IF you are visiting Panchgani, then one breakfast at least you must have at the Laxmi Vilas Hotel. It is a popular little eatery, simple and unpretentious, five tables inside and two outside, with the capacity to seat a total of 28. Laxmi Vilas Hotel is located on Dr. Billimoria Road, opposite the old Town Hall and Panchgani market, but there is the possibility of the locals not recognising the name if you ask directions to the place. That�s because in Panchgani, everybody knows Laxmi Vilas Hotel simply as �Dave�s�. Dave is the name of the Gujarati Brahmin family that has been running this restaurant for over 80 years.

It is the oldest restaurant in Panchgani, of that the current Dave is certain. His name is Ashish, and he and his brother Himanshu run the place. Ashish is an MSc graduate who studied mathematics and was once teaching the subject and science at Billimoria, New Era and Oaks boarding schools. Himanshu is an MCom and MBA who studied import-export management. Together the brothers keep the residents and tourists of Panchgani fed on authentic vegetarian Maharashtrian breakfasts at their cosy little restaurant. Go early, Laxmi Vilas Hotel opens at 6.30. And sit at the table inside, because at that hour, Panchgani will be cold. You will enjoy the warmth of the stoves inside hissing with the morning�s tea and the usal.

Breakfast at Dave�s is Misal-Pav, Kanda-Batata Bhajia, and Jelebi. Work your way through this, then adventurously ask for the other specialities on the house. Ashish Dave, if he is behind the little counter, will tell you everything in the restaurant is special. And it is true. The menu at Laxmi Vilas Hotel has not changed in 30 years, that�s how popular the items of food are over here. �Try the Misal-Pav, it is mouthwatering, the taste will linger with you,� Ashish will suggest. �People come from far for the Misal-Pav. You won�t get it like this in Bombay or Pune. The difference is in our rassa and the farsan we use.�

The farsans are all made in the little hotel. They have a wafer machine and a sev-ghatia machine. Farsans are available at any time in the restaurant. Not the Misal-Pav, however, that gets over by 2 p.m. �People pack and take away our farsans,� says Ashish. �They take it to Nigeria, Canada, Dubai.� He drops names of old-timers in Panchgani like Virjee and Billimoria who are regular customers at Laxmi Vilas Hotel. The other clientele is made up residents from the eight to ten villages around Panchgani. And of the boarders in the schools. �Sanjeevan, Kimmins, New Era, Anjuman... they order Jelebis, Ladoos, Farsan, Chewda, and Shrikhand from us regularly,� says Ashish.

The other big breakfast item is the ubiquitous Kanda Bhajia, which goes very well with tea. At Laxmi Vilas Hotel, the onion strips are deep-fried dark in sunflower oil, along with the bhajia dough, the dough tightly clinging to them, very crisp on the outside. When you bite into them, you get the onions in the mouth, but minus their offensive odour. Laxmi Vilas Hotel�s cook, Manohar Davle, is an expert at making the Kanda Bhajia, he�s been doing it here for 26 years! And the restaurant�s waiter and maitre d�, Sanjay Biradjkar, has been serving it for 20 years at least. �There are generations of clients too, and we are adding more and more, because of the taste of our food,� explains Ashish.

It was his grandfather, Durgashankar Devshankar Dave, who started the restaurant in 1920. �He migrated from Karachi, we are Gujarati Brahmins, but I don�t know why he came to Panchgani,� says Ashish. The old man�s son and Ashish�s father, Labhshankar Dave, took up the business and kept up the good work to the extent that the Rotary Club actually honoured him for the excellent food at Laxmi Vilas Hotel. The brothers Ashish and Himanshu started helping their father to run the place when they were in school itself. And they kept their professional careers on hold to take up the restaurant business when their father fell ill and eventually passed away in 2002. Now they are fully engaged here, and they take spells at the counter, relieving each other during the day.

Everybody who comes into Laxmi Vilas Hotel is a familiar face and Ashish greets them by name. Many come not for the breakfast, but just a cup of tea and some local gossip. They sit in the brightly-painted restaurant with its many calendars on the walls, and the menu written on a blackboard, comfortable with the ambience. And they are hearty eaters when they choose to have breakfast there, robust villagers with healthy appetites, which encourages Ashish to think in terms of starting a mini-thali lunch service at Laxmi Vilas Hotel. �It will be pure vegetarian and it will be the best,� he says modestly.

Until then, the Dave brothers are happy with their regulars, the tourists who pack the farsans and take them away, and the boarding school children who revel on the Samosas, Kachoris, Batata Wadas, Khandvi and Dhoklas that are made on order. Jelebis that cost Rs. 40 a kilo, are also made in pure ghee for Rs. 120 a kilo, and there�s Groundnut Mysore Pak for Panchgani residents who keep religious fasts, Motichur Ladoos and other goodies. �We satisfy everyone, the rich and poor, and we are proud of our taste and quality,� says Ashish. �We look after everyone�s health because, don�t forget, majority of our clients are school children!�