Outside the eatery, a notice read: 'With heavy heart and tremendous sorrow, we bring to the notice of all our patrons that owing to the proposed plan of redevelopment, we are closing this branch.'
On Thursday, food-lovers gathered at the iconic south Indian hotel in Matunga, Mani's Lunch Home, to say their goodbye.
Outside the eatery, a notice read: 'With heavy heart and tremendous sorrow, we bring to the notice of all our patrons that owing to the proposed plan of redevelopment, we are closing this branch.'
The lunch home, opposite the Shankar Matham temple, has been serving traditional Kerala Brahmin food since 2002. Sixty one -year-old owner of the lunch home, KS Narayanaswami, is now searching for a place in Matunga to reopen the hotel.
"The redevelopment order was getting delayed since January this year. On June 10, the owner gave us the notice to vacate by June 30. We were expecting them to extend the notice period for two months since redevelopment will be starting in September," he said.
Regular eaters were unhappy with the decision of vacating this building since they believe it was their second home to eat home-made food. Ganesh Suryanarayanam, 30, who has been visiting the place every three days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner, said: "I came to Mumbai in May 2013. Staying as a paying guest in Matunga, I tried various south Indian hotels in the vicinity. Once I tasted the food here. Since then, I have been a regular customer, visiting this place every Saturday, Sunday and Monday. From today, I will have to travel to their Sion branch."
K A Vijaya (74), another lover of Mani's Lunch Home food, visited the restaurant to say goodbye to the workers and owners. "I come here once in a week. I love the thali in the afternoon. They not only serve food at low cost but also quality food. Eating food here was like enjoying home-made food."
The lunch home could seat 75 people. On weekends, there would be a long queue outside the restaurant. Being a pure vegetarian hotel serving Kerala food, Onam was celebrated here in a big way.
Talking about the response from well-wishers and daily visitors, Narayanaswami said: "We are happy to see that the visitors are extending their support. One of the visitors extended a helping hand, stating that he will buy a space in Matunga so that we can reopen our hotel. On Thursday, many people came along with their families to have dinner. We are facing problem to locate a space to reopen our hotel."
Shiva Subramaniam (62), secretary of the Shankar Matham temple, said: " They have maintained quality food since the beginning. It was a pocket-friendly restaurant. I used to recommend the place to many people."
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