Don't let the name fool you. Week-old Andheri eatery Shree Bewakuf is a deliberately mismatched world that's sharp on desi food. FYI decided to track the story behind its name, and landed up in Jharkhand
Don't let the name fool you. Week-old Andheri eatery Shree Bewakuf is a deliberately mismatched world that's sharp on desi food.u00a0FYI decided to track the story behind its name, and landed up in Jharkhand
It is a plastic town cafe on the outside, continental snack shack on the inside, and colour-crazy dhaba on the menu. The decor is a kooky mishmash of barstools, metallic coffee tables, African masks and disparate colours.
The location is the unlikely New Versova Link Road. And the name is Hindi for Mr Fool. But if you don't mind being taken for one, Shri Bewakuf is worth patronising as a takeaway and home-delivery option for sasta aur hatke North Indian Khaana.
They make a mean Chicken Biryani, high on aroma and authenticity. Out here, you'll find substitutes that are usually missing at standard Indian restaurants (fluffy wheat Phulka and Sattu Roti instead of calorie-high maida rotis). And then there's Chicken Mutter Chilly (Rs 89), a teekha dish that has more character and green chillies than Chicken Chilly. The Chicken Tangdi Kabab (Rs 105) comes with an interesting masaledar coating.
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Andheri eatery Shree Bewakuf serves Indian food. Dal Tadka and Sattu Rotis are must-trys at the restaurant.
PICS/Kasmin Fernandes |
The name still had us piqued. "In these commercial times, any hotelier who serves quality food with sincerity, is called a fool. We've dared to take up the challenge," waiter Ashutosh confidently declared. However, according to proprietor Neeraj Bhadani, it's about arousing curiosity. "My family has been running two restaurants with the same name in Delhi and Jharkhand. My grandfather opened the first Shree Bewakuf 25 years ago.
Why he called it that is a mystery, though," says the 29-year-old.
The story behind the curious title actually goes back to Giridih, a small town in Jharkhand where family films like Vivah have a minimum 6-month run, and Vareilly gives Bailey's packaged water a run for its money. Three decades ago, at least five "Bewakuf" hotels u2014 with absolutely no connection to one another mushroomed there: Shree Bewakuf, Maha Bewakuf, Bewakuf No. 1 and two simply called Bewakuf.u00a0
The story goes that the owner of the first Bewakuf hotel started it in 1971 to tide over a deep financial crisis.
The prices there were so nominal that customers thought he was a "bewakuf" to offer meals that cheap, and inadvertently ended up popularising it. The label stuck, and brought so much good fortune to the family that he christened it Bewakuf Hotel. Call it the David Dhawan effect, but the latest is that the current owner of the Bewakuf group plans to open The International Bewakuf Hotel this season!u00a0
