In 1923, like a few other Zoroastrian immigrants from Iran, Rashid Kohinoor decided to get into the restaurant business in the city once known as Bombay. Could he have imagined that Britannia & Co. would have people requesting reservations right up to era of iPad menus?
Britannia & Co. is now in the hands of the third generation, still whipping up food influenced by the family’s Iranian and Parsi roots. It is not hard to imagine what the joint must have looked like when it first threw open its doors to the British Officers stationed in the Fort area.
Not much, the Kohinoors say, has changed; including the Bentwood furniture imported from Poland during the eatery's early years.
A few modern amenities like a phone and shoulder-high stacks of airtight containers, aluminum foil boxes and other packaging paraphernalia have been added and help Britannia run a healthy home-delivery business in South Mumbai.
But the restaurant industry has changed dramatically since the era of family-run businesses.While Boman Kohinoor is immensely charming to the point of not knowing when to stop, personally taking orders and making serious small talk with the diners, at 89 years of age he is nothing like the young, dynamic restaurateurs the city is buzzing with.
Romin, his younger son and the chef, is simple, soft-spoken and much of his life has been spent in the kitchen at Britannia.
They are open for just four hours a day and their rates are nominal, a few hundred rupees per dish.
It's likely that Britannia's owners are more motivated by sentiment than profit, and while they must make enough for a comfortable life, the earnings from the restaurant cannot be commensurate with its fame and legacy.
At points, both Boman's sons wanted to quit but he persuaded them to stay on. In fact, his eldest son Afshin, who assists him in managing the place, returned only a few years ago after a stint in Iran.
There is also just one person from the fourth generation, 13-year-old Daanish Kohinoor, and as his grandfather says, a restaurant is hard to manage single-handedly.
The restaurant's 99-year lease expires in 2023. With just a little over a decade left here's an authentic Britannia recipe for posterity -- a gravy-stained page of Mumbai history.
Britannia-style sali chicken in five steps
(Chicken in gravy with crispy fries, serves four)You will need:
2 finely chopped green chilies
2 large finely chopped onions
A tiny piece of ginger
Half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder
Half a teaspoon of turmeric powder
1 teaspoon of garam masala
Half a teaspoon of cumin seeds
7 or so curry leaves
6 cloves of garlic
Salt
1 kilo of boneless chicken thighs, 10 pieces or so, cut in thirds
2 tablespoons of oil
On the side:
1 small sliced onion
1 lime cut into wedges
3 cups of thin and crispy fried potato stick chips
(Britannia gets them from Camy Wafers in Colaba)
Method:
Step 1: Make a thick paste out of the garlic, ginger, garam masala, cinnamon and turmeric and set aside.
Step 2: Drop curry leaves and cumin seeds in a pan with hot oil and stir slightly. After a few seconds, when the seeds start to splutter, add the chopped onions and chilies, let it cook and stir occasionally for about five minutes. Add the spices and stir for a minute or so.
Step 3: Now bring in the chicken and stir in the pan till it’s well coated with the spices. Pour two cups of water, add salt and bring to boil. Cover with a lid, reduce heat and let the chicken cook for half an hour.
Step 4: Uncover the dish and let it to simmer in low flame for another thirty minutes until the chicken is soft and tender.
Step 5: In a deep plate, place the chicken and arrange a nice, thick layer of potato sticks around the edges. Serve piping hot with juicy lime wedges and onion.
Britannia & Co., 11 Sprott Rd., Ballard Estate, near Fort; +91 (0) 22 2261 5264
There's no website for Britannia & Co..
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