"Wonly Maatunga Kaapi for me..."


Mr. Iyer from the first floor in our apartment building would say that each time he came to our house, usually uninvited, "Wonly, Maatunga kaapi for me, nothinnngggggg else...". He felt that the best coffee (kaapi!) that could be had, was only (wonly!) available at Matunga (Maatunga!). The place was actually known as the Madras (now, Chennai... but people still remember it as Madras in Mumbai, though Mumbai was Bombay earlier...) of Mumbai. 

Actually, it was a treat to hear Mr. Iyer say it. It went like, "In Bambaayi, Maatunga meeenz Madhdhraas, and Maatunga Kaapi, shtraang Maatunga Kaapi, is the beshsht in the worrld, yaall the worrld", which meant... "In Bombay, Matunga is Madras, and strong coffee from Matunga, is the best in all the world."

Mr. Iyer said this, even when he would come to our house, and while drinking the strong good heavenly south Indian decoction coffee that my mother would serve him. And amazingly, both my father and mother would nod their heads, and agree with Mr. Iyer in the most indulgent manner. I hated the surrender, at that time, in 1975, nearly 33 years ago. 

I was not a coffee connoisseur then. I enjoyed drinking the Narasu or Bru filter coffee, and the rare instant Nescafe made in our house. The instant Nescafe had made its strong appearance only around 1970. Nescafe also had a good filter coffee product, available at a lesser cost.


The Kabutar-khaana at Matunga, near Ram Ashraya Restaurant

My uncle, Shantaram, had a different take on Matunga kaapi. He was a faithful to have a cup at Ram Ashraya restaurant, near the kabutar-khana, the pigeons feeding place, at Matunga. He loved his cup of Matunga kaapi there, in the small stainless steel tumbler, kept inside the larger wider flat-rimmed deep stainless steel bowl. You were at paradise, as most south Indians at Matunga declared during the 60s and 70s, if you got that hot cup of kaapi to swish from the tumbler to the bowl by lifting the tumbler at least 3 feet above and pouring the hot milk-sweetened decoction accurately into the bowl. 

The aroma was already felt when the kaapi had been served at your table. You could smell it from the cup on your table and you could smell it from the cups of kaapi at other tables. The smell and aroma was all around. But when you lifted the tumbler and poured the coffee down to the bowl, the aroma hit you in the face. It must be hormonal, I think. All good honest south Indians, actually all south Indians who like strong filter coffee from out of a tumbler and vessel, are good honest south Indians. There isn't any other qualification, really. 



The Ram Ashraya Restaurant at Matunga
The Quality Tea-Coffee Shop is to its left...


Strong filter 'Kaapi' at Hotel Ram Ashraya in the classic style


The stainless steel tumbler (right) and the vessel (left).
Coffee drinking cannot be better than this...


Video demonstrating the art of mixing filter coffee at Matunga
You can increase the distance and height once you become an expert at it...

All good honest south Indians must be having an hormonal recepter to strong filter kaapi. Their poetic abilities were probably awakened at that moment of smelling strong filter kaapi. The entire world seemed happy and peaceful at that moment. The restaurant waiter, serving the hot kaapi, was now probably looking like your best friend or your favourite relative. 

My uncle would savour the coffee at Ram Ashray and then proceed to the Quality Tea-Coffee shop next to the restaurant and purchase Chicory coffee powder mixed on a 50:50 ratio with Peaberry coffee powder. This, he felt, and almost 90% of Matunga of the 70s probably agreed with him. You had to brew the decoction for an hour at home before it was ready to taste the same, well, almost the same as genuine strong filter coffee from Matunga.

There was a restaurant, Amba Bhavan, at the spot where the Matunga main road met Kings' Circle. It was yet another coffee drinker's paradise. The waiters at this restaurant were as aged and prehistoric as the furniture and the unchanged decor in the place. They were probably on speaking terms or friendly nodding terms with my father and uncle in their younger days. My grandfather probably knew them and maybe even so, knew their fathers or uncles.


The Amba Bhavan Coffee Club at King's Circle near Matunga


Honest, strong and pure filter coffee from
the Amba Bhavan Coffee Club

Most waiters at Amba Bhavan in the 80s wore a folded-up dhoti or lungi, and almost came at you with the coffee tumbler and vessel. Unlike Ram Ashry, the coffee at Amba Bhavan and Mysore Cafe in Kings' Circle came in an upturned small tumbler inside the stainless steel vessel. The coffee was trapped inside the tumbler. You had to be an expert at some of the ancient shaolin arts with a third or fourth degree black belt to be able to prise the trapped air pressure inside the tumbler and free the coffee from within it, and into the vessel.

The waiters at Amba Bhavan were expert at it. Those at Mysore Cafe would leave to your fate, unless asked help was asked for. The Amba Bhavan chaps would look at you and recognise whether you were a kaapi-shaolin sensei or not. Guessing that probably you were not even a sham kung fu pretender, they would tilt the vessel in an expert manner, causing the weight of the kaapi liquid to make the tumbler free itself from the vessel. Then, with a flourish, they would swish the coffee back and forth from the tumbler into the vessel and would reverse their hands to keep the momentum and swishing going.


The Cafe Mysore at Kings' Circle

Nescafe and instant coffee spoilt it for the kaapi-addict. 



(All photographs by Author)

5 comments:

  1. Was just going through your article and it just surprised me that you have spoken so much about coffee but have failed to mentioned Mysore Concerns. Its one of the oldest shops who supply coffee to most of the leading hotels and marriage contractors in Mumbai. Located at king's circle, Mr.Shrikant Venkkatram's establishment has been in existence since 1939. Cafe Mysore that you mentioned has been buying our coffee from many years.You should really check it out once. Any south indian in matunga would be well aware of it.

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  2. Many thanks. Most of my blog items are in various stages of writing. This one is not complete as yet. I guess you must be from Mysore Concerns...

    You are free to add to the information on this blog item. Regards.

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  3. Bharat, this was a good read. Perhaps when you get a chance talk about Mysore Concerns as pointed by Shweta. Nothing like getting my memory jogged from afar.

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  4. Its like revisiting Bombay...hope to read more and more about Aamchi Mumbai..

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  5. Dear Mr Bharat Bhushan, jeeze
    Take a minute or two if you please
    If its not too much
    I like hot kaapi very much
    and that speshial cutting too
    so there is an award waiting for you

    at

    http://thebutterflydiaries.wordpress.com/2009/09/26/superior-scribbler-awards/

    ReplyDelete