A Saturday morning meeting at Ballard Estate made me quite grumpy, but as they say every cloud has a silver lining, I too found my silver lining pretty soon....
It was long since I met my friends in town. And since town has a number of cubby-hole eateries with unique cuisines, there couldn't be anything better than heading to town for a breakfast with friends....
So it was... My friend suggested Panshikar Ahaar at Girgaum for a Maharashtrian breakfast. I was there at 9AM, we ordered Thalipeeth and Kothimbir Vadi.... The Thalipeeth was a lot like our very own dal-wali roti, and that went very well with soft, white butter. The Kothimbir Vadi was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside....
Usually, I approach tea, out of home, with a lot of fear and trepidation. My cup of tea has to be just right, just perfect. If it isn't, it really screws my day.... So when my friend suggested a cup of tea at Café De La Paix, down the road from Panshikar, I was naturally apprehensive...
The Café had just opened when we reached. De La Paix is a quintessential Irani café is pretty much struggling to survive, when all around there is a clamour for the expensive real estate.
The tea was a real revelation - a strong mint tea just the way I like it, was prepared by the octogenarian owner's son, Gustad. The Cafe, I got to know had a lot of history behind it. My friend told me that the café was inspired by the famous 1862 opened Café De La Paix located at Place de l'Opéra in Paris and designed by architect Charles Garnier.
The story goes that when the owner, Mr. Irani, opened this Girgaum café in 1932, the landlord of his building had just been to Paris and had been greatly impressed by the Café De La Paix there. So he requested him to give this name to the Irani café he was opening. The rest is history.
As i headed for my meeting at Ballard Estate, I wondered whether these gems of Mumbai's heritage would survive or would they be relegated into books of history... The city should make an effort to ensure these gems survive, much like the way the Hutongs of Beijing and the Shikumens of Shanghai have been revived....
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