Khaana over peena

Chicken lollypop is the least ordered dish at the restaurant says Umesh Shetty 58 as he slides into a seat opposite us at Durga Restaurant and Bar in Matunga The establishment that celebrated its 50th anniversary last month is called a bar but is famous for its food menu Idhar se kha ke janeka leave after eating he threatens in accented Hindi when we ask him to go easy on the food orderThe steward is told to get a sweet corn soup chicken in red sauce chicken ghee roast paneer in green sauce and a paneer bullet The last dish will be finished on the table in a flambeacutePaneer IsraeliThe Shettystyle quarter bar opposite Central Matunga station hosts the customary fish tank kitchsy backdrop stainless steel furniture and a green carpet Its customers include a mix of students from Ruia Wellingkar and Podar college office goers and Gujarati and South Indian residents from around While it follows a decanter serving set up food makes up for 80 per cent of ordersBefore the soup arrives we confess that its not a favourite But this bowl comes with a deep yellow broth with chicken shreds and egg strips The creamy strips and freshly boiled and blitzed American corn gives it a velvety sweetness Shetty smiles and points to a dark line on his forehead a trademark of cooks whove worked long hours in a hot kitchen This is my degree he says taking the conversation back to when this place was Durga Lunch HomeSweet corn chicken soup At seven my father and mentor Narayan Shetty took a boat from Kapu our village in Mangalore He got off at Churchgate penniless He worked his way up first as waiter at udipis chai and usal stalls This was around 1939 says Shetty who grew up in Masjid Bunder and later Matunga When I was five my father took over a restaurant to run it He was a great cook and taught me the ropes of running the space It was my mother Nalini who however taught the cooking I began coming to the hotel every day once I turned 15 and in fact would be the one to open the shutters His mothers Mangalorean fish curry kori roti chicken sukka bangda masala and fish fry were favourites My wife Kalpana picked up some of the recipes Amma taught me how to marinate fish it should be done for an hourIn its first avatar the lunch home was frequented by traders looking for a Mangalorean meal to which later the cosmopolitan lunch staples chana masala aloo matar and dal dry were added To date taxi drivers say they miss the thali that they served with two sabzis roti rice and dal By the end of 1980s Shetty convinced his father to change the format We began seeing locals office goers and students from the five colleges around says Shetty who took a yearlong course at IHM Mahim but it was time spent in the kitchen that he calls trial by fireArmed with a business degree Anish Shetty 24 has recently joined father Umesh Shetty and hopes to introduce a midlevel eatery that caters to a younger audience PicsPradeep DhivarFor the last eight months his son Anish has been joining him at work While a midlevel restaurant is being planned the 24yearold is the first member of the family to get a Masters degree in business Armed with work experience as company secretary and law executive at Morgan Stanley and Price Water Coopers he is brimming with ideas that he is trying to convince his father to embrace My friends from Podar College would drag me here he quips remembering how he hardly saw his father at home since he was clocking in 14hour work days It is impossible to take a holiday and festive days are most busy But I want to take this institution to the next level perhaps create a chain or a new version that is midlevel and caters to the younger audience Anish thinks aloudShettys latest experiment has been newly introduced to the menu a red sauce he worked on for over a year It is a cross between a continental and Indian sauce which has curry paste paneer gingergarlic and some secret ingredients he smiles We get to taste it in the paneer in red sauce Flavourful but not spicy it reminds us of a cross between a continental tomato sauce and Indian curryAn old photograph from the album of Umesh Shetty when the restaurant and bar was newly launchedAll the dishes come with interesting garnish of carrot and radish A Japanese cutter he picked up at a food exhibition makes curls and discs of vegetables and has come handy Shetty says The maverick gives attention to detail and is hungry for feedback We learn from our customers he saysFor a restaurant and bar their Jain orders are very popular too Sometimes when a regular customer places an order without mentioning dietary preference we know they want Jain food since their data is fed into our system I know of tour operators who vacuumpack our paneer handi and take along on trips It lasts for up to three months The other alltime hit is the paneer biryani On December 31 we sold 130 plates says Anish who worked into the night ditching his friends on new years eve Shetty throws him a knowing look when he calls it a 24x7 job Diabetes blood pressure and heart attack come with it We have erratic eating hours and decreased sleepAt Durga the kitchen follows protocols including no tinned item no palm oil no added colour The Schezwan sauce is made inhouse and all produce is bought from Plaza market The fish comes from Sion and Mahims Satellite marketHalf a century in the neighbourhood means Shetty knows his customers like the back of his hand In 70s herostyle he says Idhar ka pathar pathar ko main pehchanta hoon I recognise every brick in this restaurant and around It is built and run on one principle my father passed on no compromiseCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates