya and I thought of making a wasabi ice cream sandwich with nori strips.”
-Chef Sandeep Moktan, executive chef, Gymkhana 91
Price: Rs 235
Available at: Gymkhana 91, Lower Parel

Manila Halo Halo Sundae
This red kidney bean-redolent iteration of Halo Halo is an ode to the popular cold-savoury-sweet dessert that is served across The Philippines, from roadside stands to ritzy hotels. Dished out in a champagne coupe, the dessert combines shaved ice with condensed milk and generous piles of sweetened kidney beans, jellies, and rice crisps. The Halo Halo is a representation of a broader spectrum of other Southeast Asian desserts—like Cendol from Indonesia, Ais Kacang from Malaysia—where savoury element like cream corn, kidney beans, chestnuts are combined with shaved ice to which a sweet component that comes from either syrupy sweet condensed milk or rose syrup are added.
Chef Speak: “According to me, the best dessert that The Philippines has to offer is the Halo Halo. It’s a complete dessert snack with the perfect balance of sweet and savoury that’ll satisfy you till the very last bite. It’s an explosion of different flavours and texture, and is the perfect summer coolant for a hot summer day.”
-Chef Paul Kinny, culinary director, Shizusan Shophouse & Bar
Price: Rs 295
Available at: Shizusan Shophouse & Bar, Lower Parel

White Chocolate Parfait with Goat’s Cheese Ice Cream and Beetroot Sponge
This one’s the perfect example of one of those bizarre pairings that make you go, “What, really!?”, much like dark chocolate and chilly—another knockout combo, if there ever was one. But in this case, it is the smoothness of the white chocolate and the tartness of a goat’s cheese ice cream that work their magic together in this dessert. All this, ably supported by ‘supporting acts’ like microwave beetroot sponge and raspberry colie along with some dehydrated raspberries that finish off this culinary chimera.
Chef Speak: “Cheese and ice cream isn’t the most common combination, but the flavour harmony they create is unmatched. I like how it compliments certain dishes, like this one, when used in the right proportions—never too much, just a splash for subtle floral notes.”
- Chef Yogendra Adep, chef de cuisine, Luna Gusta at The St. Regis Mumbai
Price: Rs 650
Available at: Luna Gusta at The St. Regis Mumbai, Lower Parel

Basil Ice Cream with Olive Oil and Pine Nuts
The very idea of sitting down to a dessert of basil ice cream with olive oil and pine nuts may seem a bit nuts (do pardon the pun!) to most. But trust us when we say, that this pesto-esque ice cream is perhaps, the best rendition of olive oil used innovatively that we’ve seen in a very long time! Interestingly, the genesis of this rather outré dessert is a result of a spin-off of The Sassy Spoon’s very popular basil fondant with its gooey, herbaceous green core that has its own legion of sweet-toothed fans.
Chef Speak: “I used olive oil was because I was actually thinking along the lines of pesto and the ingredients that go into making a good pesto. Apart from the parmesan and garlic in a savoury pesto, I felt these flavours worked well together and the olive oil also gives a nice, smooth texture, with the pine nuts adding a lovely bite to the ice cream.”
-Chef Rachel Goenka, CEO/owner and chef, The Sassy Spoon
Price: Rs 100 per scoop
Available at: The Sassy Spoon at Nariman Point and Bandra

(A shorter, edited version of this article appeared in the 22nd April 2017 issue of the Mid-Day newspaper, India http://www.mid-day.com/articles/food-news-mumbai-restaurants-summer-desserts/18187189)

A Serving of Nostalgia

From Gurugram and Hyderabad to Bengaluru and yes, even Mumbai, the new guard of ‘Bombay-style’ restaurants are boldly making their presence felt on India’s culinary map.

By Raul Dias

Blame it on diner apathy, owner ennui or just plain old economic unfeasibility—whatever be the reason—it’s no big surprise that the original ‘Bombay-style’ restaurant genus in Mumbai is dying an excruciatingly slow death. While its already shutters down for some of the old vanguards like Dhobi Talao’s Bastani & Co. and Brabourne, others like the dusty old Kyani and Sassasian are tottering along with an arthritic limp.
Interestingly, while that’s happening, around the country, riding the crest of the nostalgia wave is a bunch of zeitgeisty new champions of the genre. Places that are surging ahead, breathing new life into a graph that’s waning rather woefully. Places that are making it their mission to give a stylish new fillip to Irani joint edible vestiges like good old brun maska and kheema pao, along with Mumbai street food classics like dabeli and bhel puri–all laced with the right doses of nostalgia thrown in for good measure, Bentwood chairs sitting atop vintage mosaic tiles et al!
Even cities like London and New York have cottoned onto this trend with the Dishoom chain of Irani-style restaurants and Talli Joe in the former and Paowalla in the latter taking a determined bite off the ‘schmaltz-y’ pie.
Here are a few desi doppelgangers channeling the Bombay restaurant nostalgia:

GYMKHANA 91, Mumbai
Inspiration is much more than a mere 11-letter word for the people behind this spanking new, nostalgia-driven bar and restaurant located slap bang in the center of Mumbai’s de facto restaurant super hub of Lower Parel. Besides pinching the first part of its name from the uber-popular and similarly themed Gymkhana restaurant in London’s posh Mayfair neck of the woods, Gymkhana 91 has a certain ‘Old Boys Club’ look and feel to it without being stuffy and foreboding. Here, one spies—as you sip on libations like the vodka-based Rustom nu soda and the bourbon-spiked Mumbai presidency—wrought iron chandeliers that hang from a dark-lacquered oak pitched roof, cut glass cathedral windows and an eight-foot clock keeping with the old times when gymkhanas across Mumbai had a clock tower in the vicinity. The food on offer here ranges from inspired (there we go again!) egg dishes like Kejriwal toast and the whimsically named Parsi-style Rati Aunty’s chutney edu pattice, to ersatz takes on more eggy breakfast classics like Parsi akuri and Bombay’s masala omelette that are not so blithe opening acts to mains like patra ni macchi, Byculla’s chicken Russian cutlets and mutton kheema pao.

RUSTOM’S, New Delhi
A Parsi mom-n-pop gone a wee mod. That’s the perfect way to describe this smallish restaurant in South Delhi that opened a year or so ago. Run by former food writer and bawi, Kainaz Contractor and former hotelier Rahul Dua, Rustom’s may claim to go beyond the ubiquitous dhansak and salli boti offerings of most so-called Parsi restaurants. But then one is instantly drawn in by a series of Parsi clichés that take the form of vintage grandfather clocks, antique crockery cupboards and an ambient soundtrack featuring the likes of old-school classics—The Beatles, Abba, Miles Davis and the Parsi favourite Frank Sinatra! Just as you enjoy the toothsome brilliance of the maghi na cutlet and the kolmi fry, dishes like akoori and eeda cheese balls take you back to the egg-obsessed Parsi home, while others like the decidedly veggie, okra-rich bheeda ma dahi and tarkari pulao show you that there truly is enjoyment beyond meat. Non-alcoholic beverages like the milky Parsi chai and the unctuous Rustom’s hot chocolate, though anathema to the ‘mota peg’ loving Parsis, are encore-worthy.  

CAFÉ IRANI CHAII, Mumbai
Grabbing headlines a year ago for being the first new Irani restaurant to open in Mumbai in 50 years, this modest little Irani café truly is a welcome addition to the dying breed. Sitting along a tiny lane in central Mumbai’s Mahim area, Café Irani Chaii is like a shiny, new portal into a moth-eaten era, with its glass countertop bearing egg trays and large glass jars holding forth bull’s eye peppermint candy and Parle-G biscuits. Its faux Bentwood chairs, glass covered tables and mirror-paneled walls giving it more and more cred. With prices almost on par with the few old Irani cafés still left standing, its mawa cakes and brun maskas curry fond favour with the pocket moneyed school kids. Those wishing to take a trip down memory lane can indulge in dishes like the Irani zereshk polow and mutton paya soup, best washed down with a Pallonji brand ginger or masala soda, or better still, a piping hot (chipped) mug of Bournvita!

DISHKIYAOON, Mumbai
In a classic case of one copycat copying another, this year-old, BKC-located all day diner cum bar shamelessly apes London’s Dishoom quartet–which paradoxically, is itself a pastiche of many old Bombay Irani restaurants’ elements—right from its onomatopoeic name to its décor (read: faux telephone box, exposed Edison bulbs etc) and fare on offer. Here, Chef Clyde Comello takes on classic Bambaiyya-style favourites like a vada pav, transforming it into a deconstructed vada pav salad, while chakna—a beer bar favourite is sent off as a delicately plated chana chur garam, replete with a very au courant flourish of micro greens topping it. Cocktails here reinforce the nostalgic leitmotif with specimens like the filter coffee martini, gur & sugarcane mojito and the tart, tamarind-redolent Bombay to Benaras that reminds one of the bunta sodas one drank at Irani joints in the era when twitter was just another name for birdsong!

SODABOTTLEOPENERWALA, New Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Thane, Mumbai
As one of the earliest torch bearers of the Neo Bombay restaurant movement, SodaBottleOpenerWala (SBOW), has over the years, metastasised into a virtual army of outposts that have sprung up in several Indian cities, with the newest and most ironic of all being readied to open its stained-glass doors in the Irani café stronghold of South Mumbai’s Colaba neighbourhood. With a decidedly eclectic Mumbai-style menu, owner and serial restaurateur A.D. Singh has made sure that SBOW’s Parsi signature dishes like berry pulao, Parsi mutton masala roast, prawn patio and chicken farcha rub shoulders with Bombay street food icons like kanda bhaji, Tardeo A/C Market Mamaji’s grilled sandwich and a Bhendi Bazaar sheekh paratha. The ‘Irani Chai Bar’ is another interesting concept, where everything from the luridly-coloured raspberry soda in bottles to the tequila-heavy Daruwalla Vimto comes heavily spiked with nostaligia. All this, in SBOW restaurants that each pay rich tribute to the quirkiness of erstwhile Irani eateries with their décor, the lynchpin of which is a take on the rather comic Bastani & Co. rules’ board emblazoned with diktat’s like “No talking to the cashier, no newspaper, no leg on chair, no combing” and such.

THE BOMBAY CANTEEN, Mumbai
Prima facie, you’d be forgiven for dismissing The Bombay Canteen (TBC), nestled in the concrete jungle of Mumbai’s erstwhile mill bastion of Lower Parel, as another grunge-obsessed, exposed-brickwork-meets-industrial-chic space. A motif that seems to be the cliché of every second restaurant that’s debuted in ‘Maximum City’ over the last few years. But take some time out to peel off its patina-rich layers, look under its old Parsi-style terracotta floor tiles and peer through its coloured glass-accented window panes and you’ll see a core that’s deliciously refreshing and reassuringly familiar. And nostalgia is one of the main reasons why New York-based ‘Old Bombay Boy’ Chef Floyd Cardoz decided to set TBC up as a paean to his—and the city’s—past. Everything from a Kutchi dabeli bada pao sandwich and a surprisingly piscine take on bhelpuri with the seafood bhel to cocktails like the gin raspberry sharbat and tamarind whiskey shake feature on its kitschy menu that reads like an ad from a 70s newspaper. So popular is this turn, that Cardoz has now exported the concept of the Bombay restaurant to New York with his brand new Paowalla in downtown Manhattan’s trendy SoHo, that’s garnering some solid press.

(A shorter, edited version of this article first appeared in the 27th February 2017 issue of India Today Magazine, India)