When a Mumbai icon like Cafe Madras notches up 75 years, it is time to say cheers and raise a toast — with a glass of sambar or rasam, choose your poison. The city’s most cherished South Indian restaurant, Cafe Madras in Kings Circle, completes its 75th year this year. It is symbolic about how simplicity and being true to yourself is the strongest foundation on which everlasting edifices are built.

In an age of rapid change and fusion which often spells confusion, Café Madras keeps the patrons coming because it has great food. Period. Its USP is not all the frills attached to eateries these days. It is not the ‘ambience’, as restaurant critics say, or even the service, though that is quick. It is quite simply the food which, of course, is the most important aspect of a restaurant.