Olympia Coffee House, a popular haven for meat eaters in Mumbai, celebrated its centenary year in 2018

There is half a chance that everyone who lives in Mumbai would have visited this place in the heart of Colaba, South Mumbai, at least once with friends, and devoured a mutton fry masala or a bheja fry with naan. After all, not too many restaurants in the city are 100 years old.

Syed Mohammed Merab, an Irani businessman, started Olympia in 1918 and sold 50% of his stakes to his then employees, Abdul Rahim Suleiman, Abdul Rahim Choudhary and Wali Mohammed in 1954, when he decided to go back to Iran. The trio continued to run the place till their sons, Idris Choudhary and Ilyas Saji, entered the business in the late 80s and 90s.

In spite of its no-frills ambience, Olympia continues to be a crowd-puller, owing to its clean interiors and affordable, robust and quality non-vegetarian food.

Old is gold

“My father and uncles changed nothing when they took over the reins. There was no need to,” states Ilyas, from the second generation, who now manages Olympia with his elder brother Idris and nephew Aamir. He adds, “Only a new AC family section upstairs was introduced a decade ago.

From a menu with 15-20 items, today the variety is exhaustive, but the flavours and authenticity remain intact. “Those days, there was no tandoor, so no tandoori items were on the menu. Over the years, though the menu was expanded, we still retained the original popular dishes that people came here for. We adhere to old recipes and use freshly ground spices,” says Ilyas.

He further elaborates, “We have retained the traditional appeal here — be it the interiors or the food. After all, people still come here for the old-world charm.”

True to his words, the place still has that old structure, including the shutter which bears the bullet marks of the 26/11 attacks. “This shutter has been here since the very beginning. In fact, its thickness saved us all on 26/11, when the terrorists fired endlessly, but the bullets could not penetrate our shutter,” recounts Ilyas with a shudder.

Reminiscing further about 26/11, he says, “We were packed with customers and it was late in the evening. Initially, we thought a compressor had burst when we heard the loud noise. Once we realised what was happening, we put our shutters down. Bullets were fired, but we were all safe inside, albeit scared out of our wits. We were holed up here through the night, but slowly with the help of the police, managed to assist all our customers out safely. It was a night we all prefer to forget, but can’t.”

A coffee house by name, Olympia is packed through the day. Starting at seven in the morning, this place serves a hearty breakfast of paya, eggs, and mutton special kheema pav, which several shopkeepers, traders and office-goers faithfully step in to have. Lunch is busy too, but it is late in the evening that this place gets buzzing, even though it serves no alcohol. “It is the good quality and affordability that appeals to our customers,” declares Ilyas with pride. Chicken liver masala fry, bheja fry, tandoori chicken and mutton biryani are the fastest selling dishes.

Mass appeal

From local politicians from Mantralaya to former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, Olympia is said to have been frequented by people from all walks of life. While some old-timers recall that a chapatti was priced at 10 paise and a bheja fry at ₹2, today a meal for two comes at ₹400.

Although Ilyas and Idris are at Olympia daily to look into the business and operations, their nephew Aamir has already stepped in and is learning the ropes of the business.

Staff members are also third-generation, as are some of the cooks. “Some retired recently, but until a while ago, it was a tradition in the family to work here, but of course, things are slowly changing now,” he states.

“Our old customers get new customers and we have never felt the need to market ourselves. People from all over the world land up here with a map and Olympia is on their to-do list. What more can we ask for?” beams Ilyas with gratitude.

In this fortnightly column, we take a peek at some of the country’s most iconic restaurants