GUIDE TO MUMBAI'S PARSI CAFE'S
BERRY PULAO AND BANTER
Escaping religious persecution in the 8th-9th century, a group of Parsi's settled in the coastal city of Mumbai (via Gujarat). A melting pot of cultures already from around the sub-continent, they found a home in the busy streets of Bombay, and over time began to leave their own fingerprint on the cities cultural and culinary fabric.
The first Parsi restaurants started appearing in the 18th-19th century, quickly becoming a meeting place for the community to congregate and connect over traditional recipes. Word spread, and soon thousands of local Bombayites began to discover the new and wonderful cuisine being served on their doorstep. Over the next decades the restaurants would become an intrinsic part of the culinary landscape of Mumbai, acting almost as a natural part of the cities template.
Below are a few of the most famous and traditional Parsi restaurants still going, and a guide to what to eat there. The decaying facades and peeling paint create a magical aura of times gone by, where you can smell the history whilst tucking in to your rich, fragrant meals surrounded by the constant murmur of satisfied conversation. Whilst the world around us changes at astonishing speed, and relics of ancient times are generally swept under the carpet, it is comforting to know that places like these exist for the time being, and hopefully keep their foothold for a few more generations to come.
Whether or not modernity manages to kick them out further to the cheaper suburbs remains to be seen, but for now enjoy them while you can. They are magical.
BRITANNIA & COMPANY
Perhaps the most loved and well known of all Mumbai's Parsi cafes, entering Britannia & Co is like stepping back a hundred years. The owner sits defiantly on his chair wafting the thick air around to cool off, his dog lies on the counter with a sign that warns people from petting, the waiters are dressed in black trousers and white pressed shirts, the menus speak of miracles from Iran, the tables are closely packed so the conversation becomes a consistent drone, the fan attempts to cut the humidity, the walls look about to collapse, the paint flickers off in tiny specks and dances in rotations on the way to the floor.
To come here is to crave nostalgia. To belong.
As far as food goes, non-vegetarians have to order the sali boti mutton, either with chapatis or their berry pulao (they still import the barberries from Iran). For vegetarians the dansak is the go-to dish here, and if -like any respectable diner- you are sharing, then get a vegetarian berry pulao so you can both attack the meal with equal conscience.
For the sweet of tooth, their caramel custards are legendary, so a saccharine end to a triumphant meal is the only fitting curtain call for a memorable trip in time.
KYANI & CO.
Breakfast is a meal best enjoyed in private surroundings when the newspaper is the only voice that disturbs your waking spirit. However, in Mumbai peace and quiet are in meagre supply, so we suggest braving the traffic and heading to Kyani & Co to find a corner surrounded by mirrors and gaze into the ether from the past.
The dish to get here is their famous Parsi Akoori eggs (scrambled eggs with onion, tomatoes and chilli), with buttered bread rolls, their elaichi chai and a few deep breaths to take it all in. Outside the traffic peels by in perplexing zig-zags, but the interiors of Kyani bestow a certain air of reassurance. Everything is going to be alright.
SASSANIAN
Perhaps the darkest and most derelict of the three, Sassanian is more of a bakery than a restaurant but through the doorway they have a small eating room where the decor has been frozen in time since 1913. Ordering a tea and something naughty, and leaning back in your chair to take in the glory of times gentle march, invigorates those guilty of reminiscing, and washes the present smartphone distraction completely out of your bones (unless, heaven forbid, the influencers have found it).
The bakery counter looks about to topple in dust, the signs are faded from incessant sun, the glass jars have turned that wonderful shade of opaque, and the curtains hang in solemn defiance.
Though the future is here in ravishing acceleration, these restaurants offer solace and refuge from a world that has forgotten about the glory of old teak, canvasses painted by hand, posters printed & framed in distant backalleys, carpets handwoven, furniture built by callous fingered apprentices, books turned by the sun, reflections of history spoken by the stare of shopkeepers who have known the weight of history behind their ancestors movements, and the glory of being welcomed to a foreign land and been able to create a small pocket of Persia in the mayhem of Mumbai.
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