Mumbai loses another iconic eatery: Cafe Samovar to down shutters by March end

Iconic is a word thrown around a lot in Mumbai these days, especially as the city swiftly changes shape. Last year Mumbaikars mourned, and then dashed, for a last mava cake at B Merwan; this year it will be the turn of Cafe Samovar to down shutters. The cafe, adjoining the Jehangir art gallery, had been a favoured haunt for many Mumbaikars. Cafe Samovar has been around since 1964 after Usha Khanna, who’s now 87, reportedly moved in with a stove from her own kitchen to brew tea. She then expanded it into a cafe inspired by Paris’s Left Bank so that it could serve as a meeting place for artists and their patrons, writers could work and students could go for a cheap meal. [caption id=“attachment_2162103” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Amitabh Bachchan at the cafe. Image courtesy: Cafe Samovar Facebook page[/caption] Patrons could choose between a snack, tea or lunch at any time of the day as they sat in the narrow cafe that is shaded by trees in the compound of the adjoining Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastusanghralaya (that over the years was renamed from the original Prince of Wales Museum). Ironically enough, the cafe is being displaced by its neighbour, whose trustees voted in 2005 to have it evicted on the grounds that the Jehangir art gallery needed more space for displaying works. Khanna appealed against the order, and went all the way to the Supreme Court, but a court order has meant that the cafe will finally down its shutters by the end of March. And as the Mumbai Mirror reports, there won’t be any protests or outrage like when the news of the closing was first announced, but with the founder’s daughter hosting a party for the restaurant’s best known patrons. The cafe, like everything in Mumbai, is cramped for space and it occupies just a narrow 600 square feet. It’s waiters in blue bustle about, trying to cater to patrons as quickly as the orders come in. It’s dishes range from the basic pakodas to the more elaborate biriyani and juicy kheema with naan, and to wash it down you could have anything from a hot tea to a cool jaljira. It’s critics may argue that the prices of some items rose as its reputation grew. Others say that its food didn’t match up to its bigger and better known rivals, but the one thing that never changed was its ambience and the quality of the food served. Testament to that fact may be the long list of celebrities who have frequented the cafe: from Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan durng their courtship days to artists MF Hussain and Jehangir Sabavala, several luminaries in Mumbai swore by Samovar. But it wasn’t just the celebrities. Patrons of the art gallery, lawyers from the nearby courts, students from a college opposite it and visitors to south Mumbai have gone to the eatery, and at times waited patiently in the narrow corridor waiting for their turn. Expectedly, its patrons who range across two generations aren’t too pleased with the news and have been on Twitter expressing their grief:

Going to miss #samovar cafe, really liked the vibe it had. But all good things come to an end #hangoverphilosophy

— FatFoodies/IFBA17 (@fatfoodiesworld) March 19, 2015

Thanks for the wonderful meals & memories MT @SachinKalbag Samovar Restaurant at Jehangir Art Gallery to close pic.twitter.com/IivucXvTuP

— Vetri Subramaniam (@VetriSmv) March 19, 2015

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@namitabhandare @SachinKalbag @mid_day aah. Can't believe samovar no more. Spent best part of my 20s there

— bhupendra chaubey (@bhupendrachaube) March 19, 2015

The closure of Samovar brings the curtain down on another eatery that for many was a crucial part of a trip to the Kalaghoda area of south Mumbai. Expect to see many a Mumbaikar heading there for one last meal before it finally downs its shutters about a fortnight from now.