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This is an area of Mumbai that is as old as the city, but has suddenly come to the fore with the Hindi film ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’. A network of small streets interspersed with typical colonial-style buildings, each wooden building with tiled roofs was built like a military barracks where families lived in a string of rooms bounded by a corridor. Each landing that can accommodate 40 to 50 families per floor. In this case and the streets accommodating the thriving business of call girls, their work-owners or mistresses, their dependents, customers and the general crew. I talk about the streets of Kamathipura. While the number of brothels has decreased significantly, these 14 streets are still very crowded. Brothels line many of the upper floors of the buildings, while the lower, street-facing shops are crowded with small businesses, plumbers, dermatologists, electrical suppliers, grocers, readymade garment sellers, paan walas and all the cafes and restaurants. Is. ,
At no point do I want to picture romance and beauty quite like European street cafes and sidewalks. Don’t get me wrong, the place is dirty, overcrowded, and there is a lot of construction and civic work going on. But there are more than two eateries that have stood the test of time and are as famous as the songs that play behind those beaded curtains in the middle of the night.
I will never forget this slightly gruesome evening we were in college and arrived at a cheap bar in the evening after classes, somewhere in Crawford Market. We got a bunch of testosterone full of something young 20. After a few hours of constant drunkenness and lively male conversation, apparently unsuitable for any woman’s ears, someone suggested that we test our tantra by visiting the women of the night in Kamathipura. For effect, we also jumped into some Victorias (horse-drawn carriages) that run only in the old town. Impressed and happy as punch, singing “Tawaif” songs from Hindi films, Tonga led us through the lanes of Abdul Rahman Street to Nal Bazaar on Mohammad Ali Road and then to Fores Road in Kamathipura. By the time we arrived in the bright lights of the red-light district, the alcohol content had dwindled and our fake bravado had been delish. After a lot of humming and chatting with the local broker and negotiating the rates boldly, everyone, except maybe one or two of us, looked for a respectable escape from this ugly situation.
At which point, I saw the Sayyid Seekh Kebab Center. We were at Bachu Seth’s Wadi in the heart of the red-light district in Kamathipura. It was still early and the kebab shop was just open. I could hear the coals singing and could hear the aroma of mincemeat with coriander leaves, chopped onions and garlic and spices being roasted over an open flame. A large block of ice contained a pile of very finely chopped onion rings and mint leaves that was just cold enough to be crisp. Burnt seekh kebabs are served with green chutney sprinkled over steel plates, sometimes with the sparkle of a ladle. Sexuality be damned, I suggested we should take a bite. And the whole robber team idly escaped and came down to the kebab shop. After an evening fast drink, we ordered a whole bunch of kebabs. Straight from the skewers, and hot and spicy as hell, these fat-laden kebabs were the softest kebabs I’ve ever eaten. Served with a menacing-looking green sauce and before those crunchy raw onion rings chilled on ice cubes and slathered on generous amounts of lemon, this was the king of loincloths. The Syed Seekh Kebab Center still stands there today, on the corner of Kamathipura, although the mourning is not entirely as great as I remember them.
In later years I came to know the area and the outskirts of Kamathipura such as Belasis Road, Nagpada and Shukhlaji Street more as an explorer of food rather than meat. Arabia Cafe, Sarvi Cafe, Sagar Restaurant with Chilya Butter Chicken Oily, Spicy Flaming Red. Cafe Firdos restaurant which claims to be a Hindu hotel for some reason. Chhota Moradabadi Akhani Pulao restaurant in front of Lucknow Hotel in the streets of Kamathipura. and Moradabadi Khichda in the back alleys of the famous Balwas Hotel.
So is a wealth of eateries that were, and still stand, with a somewhat lesser reputation. But if I were you, I would wander and try something.
Kunal Vijaykar is a food writer based in Mumbai. He tweets @kunalvijayakar and can be followed on Instagram @kunalvijayakar. What is the name of his youtube channel? The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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