Old is gold

It’s not just the cooking style but also the second and third generation staff that is responsible for retaining the flavours here. “My staff members have been here before I was born, and since the time my dad was a teenager. There are some who have been working because their older siblings or parents were with us,” says Jaibir. “And I think that’s very important. Because if I have someone who’s been making my daals for 25 years, and I lose him, then I have to train another guy in 25 days to do what someone’s been doing for 25 years, which isn’t possible. So it’s very important that I have these people on my team who are able to control both my cooking as well as my service. Some guys on my service team know 60-70% of the guests that walk into Pritam. And they know that Mr. Shah wants a Johnnie Walker Black Label, with two cubes of ice and 10 ml of water before he even sits down at the table. So if I lose that guy

I’m going to have to sit down with each staff member and tell them that this is what this person expects, because they’ve been coming here for so long. But if he’s around, he can direct the rest and tell them to start making the drink a minute before the reservation time so that he gets it as soon as he sits at the table.”

Food from Pritam even before delivery

What’s in a name? The loving memory of a restaurant, it seems. That’s what Jaibir Singh Kohli — the great grandson of Prahlad Singh Kohli, the founder of the Dadar landmark, Pritam Restaurant and Bar — found out at a party, where he ran into a gent named after his family-run eatery. Turns out, when Pritam’s mother was pregnant, she didn’t want any hospital food.

“Before her delivery, she showed up at her favourite joint, Pritam, for her last meal and then went into labour in the restaurant!” Jaibir regales us. It’s one of the many stories that abound behind red-and-black façade of the restaurant, where love, loyalty and laughter have brewed over bottomless bowls of butter chicken, polished off with pillow-y kulchas and guzzled down with whiskey. Today, Pritam — meaning, favourite in Punjabi — turns 80.

Championing Punjabi fare

Back in the day, the terms ‘Hindu Hotel’ and ‘Punjab’ were enough to draw a crowd. This, coupled with the fact that Dadar was home to a large number of film industry workers — with studios in neighbouring Wadala — brought in the likes of Raj, Shammi and Shashi Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dharmendra and Sunil Dutt. “Many were struggling actors then, who couldn’t afford to pay. My grandfather, Kulwant Singh Kohli understood their plight, and it blossomed into great friendships,” Jaibir recalls.

Chefs Sunil Bachulkar and Ramakanta Malik

An excellent cook, Har Kaur was quick to point out the food was nothing like their homely fare. Sensing an opportunity, Singh Kohli partnered with his friend to run Pritam Punjab Hindu Hotel. The two pillars between which our table is laid out, Jaibir shares, was where the original shop stood, catering to 15 to 18 diners. Over 80 years, they’ve acquired six such shops, with a capacity to host 180 diners