Mid-Morning Snacks at Yazdani, and the Great Bombay Cotton Bubble

Appears in
top 1000Dishoom: From Bombay with Love
Dishoom

By Shamil Thakrar, Kavi Thakrar and Naved Nasir

Published 2019

  • About

YOUR NEXT WALK will take you into the historical area known as Fort. Bombay was once protected by the walls of this fort; within them, it grew from a sleepy settlement into a thriving port city. However, in 1864 (in the midst of a raging cotton boom, about which more later) the city’s Governor, Sir Henry Bartle Frere, tore down the ramparts, judging that space was desperately needed and that the city was now safe from passing marauders. The name, Fort, still remains.

Stroll unhurriedly through the narrow shaded lanes to Yazdani Restaurant & Bakery on Cawasji Patel Street. Pause outside to admire the building, which is exotic and beautiful. The restaurant occupies a former Japanese bank building dating from around the First World War. Note the many and varied signs and chalkboards. Some list the baked goods that daily draw hungry patrons from across the city. Others are marked with deliciously pithy statements such as “toast is ready” or “eat fresh ginger biscuits – get rid of your cough”.