Vegetarian Food Paradise - Shree Thakar Bhojanalaya

There is an Irish proverb, “Laughter is brightest in the place where food is good’. A Mumbai institution since 1945, Shri Thakkar Bhojanalaya is one such place. The joy and aromas in this small eatery in Kalbadevi are its USP. With the quality of food remaining the same, the amount of spices and oils not any more than in home food and the servers serving as if you were a guest at their own home; this is a place that has its loyal patrons whose tribe is only growing.

I was introduced to this quaint little eatery by father and his younger brother (Chacha). The two brothers love to visit this place as they get to eat their favourite Gujarati and Rajasthani foods in the form of a thali and customised to their tastes. So while Chacha likes his food spicy, Papa prefers it medium. Come to Thakkar Bhojanalya and not only these two but me who eats minimal spices also has an awesome time. So all their vegetables and curries are made to cater to people with different spice levels and the menu changes daily. In fact, the family that own this place also gets their meals catered to from the restaurant.

The starters and desserts listed for the day 

Yesterday I decided that it was time I took Persepolis and her mother to this iconic food joint as she had never been there. Born and brought up in Mumbai, educated in institutions close to this eatery and worked in the lanes even closer; this friend of mine was oblivious to the existence of Shri Thakkar Bhojanalaya. Once she obliged me with an appointment in her calendar I decided I would waste no time and so the dinner was decided.

Reaching the place is a bit of a chore, given that it is smack in the centre of old Mumbai with narrow lanes and hand carts plying. Once there, it is your luck how long or short would be the wait. I was prepared for a twenty minute wait but fortunately it was  only a couple of minutes. A very comfortable table for three allotted to us we got the empty thalis with the endless vatis (katori) and Persepolis was super excited. She wanted to understand how much food would come our way and vowed not to eat till all her vatis were full.

The empty thali with a signal of oncoming abundance

First came the salad and the chutneys followed by the starters or the farsans as they are locally known. They were piping hot and tempting but Persepolis held on. Then came the aamras, the mango puree, and that bulldozed all temptation away. She just dug into the vati and I was smiling. The veggies and curries were delayed as aunty and I had requested for non-spicy variety. Unable to hold herself any longer, Persepolis decided that she would get the spicy lot that was already being served. And soon her thali was full. As the server with the papad walked by she stopped him to take one, not that she craved it but wanted to taste all the items on the menu. With the thali full she dug in and seeing her smile was pure joy.

The full thali where refills are unlimited! The acutal food coma begins

Soon the non-spicy food came and we were on our way to a food coma as well. Now before I move ahead, as you can see the variety of the veggies and the curries I will not spend time on that. But dear readers, you should know that the breads are also of a minimum five types – jowar roti (the one that has my preference), bajra roti (which is served with jaggery), wheat roti (with ghee), biscuit bhakri (which is delightful but heavy) and puri (yummy but deep fried). So I got my jowar roti, aunty took bajra and wheat and Persepolis took one of each! She was like a child in the playground with new toys!

I was savouring the food and taking my time with each curry. There was no place for desserts either in my stomach or in my thali. Persepolis decided that when satisfying the taste buds the sweet tooth had to be catered to first. So she took the kalajaum and the sheera. While by the end she could not eat the kala jamun she loved the coconut sheera.

Just if you thought this is where the meal was over, no. There was rice, pulao and khichdi still left to go! I had no place for anything but at the insistence of the person incharge I had a teaspoon of the khichdi and the pulao. They were delicious! Persepolis and aunty enjoyed the khichdi but post that even Persepolis had to stay stop to the food onslaught. We were full to the brim and more. It was an absolutely delicious meal served with love and at INR 700 a person it was not expensive.

The evidence of a delicious and a thoroughly enjoyed meal!

Just before we got up to leave we realised that the buttermilk had been left. Well it is supposed to be a digestive and in that light Persepolis and I drank to toast our fabulous dinner. We were all happy campers. Alighting the stairs Persepolis claimed that she would now recommend Shree Thakker Bhojanalya to anyone and everyone she met. In the next instant she had a realisation and said, “ Well I would be recommending a place that everyone already knows of.” Better late than never my friend!

Until we meet again, enjoy the food photographs and if possible a visit to this food paradise!

Prakash - Truly a gift for the taste buds

There are some things in life that do not change and what a blessing that is. That was exactly my emotion as I walked out of today's team lunch. 

We had a morning filled with meetings and my colleagues were clear from the word go. Today's lunch had to be simple and authentic local cuisine. Now, the outsiders may not realise it, but Mumbaikars will. Authentic local cuisine in this city is Maharashtrian, Gujarati and even Sindhi. Then comes the street food which is a mix of the two former cuisines. So I was not sure what to pick. However, given that we were in Prabhadevi, I took the decision to satisfy my own nostalgia and cravings and take them to Prakash - Shakahari Upahar Kendra at Sena Bhavan.

For the uninitiated I must say you have missed out on life! If you have lived in Mumbai or been here and not been to Prakash and Aswad, then well make sure your next visit has these two eateries factored into your plans. I got introduced to Prakash twenty five years ago. Yes, you read that right. 

Let me start at the beginning. These were the days of engineering. Chembur to town (as where I reside in Mumbai is and was addressed) was a long journey that started at a college where the canteen only served Vada pav or pav Vada if you wanted variety. It was absolutely not an option to eat there unless one was starving of hunger. I had a large group of friends and a bunch of us stayed after the mid point between Chembur and town. So this bhookad ("forever hungry") lot of us would stop at a few places over the course of four years. 

In the order that the destinations  enroute, the first one was Matunga circle. Of course we would get off here for a dosa. Mumbaikars will know that any of the udipi restaurants here are worth entering into blindly. Some people have their own preferred ones, and rightfully so, but you cannot go wrong with any. I for one am a dosa fan. Given that I was born in the south, I guess I acquired that taste in the womb itself. So these are stops that I liked.

The next stop is the one where I cringed. A lot of this "gang" hailed from a junior college aka high school called Ruia College. For them, Chinaman was next to heaven. As the name suggests, it served Chinese albeit Indo Chinese, one cuisine that my taste buds have never taken to. The twisty oil soaked noodles and the chewy Manchurian made my stomach roll even before I saw the food. Yet, pretending to be a part of the crowd I would follow the enthusiasts to this place, to which I also had to walk a lot from the bus stop. It just seemed unfair! Go to eat food I don't enjoy and that too after walking more than I needed to. 

That is where the third and final stop came - Prakash. It was just behind the bus stop and it had the most lip smacking sabudana Vada, sabudana khichdi, piyush, Thalipeeth, misal etc. Now if I acquired the taste for idlis and dosas in the womb, the taste for sabudana khichdi was no younger. My very first memory of eating sabudana khichdi, sabudana Vada and Kanda poha is when my father's younger brother took a toddler me to pick up his car. At Panshikar (another famous Maharashtrian food place at Opera House), I still remember, standing on the table and gobbling the three snacks. Chacha and I both enjoy these snacks and probably he gave this taste to me. So for me Prakash was divine - no walk, all scrumptious food and taking me back to childhood. 

After I graduated, I still went to Prakash. Then I moved to Europe. But as Mr Pea's parents stay close by, when I went to visit them I stopped to get my fix - the sabudana vada or the khichdi. Once I moved back to Mumbai, I followed Prakash. It was covered by New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/travel/21bites1.html). I commended their taste buds. I knew when re-construction of the building started the place moved across the road. But going there for a meal did not happen. So today I grabbed the opportunity literally with both hands. 

I warned my colleagues that there would be no air conditioning (Mumbai recorded 38 C today), we would have "some random people" share the table with us and it would be a small space. They were game for it and I was super excited. One colleague asked if there would be a thali. I did not recall one there and I looked at him saying I don't know but thinking why would one want a thali at Prakash and off we went to locate the relocated Prakash. 

As expected we had to wait. Thankfully we stood in the blistering sun for only 10 min when we got a full table for four. So no random folks joining us. The waiters still wore the same pink coats. How familiar! How nostalgic! There was no AC. Yet another box ticked. Felt like coming home! Now even before I looked at the menu I ordered two Sabudana vadas. My colleagues were a bit surprised but I was the local. Then I glanced at the menu and saw a thali. So I ordered that. Next came Piyush. A cousin of the north Indian lassi, it definitely is the one I am partial to. Ok let me.just  out and say it. Lassi literally pales in comparison to Piyush. And finally Solkadhi which was for me and I was not sharing it. This is a cousin of the masala chaas and well they both get my attention but cannot be shared. 

Before I move on let me tell you the reaction to the Sabudana Vada in the words of my colleague. " I had gone to Chennai to meet a friend and he took me to a place where we had to wait for 10 min to eat idlis. I was wondering what the fuss was all about. They eat idlis daily at home. It is an idli. But once I ate there I could stand in the queue again. That is what this Sabudana vada is about." Well that is how you create fan following people! 

Next I ordered a Thalipeeth for the table. This spicy and scrumptious flat bread is made of multigrain flour. I have always loved Thalipeeth and Zeitgeist probably knows how much the best. His mother makes some excellent Thalipeeth. In fact the day I landed in Canada for his wedding, his mother asked me what I felt like eating. And there, in the foreign land, I had said Thalipeeth and she made this not so easy to make flat bread. The two pieces served today were over even before they came. 

The misal met with the same fate. Made with sprouts and legumes, this snack in a gravy, topped with curd was washed away. I was smiling. And as I was seeing food being eaten faster than it could be served, I also saw people digging into the Bhindi in the thali with gusto. The one with the thali did not mind. In fact I think he encouraged it so that he could try the other stuff as well. So he took the dal out as he supposedly does not like dal. I tried to explain how delicious Varan bhat is and so another one just took it on his plate while scooping some rice from the Thali. Everyone was just enjoying this indulgence. 

By then I had probably had half a Sabudana vada and saved a small portion of the thali peeth as I savoured my Solkadhi. To see what I wanted to eat, I turned to the menu and knew what I wanted - Pithala Bhakri. Made of gram flour, the Pithala is a spicy and delicious thick curry. The Bhakri served is soft and mouth melting. When the portion came, I called dibs. Took one bhakri and some Pithala and then left the others to decide how they wanted to split the balance. I was a happy trooper. As I ate mine, taking time with each bite, the others had demolished this too! 

Finally came time for dessert. And while the menu has options, I had decided as I had entered that the sweet would be kesar Shrikhand. Hung sour curd, churned with saffron and sugar, it's thick, it's aromatic and it lightens the palate with all of the above along with a satiating cooling sensation. If I go on describing this, I would need to restrict the audience and so will stop. The proof however is, people ordered individual portions after having shared the one originally ordered. 

After such a hearty lunch it was difficult to get up. It was after two thirty pm and the lunch rush had subsided as well. To give the food time to settle we discussed a legal agremeent and a P&L issue. After no excuse was left we called for the bill. That is when the final tradition of Prakash was unveiled. Please pay in cash only. I think this is one bill that everyone on the table wanted to pay! Wholesome, authentic and delicious; my colleagues walked away thinking we got away scott free with a menial initial ten minute wait and a bill that was lighter than the Bhakri we ate.  

Fortunately, some things in life don't change. And food at Prakash is one of those!