Friends Union Joshi Club: Home-Style Gujarati Thali at its Best

It's not easy trying to find Friends Union Joshi Club - it's tucked away on the first floor of a nondescript building in Narottam Wadi, situated in one of Kalbadevi's busy warren of streets. If you're coming to it from Crawford Market, it will fall to your right. My suggestion would be to turn on Google Maps; first-timers will need it. Nobody goes to Friends Union Joshi Club for its salubrious decor. There's no fawning wait staff, or air conditioning. You won't find fussy foods, frills and fripperies. What you will find though, is a simple, home-style Gujarati thali, with dal, vegetables, roti and bhakri, served in one of Mumbai's oldest restaurants, in the midst of bustling Kalbadevi. And you will find all this for less than Rs 250 per thali.

Friends Union Joshi Club has been around for about a century, beginning life as a bhojnalaya (khaanaval), a sort of canteen that serves food to homesick migrants from Gujarat. Legend has it that the restaurant was founded by freedom fighter, Govindram Joshi, who used it as a club of sorts for his patriotic friends. Its (admittedly odd) name is probably a literal translation of Joshi Mitra Mandal.

(Also read:Master Vegetables Like a Gujarati)

But much has changed since then. The original building that housed the restaurant, a rickety wooden structure, was demolished in 1988, and rebuilt into the current, frill-free concrete structure, in 1990. The prices have risen exponentially, and so has the variety of dishes on the plate. Kalbadevi, although as busy and bustling as ever, is no longer the commercial heart of the city. The profile of the diners has changed too -- the Club now mostly caters to small-time businessmen who congregate here at lunch time. It is said that even the late, great Dhirubhai Ambani used to visit the bhojnalaya, whenever his wife was not with him.The food at Friends Union Joshi Club is pure ghar ka khaana. The cooks don't cloak the food in oil and spices, and it isn't overly sweet, as some Gujarati restaurants tend to make it. These are flavours that are not very easy to find in commercial eateries. Usually, most thali restaurants douse their food with sugar, making the whole meal (more or less) a succession of sweet dishes. This goes against the grain of most home-cooked Gujarati meals. There may be sugar, sure, but it is all delicately balanced with sour, savoury flavours, and a plethora of textures (look at the irresistible Mumbai bhelpuri, for instance, with its sour, sweet, spicy, crunchy, soft taste).