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Coming to Kyani and Co. feels like coming home. The dark wood counters, weathered tile underfoot, and the constant hum of people coming and going. It’s a place which crackles with life from the wee hours of the morning until the sun sets on this iconic Irani bakery and restaurant. Only for it to start again as the ovens are fired up before dawn the next day.
Established in 1904 by Khodram Marezban, this year marks 119 years of this bakery serving up a delicious selection of baked goods and later, when it was taken over by Aflatoon Shokri in 1959, a full menu of Irani food. Today his son Farokh Shokri helms the business and has guided it through good times and bad to become one of the oldest and most noteworthy additions
“The lockdown was the worst and for nearly two years we were shut down. Workers left and went home,” explains Farokh with some sadness, “Our range was phenomenal, but we’ve trimmed the menu and made some changes to our shifts to get by.” But even on their more compact menu their staples of chai, bun maska and kheema pav are there and being made exactly the same way they have been since day one.
It’s this consistency of quality and atmosphere that has made Kyani such an integral part of the scenery of Marine Lines. “Generations have come, grown old and brought their children and grandchildren to connect themselves with the past. I’ve seen people who used to come and sit here as college students, gone abroad, educated themselves and come back here again with their family.”
Tracing their legacy is one that comes with a slew of memories for Shokri, but the core of Kyani is its heart, the emotion behind every moment. “I remember all the showmen of the film industry,” says Shokri, “Shammi and Raj Kapoor, MF Hussain, Sanjay Dutt, Shah Rukh Khan, Shahid Kapoor, all of them drop by here and those memories stay with me, but it’s more than that. It’s the satisfaction of being able to cater to all sections of society. That is more important for me. No age or income group, A-Z across the board.”
As you see college students elbow to elbow with elderly couples, all enjoying the same fare, it’s clear that Kyani’s is one of those rare places with a genuinely diverse appeal. Where most restaurants are all about niching down and specialities that will play specifically to their audience, here there are no qualms about changing to suit the changing times, in fact, it’s something they have absolutely no interest in. Shokri puts it best saying, “Frankly speaking as long as I’m running the show, I don’t want to see it change. What changes can I do?”
But don’t mistake their link to tradition as being out of touch, Kyani and Co is very much on the social media map. “Technology has actually helped us a lot,” admits Shokri, “We were confined to South Bombay but now we get people from the suburbs, from abroad, from everywhere dropping in. It tempts people’s inquisitive nature. They want to see the past. And we have maintained the standard of quality.”
As always, there are two sides to the story and for some, Kyani’s old-world appeal isn’t in-line with their expectations, but in true Irani cafe style Kyani isn’t about to let a few people change the way they do thing. “For every negative review there are nine positive ones, but that’s ok, it’s not possible to please everyone,” Shokri says with nonchalance.
At the end of the day, people come to Kyani for a bun maska chai, a delicious Parsi meal or just to pick up some odds and ends at the bakery, but it’s mainly for the experience. Kyani’s is no longer just a restaurant, it’s an institution, one that has been in Bombay’s DNA and in Shokri’s words “It’s an emotional bond between the past, the present and the future to be.”
