Kavi comes to Bombay about five times a year, either to research food or furnishings for their new restaurants, or with the Dishoom workforce on “Bombay Bootcamp”, a trip earned after five years service at the company.
Two eras of imperial rule, two waves of Persian migration, a Hindu majority and a large Muslim community, people from every Indian state, language and ethnicity rubbing shoulders with one another, Maharatis, Gujeratis, Punjabis, Goans; 19th-century gothic architecture alongside art deco, neoclassical opposite mid-century, and the onward march of new development along every major road.
In 2023, he brought 200 staff to stay in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, an institution in Colaba, and to eat at many of the spots we visit: Mohammed Ali Road for Bombay’s Islamic street food, like chicken kathi rolls; K Rustom & Co near Marine Drive, for guava ice-cream sandwiches sprinkled with chilli and salt; and an evening of beer, hard liquor and peanut masala at the permit rooms in Bandra.
For the first time since Dishoom opened in 2010, the restaurant where “all Bombay’s communities jostle on one table” has introduced new dishes to its menu, and I’ve come to India with the team to see the palimpsest in its most edible form.
Back then, says Kavi, “people thought of India in stereotypes: there were curry houses with their take on ‘Indian food’, a great tradition, but a very British one, or the lovely but not representative Michelin establishments.
