Food for thought with Riyaaz Amlani

Riyaaz Amlani CEO and MD Impresario Entertainment and Hospitality Pvt LtdAs a junior college student at Churchgates HR College Riyaaz Amlani the quintessential Byculla boy who moonlighted as a DJ at Parsi weddings showed some serious jive moves and was secretly conscious of his weight began dating an uptown girl Suddenly the city that the affable bookish teenager knew so intimately seemed hostile to his one ardent wish mdash the lovers had nowhere to go Sure he knew his way around then Bombays bylanes that one restaurant which had a corner table that nook which gave couples stolen moments of privacy But Amlani wanted to woo he wanted to be entertained and engaged as he discovered love and the city just didnt live upI was disappointed and decided to someday build something affordable and accessible for youngsters At the same time I was obsessed with the idea of Quahveh Khanneh coffee houses that offer hookahs too of Morocco and Turkey he remembers That is how Mumbai saw one of its first coffee houses Mocha which opened doors at Churchgate in 2001 outside Berrys the restaurant owned by Amlanis father The restaurateur remembers how the elderly loyal patrons of the latter curiously looked around Mochas flamboyant IndoTibetanthemed interiors before walking inToday Amlanis Impresario Entertainment and Hospitality Pvt Ltd includes cafeacutes restaurants and spaces with edgy design and experiential dining Smoke House Deli Salt Water Grill Prithvi Cafeacute and Mocha Arthouse have proven to be chic innovative answers to the curious Mumbai dinerRoot of the matterContrary to having opened all these restaurants mdash and my size mdash I am not a foodie chuckles Amlani as we settle in amid a moderately busy afternoon at Bandras Salt Water Cafeacute I am not a fussy eater I love homecooked food and was one of those children whose mothers did not tolerate them making faces at food they didnt like he saysHe reminisces about his childhood which he says was humble rugged and as adventurous as it could get for a boy growing up in Byculla My mother is Parsi and I lived with her and my maternal grandmother at Lamington Roads Navjivan Society till I was nine years old says the entrepreneur We discuss parking woes at Navjivan how its residents now wade through the sea of gleaming metal cars parked in three rows along the narrowest of spaces and its overall disarray It wasnt half as bad back then Few people owned cars and we the young boys of the colony played cricket at any spot we picked for the day I didnt know kids couldnt do that at Navjivan anymore It is all too structured rues AmlaniHe may not be a foodie but food does crop up frequently when he speaks of life at Byculla Instead of being sheltered by Navjivans highrises Amlani began roaming the streets as his new friends gorged on Piyari Chaat and Kaleji He remembers frequenting Bohri mohallas and his friends homes and eating out of the thaal Something sweet then something savoury thats the order they followed and I loved the communal feel of the meal everybody sitting crosslegged on the floor sharing food says the 40yearoldAmlanis childhood was influenced more by his Parsi mother than his Muslim father To him his fathers restaurant Berrys at Churchgate had a Hard Rock Cafeacutelike feel with its live jazz bands and excellent Chicken Stroganoff and Butter Chicken But till date there are few things I relish as much as my mothers Dhana Dal and Dhansak the Kolmi and the Patio Parsi wedding feasts are memorable and I used to be the DJ at Parsi and Catholic weddings I knew the oldfashioned jive and knew how to make the guests have a good time unfailingly he smilesAmlani selfadmittedly was that boy who took other shy kids under his wing and ensured they settled in just fine I did that because I was painfully shy and conscious of my weight so I compensated for those feelings I read widely finished two Enid Blytons a day which made me articulate and feel better about things in general I was naturally talented and surprised myself by earning a black belt in karate he says unabashedlyAmlani believes the man he is today mdashenterprising and relentlessly curious mdash has everything to do with his humble beginnings and the fact that he began working for Metro shoes at Colaba at the young age of 13 for pocket money I was a good salesman he smiles And I got to understand customer mentality up close he says By the time he reached college he opened a show shop at Sion circle called Show Wagon Shoes That Take You Places was the tagline he grinsAnother Rubicon of sorts for the businessman which divided his carefree life into a Before and After was being part of the tony crowd of HR College Think about it mdash I was a rough smartalecy Byculla kid I fit in easily with the SoBo crowd because I was the affable gregarious sort but I soon noticed how my other friends were sidelined by the same people We were always the vernies to them ndash I had never even heard of the term before and it irked me he recalls Amlani says he was shocked at the equity placed at where you came from But it also stoked me I had some rage issues back then but they soon morphed into ambition I developed this need to prove myself I dont mean to say I would not have done this he says and outstretches his arms around at his restaurant but I would have probably opened 13 shoe shopsAfter college fired by the idea of changing Mumbais entertainment scene and introducing the coffee culture Amlani went on to study Entertainment Management at University of California Los Angeles UCLA worked multiple shifts at coffee shops and flipped burgers to fund his tuition After returning to India in 1998 he consulted for the Hiranandani Group and the result was Hakone After that Amlani designed several pool parlours a rage in the 90s gokarting venues and gymsAs soon as the idea for what would be Mocha developed in Amlanis mind he knew it would not be a copypaste Starbucks Bombay already had one Barista at Chowpatty and I wanted to innovate further he elaboratesToday is the new tomorrowToday is an imagery that spurs Amlani to establish a new cafeacute or restaurant I know it sounds crazy because hey I open restaurants mdash but it isnt food that excites me it is always something I might have seen a place that enraptured me an idea I cannot get out of my head that I want to translate into a physical space For instance I wanted to come up with Salt Water Grill simply because I was having a graphic novels phase Del Italia exists today because I was in love with an Italian girl he winks I simply find ways to monetise my creativity says Amlani mdash a fair point in the times of private equity having entered the Indian food industry like never beforeThe restaurateur says his leadership style is one which discourages an assemblyline attitude As somebody who wants to be in the top three food companies in the country and only dreams of a Michelin star I try to give my employees goals sure but with a definite philosophy imprinted on them mdash the spaces we build have to be evocative enough to inspire moods he explainsEvidently Amlanis personal life influences his work and it isnt something he dislikes I love to read I adore music and photography and I feel marriage has been one of the biggest changes in my life he smiles Amlani and his wife Kiran had a baby boy Khayal three months ago Having a family realigns your ambition your end goals Mine now are forever entwined with theirs concludes Amlani