Brilliance cooked 'under pressure'

Ask anyone in the heart of the city, what his or her favourite biryani place is, and pat will come the reply- “SP’s Biryani”. While the Eastern part of the city had its Blue Niles and Georges, the city’s core was pretty much the biryani virgin until SP’s Biryani House started shop opposite SP College on Tilak Road in 1994.

Started by Jawahar Chorge, the eatery was first a small venture, which has now grown to a multi-storied, plush dining place.
Jawahar’s journey in the hospitality business began when he started working at the Mathura Hotel on Jungli Maharaj Road, which was once quite famous for its pav bhaji, and was owned by his brother. After he got married, Jawahar thought of branching out and launching his own venture, and that is how SP’s Biryani House came about.

The restaurant was small back then and offered Hyderabad-style biryani, with some modifications. “When we started out, SP’s Biryani House was a very small restaurant, and saw a clientele that was mostly male. A lot of them would drink and come and I have often found myself in life-threatening situations. We didn’t really have families visiting since they didn’t find the environment very safe,” says Jawahar.

The solution to this, Jawahar thought, was renovation, which took place a couple of years ago. The revamped restaurant now has a mostly upper middle class and family crowd.

With the change in its customer base, the menu also underwent changes. Earlier, you only had gavran chicken biryanis at the restaurant, along with mutton biryani. Gavran chicken (gavran means rural in Marathi) is leaner, without much meat, and is preferred by men. But as women and children became more frequent at the hotel, broiler chicken biryani was added to the menu, since the meat is thicker and more succulent.

They also have the sajuk tupatli biryani (biryani made with desi ghee), which has less spice and masala, and is quite popular with children and kids. You’ll also find sea food on the menu here, and SP’s Biryani House’s ole bombil fry is quite delicious and is often a popular side dish along with the biryani for those who love sea food. It will interest you to know that Nisarg, which is probably the best sea food joint in the Western part of the city, is also owned by Jawahar.

Having started from scratch, Jawahar is understandably very proud of his restaurant. “I started SP’s Biryani House from scratch. I still remember, the first day’s biryani sale amounted to Rs1,800. Now, I feed over a thousand customers in a month,” he says. The ugly experiences Jawahar had in the early days of SP’s Biryani House, has led him to hire bouncers, which are present every evening at the restaurant.

“I guess it is a protective measure. I don’t want to find myself in those situations again,” Jawahar says.