Across the length and breadth of the country, India has one of the richest, most diverse food cultures anywhere in the world. For committed gastronomes, some of the most authentic, soul-satisfying food experiences can often be found in people’s homes. But these aren’t always accessible and certainly not to everyone. And that’s where restaurants come in – almost every city in India has a selection of eateries that have made a name for themselves over the years, specialising in the local cuisine, with the flavours amped up and taken to whole new level, achieved via a mix of carefully selected ingredients and cooking techniques developed over many years, sometimes many decades. And the best part is, you’re just as likely to find such legendary eateries inside a five-star hotel as on a nondescript streetside corner.
Edited by Ruth Dsouza Prabhu, the recently published India’s Most Legendary Restaurants presents a selection of such legendary Indian restaurants and tells the story of each establishment. Seven restaurants, each one of them a part of Taste Atlas’s list of the 150 most legendary restaurants in the world, are presented in the book. So, there is Paragon in Kozhikode, Tunday Kababi in Lucknow, Peter Cat in Kolkata, Amrik Sukhdev Dhaba in Murthal, Mavalli Tiffin Rooms (MTR) in Bengaluru, Karim’s in New Delhi and Ram Ashraya in Mumbai. ‘Interweaving memories, interviews, and more than thirty mouth-watering food recommendations, this is an entertaining chronicle of how these iconic restaurants and their fabled creations came to be,’ says the publisher’s note. ‘The idea was to tell our readers the story of how these legendary restaurants came to be. For those in the world of food, these names are familiar but their stories are known piecemeal at best,’ says Prabhu. The five writers who’ve written about these seven legendary restaurants have a long-standing personal equation with the place they’ve written about, which brings an intimate, first-person perspective to each essay, and a recounting of interesting little anecdotes that may not have been written about earlier.
Prabhu herself starts the book with her piece on Paragon, a homegrown legend in Kozhikode that’s been around for more than eight decades. She traces Paragon’s story back to the late-1930s, when one Govindan Panchikail, after retiring from Indian Railways, decided to follow his culinary passions and opened up a bakery. And from being a small bakery offering a simple selection of flaky puffs and Christmas cakes, Paragon gradually mushroomed into the culinary powerhouse it is today. Sumesh, the founder’s grandson and the man who’s in charge today, explains that this has been achieved with the right mix of innovation, creativity and being disruptive. Which is perhaps why today, when Kozhikode residents wish to partake of fish curries, fried chicken, biryani or an extensive selection of Keralite cuisine, Paragon is their first destination of choice. How is Sumesh able to pull this off consistently? By challenging himself and repeatedly raising the bar. ‘Such challenges help me stay young. I believe that the restaurant business is not rocket science; anyone with the right attitude and common sense can do it,’ he says.
Next up is Anubhuti Krishna’s story of Lucknow’s famous Tunday Kababi, which is famous for its – what else – kebabs! But not just any kebabs – these are sinfully delicious, melt-in-the-mouth galawati delicacies that are made with the choicest cuts of buffalo meat and a secret blend of more than a hundred spices, fried in ghee on a massive lagan made of brass, over a coal-fired kiln. Haji Murad Ali – also referred to as Tunday mian – migrated from Bhopal to Lucknow at sometime in the early-1900snd proceeded to lose an arm when he fell off a building while flying a kite. Undeterred by the loss, he set up his kebab shop in Chowk, in Lucknow, in 1905 and since then there’s been no looking back for the Tunday Kababi name. Today, patrons continue to enjoy the kebabs with the equally legendary ulte tawe ka paratha, while Tunday also serves up great biryanis and a selection of other Awadhi and Mughlai dishes. Tunday Kababi is now looking at ways to expand their presence outside Lucknow, but without messing with the quality and consistency of their food.
Calcutta is, of course, one of the best destinations in India for foodies and Priyadarshini Chatterjee writes about Peter Cat, an iconic eatery in the city of joy. This restaurant, which has been around since 1975, does not take reservations and patrons can expect to have to queue up in order to eat there, but the wait is always worthwhile. The décor, the waiters’ livery and the general atmosphere inside is from another era – perhaps a more relaxed, more indulgent time – and while the food is definitely the star of the show, the hissing of sizzlers, the gentle clink of forks and spoons and the aroma of smoke and spices only add to the charm. Nitin Kothari, who set up the restaurant and who still runs the place, learned the basics of the food business in his father’s aegis; while he studied in a boarding school in Darjeeling, he’d come back to Calcutta during the three-month long winter breaks and would be put to work in the kitchens of Mocambo, a sophisticated nightclub that his father ran at the time. The journey hasn’t been easy (especially in the context of Calcutta’s political climate) but the Kotharis have persisted, and the family today runs multiple popular eateries in the city. The people of Calcutta know how to have a good time and they certainly enjoy their food and drink. And at Peter Cat, the good times just keep on rolling.
In addition to the above, you have Om Routray’s essay on Murthal’s Amrik Sukhdev Dhaba, which is famous for its stuffed parathas, chole kulche, Amritsari daal and kheer. He also writes about Delhi’s Karim’s, famous for its Mughlai cuisine, especially the qormas, koftas and kababs. And Ruth Dsouza Prabhu’s story of Bangalore’s Mavalli Tiffin Rooms (MTR), well-known and much loved for its rava idlis, bisi bele bhath and filter coffee. And finally, there’s Aatish Nath’s piece on Bombay’s Ram Ashraya, one of the best places in the city for Udupi cuisine. Each writer puts his or her own unique spin on the way these stories are told, and foodies will keep turning the pages in eager anticipation because the writing really brings these legendary eateries alive right in your living room, as you read the book. At around 180 pages, this is a rather slim volume and you might well be left hungering for more once you’ve finished reading it. But maybe we can hope for a volume II, a sequel to this book, at some time in the near future?
India’s Most Legendary Restaurants
Editor: Ruth Dsouza Prabhu
Publisher: Aleph Book Company
Format: Paperback / Kindle
Number of pages: 184 / 178
Price: Rs 325 / Rs 306
Available on Amazon
Book Review: India’s Most Legendary Restaurants
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