HOW IT ALL BEGANIn 1942, after successive failed attempts at starting a restaurant in Chira Bazaar, Kalbadevi, a dejected Sardar couple Prahlad Singh Kohli and Harkaur Kohli, from Rawalpindi (then undivided India), are walking down the lanes of Dadar East with a trunk in hand. They are unsure of their future and look tired, when a Sardar doorman on the opposite side of the road, beckons them to come and eat. During the course of their conversation, Prahlad expresses his desire to open a small restaurant and his host then goes on to help him procure a place... the rest, as they say, is history. A rebel by nature, he did not want to pursue the family business of exporting fruits from Rawalpindi and landed up in Bombay instead. Once the place was confirmed, with second-hand wrought iron furniture bought at ₹100 in one day, his own managerial skills and his wife’s cooking prowess, they started their small, dream restaurant.

Growth & Expansion

Kulwant Singh Kohli, an educated young man, brought about some much-needed changes to Pritam Hotel, upon taking charge. He introduced air-conditioning and even butter chicken to the city. With several studios then located in the vicinity, actors began frequenting the place, as they craved for home-style, affordable Punjabi food. From Raj Kapoor to Sunil Dutt and Dharmendra to Rajendra Kumar, Pritam Hotel played host to most of the stars and the affable Kulwant Singhji knew them all personally. Chicken tandoori, mutton masalewala , seekhkebab , two seasonal vegetables, dal , rotis, phirni , were all the meagre but robust menu offered in the 1950s. Every dish was priced at ₹2 or ₹3, rotis were for an anna, and dal was free. One could eat two meals for a month safely at ₹38 or so.