Britannia Restaurant, Bombay (Mumbai), India

Britannia restaurant is a famous Parsi restaurant in the Fort section of Bombay (Mumbai), India. The Parsi's are a community of ethnic Persian Zoroastrians who emigrated to South Asia over a thousand years ago. Although they have remained a minority in India members they are a successful community with many prominent members in Indian society.

I didn't know much about Parsi cuisine before traveling to India, though it has been mentioned on LTH somewhere. When I got to Bombay everyone told me that I could not leave without trying Parsi food. After a few unsuccessful attempts at getting a meal at Britannia in the two weeks I spent in Bombay, I was ready to give up on Parsi food. Britannia closes early (I think 4pm) and isn't open on Sundays. Not uncommon hours for many restaurants, but quite inconvenient when you are on a tight schedule in a giant city trying to see a million things at once. Luckily, my last day in Bombay, the rest of my traveling companions having left early and with nothing to do on a Wednesday afternoon, I finally made my way to Britannia. I made it in the door at 3:30, just as they were serving their last plates of the day. What a lucky break.

The menu isn't extensive, featuring a smattering of Parsi specialties like Danshak and Berry Pulao. I opted for the latter, which I had heard described as a pulao with lamb and sour Persian cranberries. The Berry Pulao was amazing - gently spiced, offering terrific contrast between savory lamb and sour dried berries, and comprised of perfectly fluffy grains of basmati rice. The whole thing is garnished with fried onions and cashews. This was the best rice dish I ate in India and possibly the best meal I had in India. I also got to sample the excellent Pallonji's Ginger Soda which is gingery to the point of being spicy. For dessert (the only option on the menu), a wonderfully rich caramel custard, basically a flan, that was better than any I've ever had in a Latin American restaurant anywhere.

Some pics:











If you go to Bombay, you have to go to Britannia.

Britannia Restaurant
Wakefield House, 11 Sprott Road, 16 Ballard Estate
Fort, Mumbai, India
(22) 2261 5264

This is what I love about this forum. There is so much to learn about and enjoy! Thanks Habibi

Based on this review I made it to Britannia for lunch. I hate to be contrarian but I didn't think the samosas and tandoori chicken were worth the trip. I much prefer Chutney Joe's. Maybe I ordered wrong or caught them on an "off" day? I did like the yummy yellow pop that I think has ginger.

Bummer Jeff, you should have called ahead and told them you were with LTH, a well known Chicago-based culinary chat site that makes or breaks obscure restaurants in South Asia; they would've broken out the big guns for you.

By the way, my parents bought me a ticket to India that includes lunch at Britannia. I won't consider offers less than $2,000 - any takers?

habibi, that brings back memories. I used to eat parsi food a few times a month in the fort neighborhood, inlcuding Britania.

Nice article regarding the restaurant that served what was probably the finest meal I had in India during a month-long trip there last winter.

http://www.cnngo.com/mumbai/eat/britann ... ood-489758

I'm in need of a good lunch, how much is a ticket to Bombay nowadays?

Just wanted to thank Habibi for this post. We just got into Mumbai earlier today, and the first place we stopped for lunch was Britannia. While the chicken berry pulav was fantastic, for me the star was the sali boti (mutton). I've never had this before, but it was basically a mutton stew, spiced with a garlic-ginger-onion kind of sauce with a cinnamon/clove kick to it, and topped with finely shredded deep fried potatoes. Think of potato chips as if they were chopped into almost string-like strips. It's only a light textural counterpoint, but somehow those potato strips took the dish to another level. Add to that the well balanced sauce, where the ingredients meld into one another rather than retaining their distinct, individual characteristics, and tender, juicy mutton (with surprisingly delicate flavor), and you have perfection. Both of these dishes, but especially the sali, were some of the best lunches I've ever had in my life. Perhaps there may be a little jetlag and over-saturation of airlines meals involved, but I don't think so. So dishes seemingly so simple, their execution was transcendent. I'm already craving some more sali.

The owner, Boman Kohinoor, was very charming and patiently explained to me the various menu items I was unfamiliar with. We also learned he was as old as the restaurant itself, which his father Rashid opened up in 1923, and which his son will continue after he's gone. His warmth and kindness made it feel like a quiet, intimate family lunch, rather than a meal in the midst of the bustle and din of the world's fourth largest city. And I found it endearing and even comforting to see him flutter from table to table with the proud enthusiasm of a freshman restaurant owner. If only we could all sustain such passion and pride in what we do. (As an addendum, we are also supposed to pass on our blessings to Hillary Clinton, whom he is apparently very fond of.)


Mr. Boman Kohinoor:

Binko wrote:Just wanted to thank Habibi for this post. We just got into Mumbai earlier today, and the first place we stopped for lunch was Britannia. While the chicken berry pulav was fantastic, for me the star was the sali boti (mutton). I've never had this before, but it was basically a mutton stew, spiced with a garlic-ginger-onion kind of sauce with a cinnamon/clove kick to it, and topped with finely shredded deep fried potatoes. Think of potato chips as if they were chopped into almost string-like strips. It's only a light textural counterpoint, but somehow those potato strips took the dish to another level. Add to that the well balanced sauce, where the ingredients meld into one another rather than retaining their distinct, individual characteristics, and tender, juicy mutton (with surprisingly delicate flavor), and you have perfection. Both of these dishes, but especially the sali, were some of the best lunches I've ever had in my life. Perhaps there may be a little jetlag and over-saturation of airlines meals involved, but I don't think so. So dishes seemingly so simple, their execution was transcendent. I'm already craving some more sali.

The owner, Boman Kohinoor, was very charming and patiently explained to me the various menu items I was unfamiliar with. We also learned he was as old as the restaurant itself, which his father Rashid opened up in 1923, and which his son will continue after he's gone. His warmth and kindness made it feel like a quiet, intimate family lunch, rather than a meal in the midst of the bustle and din of the world's fourth largest city. And I found it endearing and even comforting to see him flutter from table to table with the proud enthusiasm of a freshman restaurant owner. If only we could all sustain such passion and pride in what we do. (As an addendum, we are also supposed to pass on our blessings to Hillary Clinton, whom he is apparently very fond of.)

Thanks, Binko for the very fond emlékezés (rememberance). Britannia serves some of the best damn food I had in India, maybe the world.

But, did you get kabobs, bheja fry and roti on the street at Bademiya in Colaba?

Here's also a great post on Parsi food in Bombay. I walked by Jimmy Boy several times and now sorely regret not going in.

http://mumbaimag.com/mumbailist-guide-t ... in-mumbai/

Habibi wrote:But, did you get kabobs, bheja fry and roti on the street at Bademiya in Colaba?

I've only had two meals so far. One at Brittania, and one at a place called Stadium Restaurant a couple doors down from our hotel.

Bademiya looks pretty much up my alley. But what is the deal with street food here? I've never been to a place where I was so universally warned by its inhabitants and Americanized emigrants not to eat the street food. I'm here half to work (next week have a wedding to shoot in Ahmedabad) and half on vacation with the wife. I am so very tempted to partake of the pani puri and bhel puri, but I don't want to do anything stupid to put me out of commission for the wedding. I'm one to ignore street food warnings and have never, to my knowledge, had any problems with it--but here I'm generally trying to play it safe for once in my life. It is killing me, as this is how I like to explore a new place, usually. Any general advice? I'm guessing I'd be fine with anything that looks thoroughly cooked, but anything that has liquid (like bhel puri), I should probably steer clear of, yeah?

Bademiya is a no-brainer (but order the brain curry). Describing it as street food is probably not even fair. It's a restaurant with seating on the street. The kabobs are perfectly cooked, the bread is fresh, and the curries are piping hot. You should have no problems.

A cautious person would probably avoid the real street eats: bel phuri, vada pav, fresh-squeezed juices, etc. I consumed all of those things, got sick, survived, and didn't regret a thing. Bel phuri is built on fresh chutney/sauce, so you can't really eat it without eating non-cooked ingredients. Vada pav, on the other hand, consist of fried potatoes stuffed into doughy buns, chutney optional. If you are really risk-averse, you can still try these without consuming uncooked foods, just be vigilant about what the vendors do and don't put on it. Finally, you can always go to Chowpatty Beach and check out some of the vendors there. You'll find excellent puri bhaji and pav bhaji - fried bread or doughy buns with vegetable curry. Again, no uncooked ingredients necessary, though they are optional. You can check out pictures of the excellent puri bhaji I had in mumbai in the fort area, as well as other recs, at this thread.

I'd also recommend Baghdadi (near Bademiya), and whatever you do, try to get some Nihari. I may have some Ahmedabad recommendations somewhere - I spent a few days there.

Keep us well informed. Very jealous of your trip!

Pav Bhaji, Sev Puri (I think) Chowpatty Beach:

So I took your advice and popped into Bademiya and ordered the brain curry. I've only very rarely had brain before (only in tacos) and it's not my favorite organ meat in the world. The mutton brain was very tasty: meaty, a bit livery, with a very soft texture, which is what I find a bit off-putting about brain in general. I thought the dish was well-executed, but I don't exactly have a yardstick with which to measure it by. Let's just say this: for someone who eats brain on rare occasions, I happily gobbled up the entire dish with whatever version of flatbread they gave to me (I just can't keep track of all the subtle differences between the gazillion flatbreads from South Asia to the Middle East.)

Outside of Bademiya:


Mutton Bheja: (brain curry)


I also finally gave into temptation and got a vada pav from a vendor at the Churchgate metro station. For 10 rupees (under 20 cents), this was unbelievable value. I was a bit disappointed, though, as I didn't get a deep fried chili along with it. Maybe I needed to specifically ask. Next time. Off to Ahmedabad tomorrow, with a weekend trip into Udaipur, before returning back to Ahmedabad on Sunday night.

Binko wrote:

Habibi wrote:But, did you get kabobs, bheja fry and roti on the street at Bademiya in Colaba?

I've only had two meals so far. One at Brittania, and one at a place called Stadium Restaurant a couple doors down from our hotel.

Damn! Brittania *and* Stadium Restaurant - *two* of my old haunts (I wouldnt call Stadium Restaurant destination dining at all... but it was round the corner from my old college, and has pretty good food - the cutlets etc were pretty good back in the old days. And also their kheema-pao.. still remember that! Stadium Restaurant is what is generally referred to in Bombay as an "Irani restaurant" - basically the Bombay version of the "Greek diner".. not really Greek, but basic solid fare, often very very good... and Stadium is, IMHO, one of the better Irani Restaurants in the city - but Iam biased

BTW, if youre "a couple of doors down" from the Stadium Restaurant... Id strongly recommend you stop into a place next to Stadium Restaurant called "Tea Center" sometime - just to have tea (It has all kinds of varieties of tea, many of them excellent - has food too, tho I usually passed on that. And my favourite tea, personally, was the cheapest one on the menu - the "kullad ki chai", tea in an earthen-pot, that is the staple of blue-collar workers around India...)

In this area of the city, BTW.. youre not too far from the excellent Keralan/Goan style fish places that Id highly recommend - Trishna, Mahesh Lunch Home, Apoorva etc. A pretty solid non-veg food place not far away is Delhi Durbar on Colaba Causeway (tho I think its the 2nd best DD in town, personally). And, if youre back in Bombay for any length of time before your return.. Id very strongly recommend a trip down to Noor Mohammadi for Nalli-Nehari (which Habibi has posted on before on this forum ... and perhaps one to Persian Durbar for their Tandoori Masala Raan (leg of goat, cooked in Tandoori Masala - quite outstanding).

And yes, Brittania - as mentioned above - is excellent. Jimmy Boy is very good too - and does more of the "lagan nu bhonu", ie Parsi-wedding-style-food, which is very much worth sampling (sali-boti, patra-ni-macchi, dhansak.. yes, definitely worth sampling

c8w

Binko wrote:Just wanted to thank Habibi for this post. We just got into Mumbai earlier today, and the first place we stopped for lunch was Britannia. While the chicken berry pulav was fantastic, for me the star was the sali boti (mutton). I've never had this before, but it was basically a mutton stew, spiced with a garlic-ginger-onion kind of sauce with a cinnamon/clove kick to it, and topped with finely shredded deep fried potatoes. Think of potato chips as if they were chopped into almost string-like strips. It's only a light textural counterpoint, but somehow those potato strips took the dish to another level.

I agree with you on the sali - it offers a textural contrast, and it often elevates the dish its paired with IMHO (sali-boti is the typical and best Parsi speciality.. but they do a sali-chicken etc too).

You can actually purchase "sali" (or salli) (ie the very thin potato-crisp-strings, that you can use to top many food items with) at quite a few places. The best in Bombay is usually considered to be "Camy Wafers". I usually pick up a few packets and bring them back with me to Chicago (they hold up quite well since theyre packaged etc, obviously).

BTW, as a bbq-fan, Id recommend you try kababs in Bombay too, if you can.. Copper Chimney used to be pretty good.. Ayub's is fairly close to where youre located (these are usually meat-kababs grilled over charcoal...)

(Oh, and if youre spending any more time in Bombay.. Id recommend a trip sometime to "Naturals Ice Cream", for any of their fruit-flavors. The best is "sitaphal" (custard-apple), but thats probably not in season... the mango probably isnt either.. but whatever seasonal fruit they have is probably worth a try; and I hope you get a chance to try some good kulfi, in both Ahmedabad and Bombay.. in Bombay "Parsi Dairy Kulfi" - especially their malai kulfi IMHO - is quite sensationally good)

c8w

Binko wrote:I also finally gave into temptation and got a vada pav from a vendor at the Churchgate metro station. For 10 rupees (under 20 cents), this was unbelievable value. I was a bit disappointed, though, as I didn't get a deep fried chili along with it. Maybe I needed to specifically ask. Next time. Off to Ahmedabad tomorrow, with a weekend trip into Udaipur, before returning back to Ahmedabad on Sunday night.

Good for you - hope you hold up, health-wise

As was noted above, IMHO *some* street-food is just fine.. the kababs cooked over charcoal that are still hot, really you cant have health-problems with those (as long as you dont consume any water). But with chutneys etc the chances of trouble go up exponentially...

You can always have very good bhel-puri, vada-pavs, pani-puri etc at some snack-restaurant type places too. Kailash Parbat isnt far from where youre located... its *awesome* for sweets (their freshly made jalebis etc), but also very good for these kinds of snacks - the bhelpuri, the chaats. Much safer, and maybe even better (in terms of taste

c8w

c8w wrote:Good for you - hope you hold up, health-wise

Just light discomfort this morning, as with my wife, but nothing obnoxious. The only reason I am hesitant to sample street food is because I'm here to work next week, Mon-Sat, and I can't afford risking being put out of commission. After the work stuff is done, though, I'll be more willing to take risks.

We also tried Satkar, a vegetarian restaurant near the Churchgate stop, last night. It was so-so. Nothing bad, nothing exceptional. (ETA: Oh, yeah, and afternoon tea at the Taj Majal Hotel, where we paid a princely sum for a humble pani puri, and our server didn't quite understand how to use a French Press--he kept trying to pour the coffee without plunging it first and it wasn't working out for him--, but it was a nice, quiet respite from everything.) I'll see if I can hit one of those places you recommended before we leave Mumbai today. Our train leaves at 1:30 from Mumbai Central. Our onward journey does not take us back through here, unfortunately. We're flying out of Dehli. I really want to find a way to fit Jaisalmer in there, too. All we have so far is Udaipur Friday through Sunday, Ahmedabad Mon - Sat, and then we have to find our way back to New Dehli by Saturday for our flight back out. We don't have any part of that trip planned yet. I purposely wanted to keep it loose, as I hate fixed itineraries.

I must admit, Mumbai is starting to grow on me a bit. The first 48 hours were kind of driving me nuts with the general manic energy and cacophony of the city.