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With Nikeet, our producer in the middle, and Mohsin
Whose grandpa opened Lucky 76 years back

I first moved into Mumbai in 1997 on a straining stint.

I used to live in a PG run by a vegetarian family. Eating vegetarian meals every night took a bit of getting used to. At home in Kolkata there was at least an egg fir dinner if not fish. Sundays at home were special. Those were days for chicken curry and rice.

I used to miss that a lot. So my PG aunty suggested that I go to Lucky on Bandra’s SV Road for Sunday lunch.

Lucky was famous for its biryani and that’s what I would order. I would pick up a newspaper and go in and read that over lunch.

The biryani in Lucky was very different from what I was used to in Kolkata. It had masala in it, had more pieces of meat and was more expensive than what biryanis cost in Kolkata.

I would sit in the non-airconditioned section to save money.

Biryani at Lucky became a Sunday ritual in my early days in Mumbai.

Then I got married and stopped going to Lucky so regularly. I would pack biryani from them occasionally and get it home to enjoy with some rum over a movie. Since I married a Parsi I no longer had to live in a vegetarian household!

I also learnt that you could ask them to reduce the amount of masala in the biryani at Lucky and put in an extra alu. Worked beautifully specially till Kolkata biryanis came up in Mumbai.

In a visit a few years back, I spoke to a gentleman whom I had often seen at the counter at Lucky’s. Turns out that he is the grandson of the founder of Lucky. His name is Mohsin. He is a Bombay and a Bandra Boy.

His grandfather had come to Mumbai from Iran.

We went to Lucky last week and shot there for The Finely Chopped channel on YouTube.

I spoke to Mohsin about the Lucky story. Here’s the video. Hope you like it. Please like the video and subscribe to the channel if you do.

 

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