02 October,2026 09:13 AM IST | Mumbai | Suprita Mitter
Chicken Korma
On a balmy afternoon, we are at chef Bilkis Khan's home in one of Chembur's leafy pockets. This is where she usually hosts The Golpoh Table, her intimate supper club centred on family recipes, memories, and the stories that travel with them. That afternoon, Khan had cooked a feast for one. There was a deceptively simple, soulful dal, Chicken Korma, traditional Macher Jhol, pomfret in a light, fragrant mustard gravy and a deeply flavoured Mutton Curry.
Firdausa is a sweet chef Bilkis Khan's dadi would make when they visited her in the winters. Pics Courtesy/Special Arrangement
The tangy Achari Mahi Kebab demands a second helping. "My aunt would make this with a specially ground masala," she recalls. As the afternoon unfolds, we realise that at Khan's table, food almost always comes attached to a person and a memory. âGolpoh' means stories in Bengali; a nod to the conversations, memories and family histories that sit alongside the food.
The journey began during the second lockdown, when Khan was living in Malad and running a home kitchen. Initially, she was cooking for free, for the needy. "It was never a business," she says. It found its audience. Regular customers returned; orders increased; she eventually moved to Chembur.
Macher Jhol
The Golpoh Table guided her to a more personal idea: The old-fashioned pleasure of people seated together for a meal while engaging with the rest; occasionally, arriving as strangers and leaving as friends. "I'm busy in the kitchen, but I can hear the laughter and see the smiles," she shares.
Mutton Aloo Jhol
In Khan's family, cooking has always been linked with the women and the food prepared at home. She began writing down family recipe names for her daughter, a foodie, and soon realised she had stumbled upon an enormous culinary archive. "There were over 1500 to 2000 recipes. I wondered where these recipes originated from?" she wonders. Many were passed down through observation rather than measuring cups and recipe cards.
There is another thread running through Khan's food; one she didn't always discuss. She hails from a Pir Bangsh, a Sufi lineage. For years, she says, she didn't imagine the story would intrigue people until a friend encouraged her to speak about it after which she could gauge its place in her culinary journey.
Bilkis Khan
Bengali-Muslim fare, Bilkis points out, is often reduced to its meat-heavy repertoire. But her family's cooking has a much wider vocabulary, particularly when it comes to vegetables, fish, rice, and sweets. She traces some of this diversity to her family history. Her great-great-grandmother was a Brahmin woman who married into the family, bringing another culinary tradition into the household.
"Both cuisines combined, and a different cuisine evolved," she adds. That evolution can be tasted in her cooking: fish preparations, mutton cooked on dum, Dal Gosht, Tehri, Yakhni Pulao, and a family-style biryani, all using spice blends rooted in her family kitchen.
Khan is planning a special Durga Puja supper that brings together the Bengali dishes she grew up with, and the Sufi influences that run through her family. Khichdi, Labra, Patha Jhol, and Macher Kofta are among the dishes she will revisit, alongside Mutton Rezala, Doodh Lau, and her own Sufi-style Gulab Rossogolla. There is also a distinctly Rarh influence in her cooking. Khan sees this regional culture as an important part of her culinary iwnheritance.
ON October 3; 7 pm onwards
CALL 9983010860 (to book a seat)
