Wooden tables. Clean interiors. Rama, a man in his late 60s, wheelchair-bound due to an accident, asks Poonam Mehra, who is at the cash counter, if she has eaten. When she says she is not hungry, he admonishes her, “How can you not eat when you have come to my house?”
Rama, a chef, is a loyal lieutenant of Kamal Khanna, founder-owner of Crystal, Mumbai, and has been here since the 1970s. Khanna passed away in October 2015 at the age of 77. His daughter, Poonam Mehra, now runs the show, with her 22-year-old son, Sanket.
“That is the level of involvement the staff has with Crystal,” says Poonam. “They consider it their own home, due to the love and respect my father bestowed upon them.”
A special clientele
Khanna came to Mumbai from Amritsar with his family, when he was a teenager. Years later, in 1966, he decided to set up Crystal, a café offering cold coffee, beverages and samosas to visitors who came to Chowpatty.
After having built a loyal clientèle for nearly 27 years, Khanna decided to expand his menu in 1993. Crystal began offering vegetarian food like dal fry, rajma , alu gobi , baigan ka bharta , rotis , rice and kheer , as he felt there were a lot of migrants and students living nearby who missed home-cooked food.
“The recipes were all my mother’s, and the food was what we ate at home,” says Poonam.
Mumbai, 26/03/2019: Picture to go with Mini Riberio's story. Food at Crystal restaurant in Mumbai. Photo: Vivek Bendre / The Hindu
Such was Khanna’s passion that even on a bandh , when the city had barely limped back to normalcy after 6 pm, he would rush to open the restaurant by 7 pm so that hostel students and paying guests, who were his regulars, would not face a problem for their dinner. His life revolved around Crystal and his staff. “Even on Diwali, the puja at home took place after he had closed the restaurant. Most of our team is from his time and this is their home. They have been here for over 30 years,” says Poonam.
Khanna knew most of his customers by name, and their orders too. “He was ‘bauji’ for most of them,” Poonam recalls. “Regular customers did not have to look at the menu. If a table was empty they would go and sit and their food would be quietly served. Even today, most of them just walk in and take a seat, as if they are at home.”
The key here is familiarity. “They have been eating the same dishes and do not even bother trying the new ones. An NRI couple comes annually and stays at a five-star hotel nearby, but their driver always comes to pick up their favourite food from here without fail.”
Her father’s footsteps
It has been only three years since Poonam stepped in. She had to grapple with her father’s sudden demise and take over the restaurant. “I had never seen the kitchen. I only sat outside in the restaurant, if I ever came to visit my father. He felt that a place of work was not something girls should visit unnecessarily. I knew nothing about the business, but was aware of his customers and staff.”
Poonam considers herself lucky as her son was already a part of it. Sanket had stepped into the business earlier than his mother, in fact, as his grandfather insisted that he come for a few hours daily and learn. “It is almost as if my father had a premonition. My son was trained for six months, and that has held him in good stead. While I sit here till late afternoon, he manages the evenings and comes home after the restaurant is closed,” says Poonam.
They did not have to change anything, as it was all running smoothly. “We have only made some additions to the menu. Crystal combo meal and Crystal special are two sections we added, with offerings such as chole bature, Lahori paneer , and some Jain items.”
Poonam tries to follow what her father believed in and has kept the restaurant affordable. “The pricing remains pocket-friendly, so that the food is affordable to all, as that was how my father wanted it. Dal fry used to be ₹15 and rotis ₹1.He was not out to make money. As long as his costs were covered, he was satisfied.”
The vendors and suppliers remain the same and also the recipes, which have been standardised. Poonam avers, “He used to personally buy the ingredients from Dadar on his way each morning. And we strictly adhere to that too. There is no question of ever compromising on the quality.”
Moving ahead
Since Sanket has shown an interest and stepped into the business, with so much enthusiasm, Poonam decided to expand it further. They have launched a delivery kitchen, Punjabi Tadka by Crystal, at IIT Powai and also Punjabi Tadka by Crystal, a restaurant at Lower Parel, which also serves non-vegetarian food.
The original Crystal, of course, remains untouched. “That was my father’s baby. This eatery may have completed half a century, but nothing has changed and never will,” declares Poonam.
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