By Raj Lalwani, TwoCircles.net
Naeem and Aamir, both students in their teens are regulars at Jabbari, a small restaurant in Chinch Bunder. I got talking to them, fascinated by the Batman T-shirt, and through them, discovered this non-descript cafe. An impatient waiter, when asked what he recommended, muttered that if I wanted a meal, I should go to the nearby Noor Mohammadi or Shalimar. “Yahan kuch accha nahin hai, sirf chai acchi hai.” (there is nothing good to eat here, only tea is decent) But he then warned me, “You may not be able to handle it.”
The famed chai, black masala tea, is almost outrageous in terms of the amount of spices it contains. It’s an assault on one’s senses, in a fascinating way. I was told later that there was someone I knew who used to be a regular here. He would park his vehicle, and stop by to have three cups of the potent mix, every time he had a recording. It was the great Mohammed Rafi