Epicurus Has A New Joint

Bade Miyan's Chicken Tikka

After much wheedling, Bade Miyan finally parted with this simple recipe of their chicken tikka. But when asked about the quantities of the ingredients, all we got was 'apne andaze se' (according to your taste). And Bade Miyan won't reveal the jadi-booti (herbs) they use which protect against a Mumbai belly.

Ingredients: Red Chilli powder, Grated ginger and garlic, Dhania powder, Ghee or oil, Salt, Small boneless chicken pieces

Method: Mix all the spices, ginger, garlic, salt and oil. Marinate the chicken pieces in the mixture for four to five hours in the fridge. Slow-cook the pieces on a skewer over a charcoal grill. Nothing can match the flavours of a charcoal grill, an oven is a distant second.

***

he familiar refrain of the starving clubbers and the late-night pub-hoppers in Mumbai: “Meet you at Bade’s” will soon be acknowledged by “Which one?” After years of ‘will they, won’t they’ speculating in foodie circles about a fancy version of Bade Miyan, the day of reckoning for the iconic roadside eatery is just two months away. Mohammed Zaheer, whose father was the original Bade Miyan, runs the stall with four of his brothers. He is both excited and nervous when we meet him at the “new” Bade Miyan. It is a starkly designed eatery; with white marble walls, granite top tables and comfy, richly polished Burma teak seats. A huge panel glows in the background with blow-ups of the many articles about Bade Miyan. The new outlet is big, a 130-seater, and it’s got the other Bade Miyan usp—it’s in the heart of town, at Horniman Circle in the Fort area. “In the afternoon, it will cater to all the hungry office people and at night, the place is completely deserted. So parking won’t be a problem for diners,” says Zaheer. And it will still have delivery boys serving people in the car, old Bade-style.

Yes, the 65-year-old legacy of open-air dining is hard to get away from. The legendary food joint that now stands in the shadow of the Taj Mahal hotel was, in 1946, a makeshift stall created by joining together three rickety tables. Everyday, after the Artistic Gift Shop downed its shutters, ‘Bade Miyan’ Mohammed Yaseen would set up shop in front of it. The new wing of the Taj had not come up yet, and the sea breeze would mingle with the mouth-watering fragrance of the kababs roasting over the charcoal grill that wafted across the maidan. And Bade Miyan had not even earned his nickname yet. He was a scrawny 15-year-old lad who “hadn’t even sprouted a moustache”. He had made it his mission to make people happy by feeding them, after his guru, a Sufi fakir, Hazrat Fida Mohammed, had given him `20 to open up a stall. The joint soon began building up a clientele of loyal patrons, mostly from the military, who addressed him first as ‘Miyan’ and then ‘Bade Miyan’ as his reputation, and his beard, grew.

The proportions of the secret spice mix that Bade Miyan perfected over the years is so well guarded that even the patriarch’s grandsons do not know it. After Bade Miyan’s death, the five brothers have mixed the masalas everyday by themselves rather than trust outsiders with it. “My father used to say the real reward of toiling the whole day was not the money customers paid, but the satisfied smiles they gave when they paid,” says Zaheer. “Not a single customer has ever come to us complaining of an upset stomach. Not even foreigners!” The secret is the special ‘jadi-booti’ added to the dishes—herbs that keep diners coming back for more. But situated as it is, in the smelly bylanes of Colaba, with tables perched precariously over open gutters, it certainly has faced doubts over its succulent fare. Shobhaa De remembers her cash-strapped college days, when a cheap date meant movies at Regal and kababs at Bade’s. “Baida roti was and still remains a top favourite. But we used to wonder about the boti-kababs—was it dog meat or crow meat?” she recollects.

It is precisely these doubts that the new Bade Miyan restaurant is designed to dispel. With the next generation armed with hotel management degrees, the family legacy is all set to grow. “We do not like it when our guests bring their friends, many of them foreigners, who have to sit out in the open and eat,” says Ovais, Zaheer’s son. The new restaurant, in addition to all the signature Bade Miyan kababs, will also include new offerings, like the Bade Miyan Chicken Soup that is only available for a month during Ramzan at the Mohammed Ali Road outlet and slow-cooked dum biriyanis. Ovais, who is training to be a chef, protests when asked if either he or his cousins would ever close the original stall down: “Never! That is our foundation.”

Bade’s reputation is linked to starving party animals who want something to eat at three in the morning, just before the police come to break the party up. “It is a bit of reverse snobbery—it’s cool to go to Bade Miyan at 3 am,” says Shobhaa De. “And then, its very location means it attracts the hip crowd along with the bonafide, card-holding taporis from Colaba. An irresistible mix!” Hunger is the common factor between the celebrities sweeping in for take-aways, the families journeying down from Andheri for a night-out, the tourists and the tramps. And then, there are those nostalgic few who drive down straight from the international airport for a bite. Actor Swapnil Joshi says it is this carnivalesque atmosphere of Bade Miyan that he loves. “It’s like Diwali on this one street when everything else is shut.” Kunal S. Vijaykar, the host of The Foodie TV show, says this is the primary reason for its popularity. “It is one of the only places open after a really late drinking night. My memories of Bade’s are of this one small stall, with lots of foreigners from the Taj eating, and digging into a baida roti roll myself!” Dilip Vengsarkar is another loyal customer who is pleased that “the best kababs in the world” will now be served in cleaner environs. “Eating Bade’s kabab in a restaurant will feel different but I’m sure the experience will be as enjoyable. Frankly, I’d enjoy their food anywhere,” he says. And soon, ‘anywhere’ may extend far beyond Mumbai shores. Young Ovais dreams of opening a Bade Miyan abroad in his lifetime.