Mumbai food news card: Which city eatery serves a best berry pulao

Zeresh Polow, a name sounds outlandish as it rolls off your tongue. The story behind it is usually as intriguing. This quintessentially Iranian plate combines cooking meat, rice, and green berries, in a singular bite. It was nicknamed ‘jewelled rice’ interjection to a fact that a zeresh (Iranian for red barberries), are sprinkled atop a plate giving it a gem-like appearance. It’s eager garnishing and finger-licking-good taste, done it a must-have during celebrations and events.

But how did this plate cranky over to India? The Zoroastrians of Iran — not to be mistaken for a Parsis who had fled a segment centuries progressing — sought retreat conflicting eremite harm and migrated to India along with their spices and berries. Legend has it that over decades, a recipe was lost, mostly due to unavailability of ingredients, until Ballard Estate’s Irani café, Britannia Co owners Boman Kohinoor’s wife, Bacha regenerated it in Mumbai. We set out on a ambience route of a Zeresh Polow’s Indianised version, Berry Pulao

Jimmy Boy’s Chicken Pulao. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Jimmy Boy
The menu during this cafeteria listed Vegetarian Berry Pulao during a top, followed by duck and mutton varieties. We opted for a vegetarian and duck versions. Though we opted for a take-away, a staff was really welcoming, permitting us to occupy a chair while we waited for a order. Service was quick. The portions of both dishes were comparatively tiny and fit for one. The vegetarian pulao seemed most a biryani, even in appearance, interjection to a graphic reddish hue. The one aspect of berry pulao that shone by was a magnanimous use of berries. Given that this is historically a meat-based dish, we attempted a duck chronicle too. This came with a side of kachumbar. The plate had additional proposal beef balls backing a periphery. Somehow it lacked a flavorful interest of a transport during Mocambo’s and Britannia Co.
(Rating: 3/5)
COST Rs 240/ Rs 350 (Veg/Chicken Berry Pulao, tax-exclusive)
AT 11, Vikas Building, Bank Street, Near Horniman Circle, Fort.
CALL 22700880/ 22662503
TIME  11 am to 11 pm

Sodabottleopenerwala
This uber-chic grill styled after a iconic Irani café was packaged during lunch time. They take no reservations, and when we called to ask for directions, we got a extensive recording, inventory landmarks, a accessibility of vegetarian options, timings, etc. We craved a tellurian touch.

While we waited for a table, a staff brought out a menu and a tad forcefully, asked us to place a order. Thankfully, a list was accessible shortly. The staff endorsed a Mutton Berry Pulao and cautioned about tiny portions when dual of us motionless to separate a dish. The warning rang true; it was fit for one.

The mutton was well-cooked, tender and spiced usually right. It came served in an aluminum dish. Unlike a other restaurants, here a pulao came sprinkled with honeyed berries in further to a green ones. While Iranian cuisine is famous for a zesty flavours, we assume this was an Indian (more privately Gujarati) influence. The sweet, sharp and a green worked good together. We usually wish they’d been inexhaustible with their portions.
(Rating: 3/5)
COST Rs 495 (Mutton Berry Pulao, tax-exclusive)
AT 02, Ground Floor, The Capital Building, Bandra Kurla Complex.
CALL 40035678
TIME 11.30 am to 12 am

Mocambo Cafe
Highly endorsed by a Iranian and Parsi colleagues and friends, Mocambo is a newest eatery to deliver a Berry Pulao on a menu. It serves chicken, mutton, vegetarian and egg versions. The grill is cosy, but frills and use comes with a smile.

We usually wish they’d found a some-more applicable resolution to expostulate divided a flies instead of a loud hand-held zappers. The plate comes in a magnanimous portion, vast adequate for two, with dual beef balls, a boiled egg, and a side of kachumbar. Given a price, it is a steal.

The berries, mostly offer as a garnishing and disappear as we get to a bottom of a dish. We sequence for a side of daal, that is unnecessary, as a plate is savoury. It is even some-more wet than Britannia’s. The luscious flavours make it ideal for a desi palate.
(Rating: 4/5)
COST Rs 390 (Chicken Berry Pulao, tax-inclusive)
AT 23-A, nearby The Bombay Store, Sir PM Road, Fort.
CALL 22870458/22871333
TIME 11 am to 12 am

Chicken Berry Pulao during Britannia Co. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Britannia Co
The late Bacha Kohinoor, mom of Boman, a 93-year-old owners of Britannia introduced a Berry Pulao to Mumbai in 1982, asserts their son, Afshin Kohinoor. “My mom was operative in Iran and came conflicting this dish. She introduced a recipe here, with barberries alien from Iran. But it wasn’t appreciated. People found it dry and bland.” So a Kohinoor’s experimented. They combined flavorful spices, done it wet with a magnanimous use of puree. And shortly it won over a Indian palate.

“People came from nearby and distant for a pulao,” shares Afshin. It is Britannia’s selected ambience suggestive of a strange Irani cafés that are vanishing away, joined with Boman’s eager grin and stories that adds to a experience. The plate is combined in 7 versions: prawn, chicken, mutton, kheema, vegetarian, paneer and egg.

We go with Afshin’s recommendation, a chicken, served with a side of kachumbar, flashy with dual beef balls and a intemperate use of barberries. We can ambience a green fruit in each punch and this compliments a mildly-spiced meat. The apportionment is fit for two. It is a plate in itself and needs no daal or accompaniments. Apart from a flavours, it’s a back-story of a dish, and a interesting hosts, that win us over.
(Rating: 4/5)
COST Rs 550 (Chicken Berry Pulao, tax-inclusive)
AT Wakefield House, 11, Sprott Road, conflicting New Custom House, Ballard Estate.
CALL 22615264
TIME 11.30 am to 4 pm

Also read…

Mumbai: 93-year-old ‘Britannia’ owners meets stately integrate Will and Kate (Read more)

Parsi restauranteurs collect a star plate from another Bawa eatery (Read more)

The iconic Britannia Co finished 90 years in 2013 (Read more)

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