Eating is Exploring

The paranoia of leaving a city.

The paranoia of returning to a city.

I feel I haven't explored Bombay yet and I am leaving in a month. 

And eating is exploring.

On a lazy Monday morning my friends came up with the idea of bunking work and going to town (or South Bombay or as TOI calls it SoBo) to explore some new and some really old (the ones we know of but never land up going to) places to eat. We landed at Britania and Co. in Ballard Estaste.

This restaurant from the 1920s has not been touched up. A small space with black chairs, it is tabled with Kayani like red and white checked clothes, has worn out walls and open shelves for inventory, an open counter and menus stuck to table tops. An old wooden staircase in one corner takes you to an open indoor balcony with table fans attached to its ledge.

We pretty girls were asked to sit wherever we liked. We looked through the simple menu and before we knew, an old man in his 90s was standing at our table. 'Girls are you ready to place your order?', 'Yes please', 'Then I'm ready to take your order.'  We casually accepted the surprise. We knew what we wanted. 

Sali Boti, Berry Pulav, Dhan Saak, Rotli and Caramel Custard for dessert. 'Sir, what would you suggest for drinks?'. Pointing at the menu he replied, 'I would suggest our special Fresh Lime Soda Salt-Sweet-To beat the Bombay Heat!' He was adorable. He was an instant hit with the young girls. He made us laugh. He also told us to 'Keep the boys out. Not kick them. Keep them!' 

Britania has character. It has style. It has a tint of the madness the Parsis are fondly accused of. In spite of its age, it has a freshness. And it has food. The best Parsi food I have had in the city. It blew our minds off. We kept regretting having over ordered but couldn't stop eating. We couldn't talk because we couldn't stop eating.

Open only between 11am and 4 pm, most of the regulars here were collared lawyers, coated corporates and foreigners. We were told the old Parsi owner carries a laminated picture of the British Queen in his pocket and is often found flashing it to British foreigners. He tells them to 'Bring back the Brits!' We were also told that many years ago, the same old man, used to keep his pet rooster on the main counter with him.

We spotted the a photo of the rooster on the notice board. We also spotted the rooster in their logo.

My favorite was the tag line above the rooster:

'There is no love bigger than the love for food'

How can I disagree!

Ps. At the lack of a camera, I stole a picture from the internet. Thank you Lucy Archibald