AT Sagarmanthan on Jawahar Road in Dahanu, amidst a cluster of shops selling furniture and automobile spare parts, stands Jehangir Kersi Irani�s restaurant. It is the only Irani restaurant in Dahanu. And unlike its urban cousins in Bombay, the Dahanu restaurant lacks old world charm and period furniture. It is modern, formica table and chairs, the walls are bare and without mirrors and stained glass pieces of art, and the menu is not put up on a board on the wall, it is slipped across to you in small plastic folder.

What Jehangir�s restaurant lacks in ambience, it makes up in food. The menu is 100 per cent Irani cuisine all right. And it is so Irani, that some of the Bombay restaurants would have trouble matching its bill of fare. Very typically of all Irani restaurants, though, the menu is split up according to the days of the week. There are five main courses per day every day, and none of them are repeated. Sunday, the Dahanu Irani restaurant outdoes itself. There is Chicken Biryani and Masala Dal for Rs. 45, Khichdi Dahi Kadi and Kababs for Rs. 40, Palak Paneer for Rs. 40, Chicken Farcha for Rs. 20 and Chutney and Egg Pattice for Rs. 10.

Jehangir, who is a Bombay Irani, is justifiably proud of his enterprise. He moved to Dahanu in 1992 to look after his father-in-law�s farmhouse. And in time discovered that there was no Parsi-style restaurant offering a low-budget meal. �So I decided to open my own,� he explains. Fortunately, his cook Madan has put in years of apprenticeship in the kitchens of several Parsi families and knows the ropes of their cuisine. Jehangir himself admits to being �lousy� in the kitchen. �I do the bazaar, instead,� he says. The meat market is next door. And the fish market is the Dahanu beach, four kilometres away, where the catch of the day goes onto Jehangir�s Irani restaurant menu.

�The seafood quality and variety here is amazing,� he says. The Zoroastrians of Dahanu, who are the Iranis and the few-odd Parsi families living there, are great seafood eaters. For them, Jehangir has put a Khichdi Fish Patiya, Prawn Cutlets, Dhandar Prawn Patio, Khichdi Sauce Fish and Prawn Curry Rice on the menu. It is a small but exciting menu. It starts with breakfast.

Apart from the standard omelette and half-fry, the Irani specialities include Akuri, Eggs on Kheema, Eggs on Bhinda, Eggs on Sali, Half-Ghost and Kheema. Everything is made with a bit of bite in it. And Jehangir serves Irani chai with bun or brun maska to go along with the food.

Between 4 and 7 p.m., he offers snacks: Mutton, Vegetable and Chicken Cutlets; Russian, Kheema and Egg Chutney Pattice; Grilled Chicken, Tandoori Chicken and Chicken Farcha. And there is the rest of the Monday to Sunday menu with its Parsi specialities like Masoor, Papri, Guvar Sing, Boti Pattice, Mug ni Dal, Kaleji Khurchan, Kheema Papeta, Gilora and Titori. His clientele includes most of Dahanu that feels like eating out for a change. Since the restaurant is small, people prefer to use Jehangir�s takeaway service for lunch, and at nights, they come and sit at tables outside the restaurant for dinner. �I also run a dabba service which is very popular, it has a variety of food, the Iranis of Dahanu love it,� he says.

Which brings up a question: why would an Irani come to, or order food from, an Irani restaurant when the same cuisine might be avalable at home? Jehangir answers, �They come because here there is opportunity for the community to meet. Get-togethers are best done over dinner. And, besides, I have a large circle of friends. Most of them come here to see me and end up sitting down for lunch or dinner.� And it is true. The morning the UpperCrust chose to have breakfast with the Irani restaurateur, his clientele was made up entirely of Iranis from the coastal town of Dahanu.