Papa knows best

Rajma chawal. Pics/Atul Kamble

Pancho's mascot made his debut even before the restaurant Papa Pancho da Dhaba was launched at Pali Naka. In 1992, he appeared on a tee at a Juhu boutique named Wild n Wacky, run by the eatery's founders Mamta Sekhri and her late sister Poonam Soni.

Dal makhani

"In a fun conversation with my dear friend Prahlad Kakkar, we spoke about how anywhere in the world, people greeted each other as: Oye, Pancho! It's a cuss word that is more of a friendly greeting," says Sekhri. They roped in veteran animator late Ram Mohan to create the caricature, and Kakkar wrote the copy. According to the adman it is a perfect blend of Khushwant Singh, Jiggs Kalra and himself. The tees had many avatars: Pancho on a hammock saying, ‘Egg Legg Pegg Te Pancho'. Another had Pancho in the gym with the words ‘Macho Pancho!!' "We sold them at our store and distributed them to family and friends. They were hot sellers," recalls Sekhri.

In 2000, the sisters opened a chaat café within the store, which led to the idea of starting a dhaba that served home-style Punjabi cuisine. "We got a space in Bandra, and Kakkar became our official ambassador," says Sekhri. Today, the restaurant turns 20 years, and has gone from a small neighbourhood joint to a household name. Since its inception, it has attracted Punjabis craving for home-cooked food and is known for its dal makhani, rajma chawal, baingan bharta, bhuna gosht, sarson da saag, tandoori chicken and papdi chaat.

Mamta Sekhri and Priyanka Soni

"Most of our staff has been with us since day one. Our first chef, Dilip Mandal, was a housekeeping staff at our Juhu chaat café. He still runs the team along with chef Sanjib Kar, who joined them a decade ago," informs Sekhri. In 2012, after Poonam's demise, Soni's daughter Priyanka Soni Kochhar came onboard.

Over the years, the restaurant kept the theme alive by organising Baisakhi celebrations, fairs, gol gappe and lassi drinking competitions. "From Punjabis who are missing their home food, to health-conscious gymmers looking for their tandoori protein fix, we had loyal customers who ate with us at least twice a week," says Kochhar. "We ensured our food was not heavy on cream or Mughlai-style. We rotated specials, and we followed the policy that if a dish was over, it was over; we would not rehash anything to serve it. Our thali platter, which included a wholesome serving of dal, sabzi, starters and phulkas, was a hit. We did offbeat dishes that otherwise didn't make it to restaurant menus such as stuffed karela and bhindi and pichki arbi," says Sekhri.

Kochhar recalls a couple that met at the eatery and when they decided to move abroad to marry, they requested to buy one of the kansa thali sets from the café. "We got them a set made for free as a wedding gift," says Kochhar. Another time, we served an actor who ate over 16 phulkas in our unlimited thali. "Our chef told us we possibly could not afford to serve so many and we later revised the thali to a limited version," recalls Sekhri.

The pandemic has changed their approach. With dine-ins closed, the restaurant has embraced the delivery model. "We fed migrant workers struggling to get back to their hometowns and, till date, our boys deliver meals to pockets we have identified around Bandra. When dine-in opens, we are waiting to serve customers again. Until then, we continue to cook our food with love," says Kochhar.

Bhuna Gosht

Ingredients
>>1.5 kg mutton (1 kg boneless and 500 gm mutton curry cut)
>>2 capsicums, large
>>2 tomatoes, small
>>1.5 kg onion
>>1.5 cups oil
>>1.5 tbsp garlic, crushed
>>2 tbsp garlic paste
>>3 tbsp red chilli paste
>>1.5 tbsp dhaniya powder
>>1 tbsp jeera powder
>>1 tbsp chaat masala
>>5 green chillies, chopped
>>2 tbsp butter
>>1 tbsp akha garam masala
>>2 tbsp salt

Method
Heat oil in a pan and sauté garam masala. Add onions, capsicum, mutton and all the dry masalas. Add three litres of water and boil-mix it in the cooker. Separate the mutton and the mixture. Grind the mixture to a fine paste. Add oil, ginger, garlic paste and sauté till it turns brown. Add mutton and mixture and cook for 10 minutes. Add butter. Garnish with sliced ginger and coriander before serving.

Maa ki dal is the deal breaker

When we call adman Prahlad Kakkar, he takes us on a laughter ride down memory lane. "Some local cops were alerted that the name was questionable. So, I told them it was a Mexican Punjabi restaurant. The food was inspired by a Punjabi from Mexico. We have parathas, they have tortillas. We have rajma, they have refried beans and while we have bhangra, they have nachos," he laughs, adding, "Our mascot was Sancho Páncho. Notice the accent on the Pá to give the name its ring," he informs. When they launched, they were tight on their advertising budget: "We got 300 kulhad handis and sent around 300 servings of maa ki dal around the neighbourhood with a handwritten note: A dhaba lives and dies by the cheapest and most common dish on the menu, the dal. Come visit us if you like our dal."