Looks absolutely amazing!
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Brittania and Co. - stuck in a time warp, which is one of the main reasons to come to this slightly chaotic, pretty dingy joint where a stray dog was lounging on the counter next to the cashier man. Yikes. My husband had a real raised eyebrow on him because I normally wouldn’t eat in a place with these low standards of hygiene. Talk about resting on your reputation…
I don’t know what honey bottle or Persian Gaz are - perhaps one of the HOs with superior Mumbai knowledge might chip in. A Google search didn’t enlighten me.
The place isn’t exactly welcoming, with signs everywhere reminding you it’s cash only, a big jokey list of rules, a grumpy cashier and slightly anxious servers wearing white shirts with black bow ties (this dress code for the servers was very much at odds with the dog on the counter vibe). We ordered only 2 things - Bombay Duck fry and chicken berry pulao.
The Bombay Duck was meh - too greasy and full of bones (soft enough to crunch through). The only reason I’m glad I ordered it here was it showed up how truly superior Maasli’s version of Bombil fry is compared to this. The chicken berry pulao was quite nice. But eating in this place is not a relaxing activity. Ok, ok, server dude, I have cash and I am prepared to pay with it. Jeez.
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The nougat-like Persian gaz is one of Britannia & Co’s signature Persian sweets.
My AI Google came up with these descriptions:
- Gaz, sometimes referred to as Persian nougat, is a traditional Iranian sweet that originated in the city of Isfahan.
- The primary ingredient is traditionally gaz-angabin, a sweet, milky sap (honeydew) collected from the wild tamarisk plant, which is native to the Zagros mountain region in Iran.
- This natural sweetener is combined with other ingredients like egg whites, sugar, rose water, and nuts such as pistachios or almonds, giving gaz its distinctive spongy texture and flavour.
- It is often served in round or rectangular pieces, accompanied by tea during celebrations like Nowruz (Persian New Year).
The Iranian Tourism site showed these illustrations under “Gaz from Isfahan”.
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Thanks @klyeoh - as usual, you are a fount of foodie knowledge!
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They are preparations from completely different cuisines, so not really comparable.
The Parsi version is iconic and core to that cuisine, like dhansak. The fish is not flattened, and is lightly spiced if at all.
The Maasli version is a copycat of Gajalee, which flattens the fish before coating it, and there is proportionally much more coating.
The coatings are different in each – rava / rice flour / wheat flour / breadcrumbs depending on which.
The bones aren’t removed in either, but being surprised by bones in bombil is like being surprised by bones in hilsa or sardines lol.
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Was your hygiene comment to do with the kitchen and food, or the pets?
The dog, Julu, is a minor celebrity in his own right, and has been a fixture at Britannia for a decade. There is also a cat, not to be petted (“Only Seeing”).
I don’t know the pet situation in Kolkata, but in Mumbai, it’s not unusual for “strays” to be de facto adopted by their environs and fed and cared for by folks who live nearby — personal pets used to be few and far between, and still are.
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My dad waxed eloquent about the Iranian nougat he encountered in Tehran in the '70s, sold off handcarts like so many seasonal and market foods in India. (I think @FindingFoodFluency mentioned it in his recent Iran write-up too.)
I found nougat sold exactly the same way in Tunisia a few decades later, and brought back some for him, which was quite a blast from the past!
Britannia is one of a scant few places left that still sells some seasonal specialties from “the old country”.
Some Tunisian nougat cart pics from the internet (they looked exactly like this, just much more loaded with heaps of nougat outside the souks in Tunis and Sousse):
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I didn’t ask to inspect the kitchen. The food appeared ok and we weren’t unwell after eating it. But the whole place looked dingy and grimy. And if the dog was sitting on the ground, I probably would have been less freaked out. I don’t want anyone’s bare butt (animal or human) on a counter where food is being delivered, even if said food is bagged up. I am not the sort of person who voluntarily visits a pet-friendly restaurant or cafe. I don’t have anything against pets in yards or homes, but I really don’t want to patronise commercial dining establishments with animals on the premises.
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Thanks for pointing this out. But even for the different prep - the Brittania Bombay Duck was likely fried in oil that wasn’t hot enough. It was dripping in oil, which you can even see in my photo, as they served in on a paper towel soaked in oil. Now I know I prefer the non-Parsi (is it GSB-style) prep. In West Bengal, fish fry is generally made with boneless fillets of bhetki, not with hilsa. Don’t know about Bangladesh.
