Sunny side up

Let the other early birds get their worms at the usual places. Radhika Raj hunts out five offbeat joints in the city where you can tuck into a really early breakfast

Valibhai Payawala’s Baara Haandi 
Available from: 5am to 8.30am
Where: Bohri Mohalla
Price: Rs50 onwards

If you like your mornings to be meaty, Valibhai Payawala’s Baara Haandi joint  is the place for you. Tucked away in the bylanes of Bohri Mohalla, near Bhendi Bazar, the 95 year old restaurant is humble in appearance but big on taste. “Baara Haandi (literally, twelve pots) is an important part of Iranian cuisine,” says Abdul Rehman, who runs the shop with his brother. “The food is cooked on a coal fire, inside haandis (pots) that are buried inside the ground throughout the night.”

So the dish you are served at 6am was put on heat at 4pm the previous day, covered with a large wooden block so the steam does not escape. “Only this gives it that authentic flavour,” reveals Rehman.

A different dish is cooked in each of the haandis through the night. Sukha mutton or bada paya with karari roti are favourites. Of course, it helps that the same ustad, or chief cook, has been supervising the haandis for the past 50 years. “As a child, I used to come to eat here on my bicycle. Now I bring my kids along,” says Ibrahim Gulshan, long time customer. “Nothing has changed here — even the washbasin where my grandfather used to wash his hands is still standing—and that is why we like it.” The other draw is that it’s a good spot for a bit of celebrity spotting. “Long ago, I even saw Dawood Ibrahim,” says Gulshan.

Pohawali bai 
Available from: 3.30am to 7am
Where: Outside Sion Hospital
Price: Rs6 per plate

When a meek Shanta Anil Padwal stepped out at dawn on a chilly December morning five years ago with a dabba packed with kanda poha and paper dishes, she was afraid that she wouldn’t sell a single plate. “I didn’t know if Mumbai got up that early. Thankfully my nashta took off from the very first day,” she says. Famous all over Sion as the Pohawali bai, Padwal has introduced four more dishes over the years to her menu.

These include  tikhat sheera, god sheera, sabudana khichadi and poori bhaji— each one served hot, at a cost of only Rs6 per plate. Padwal has been setting up her little stall outside Sion Hospital as early as three thirty in the morning for the past eight months, making her breakfast the earliest available in the area. “I have to start cooking at eleven in the night. By 6.30am my nashta is over,” she says. Doctors from the Sion Hospital switch shifts at her stall. The night shift doctors have their last meal and the morning shift pick up their first, while discussing cases over the gharghuti marathi nashta.

So far has word of Padwal’s finger licking nashta traveled, that luxury  buses have made her stall a regular stop. “This is an absolute favourite. I look forward to this halt on my journey to Goa every month,” said Sandhya Menez, a regular customer. Padwal claims that in the years she set up her stall, she has never taken a day off. Her breakfast is available 365 days —with an extra day thrown in this year.

Idli House 
Available from: 7am to 1pm
Where: Kings Circle
Price: Upto Rs18 per plate

Rama Nayak’s Idli House near King Circle serves only idlis. But with 32 different varieties and 13 different accompaniments to choose from, you won’t be asking for more. “A survey conducted by a Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) student mentioned that the South Indian hotel business is dwindling because all the customers are above 40 years of age. Hence I started Idli House around two years ago,” says Satish Nayak, owner. “I brought in varieties of idli that have been served in villages in the south but never in Mumbai. They are different, so youngsters like them,” he says simply. 

The logic seems to be working. The Oondi, an idli made out of crushed coconut and rice served with limbda puda (lemon) and Cocoraj coconut oil has become a favourite amongst college students. 7am is rush hour at the Idli House, as students and joggers drop in for an early morning breakfast that is light and healthy but satisfying.

“This place is not exactly on my way,” laughs SD Buddhisagar, Idli House regular, “But I make it a point to get off at Matunga Station for this only-idli joint.” The khotto (idli steamed in jackfruit leaves), mudho (steamed in kevada leaves) and curd kadhi idli are worth a try.  A few accompaniments are unlimited and free. But be careful — for every serving of the free accompaniment you waste, you will be charged Rs3 extra. “We are happy if people eat a lot. But if they waste, then they must pay,” says Nayak.

The big bucks breakfast
Available from: 6 to 11am
Where: At JW Marriott and other 5-stars
Price: Rs700 onwards

If the sight of the rising sun sets you dreaming of yellow-yolked eggs, fried sunny side up, accompanied by rashers of bacon and Marmite on toast, head to one of the city’s five star eateries.

Most big hotels serve a traditional English spread as part of their breakfast buffet, starting as early as 6am. Travelers taking early flights out of the city are the most frequent grazers at the tables. But at the JW Marriott in Juhu, for instance, you could also run into the occasional film star, accompanied by a bevy of bodyguards and a trainer who bossily measures out his cereal.
 
Call centre employees back from a hard day’s night are another variety of early birds that head for the Big English Breakfast. “We are one of the few hotels that serve breakfast throughout the day,” says R Sai, chef de cuisine. “Even if you walk in at 3am asking for baked beans on toast with scrambled eggs, you can get it here.”

The hotel also dishes out an all-American breakfast, including pancakes with a range of toppings, hash browns, bagels with cream cheese and muffins, all of which are best eaten hot while watching the day break over the muddy waters of Juhu beach.