Irani Chai and Bun Maska, Mumbai

Strong milky tea, boiled long, sweet, served in a glass or a cup with a saucer. Bun maska is a soft sweet bun split and spread thickly with white butter. Brun maska is the same with a hard-crusted roll, and is the one to dunk.

Bombay had several hundred Irani cafes in the 1950s. It has a few dozen now, most of them in the Fort and Dhobi Talao area, and they are going one at a time.

Name	Where	What it is known for
Kyani & Co.1904	Jer Mahal, Dhobi Talao	Among the oldest still trading. Bun maska, mawa cake, akuri.
Yazdani Bakery & Restaurant1953	Cawasji Patel Street, Fort	A wood-fired oven, bentwood chairs, brun maska and ginger biscuits.
B. Merwan & Co.1914	opposite Grant Road station	Mawa cakes from early morning until they run out, usually by nine.
Cafe Military1933	Ali Chambers, Medows Street, Fort	Plain, unchanged, with the rules still on the wall.
Sassanian Boulangerie1913	Dhobi Talao	Irani bakery and cafe near Metro Junction.
Cafe Universal1921	Fort, near CST	Marble tables, Continental menu, beer.
Cafe Mondegar1932	Colaba Causeway	Mario Miranda murals and a jukebox; more bar than cafe now.
Leopold Cafe1871	Colaba Causeway	The oldest of them, and now as much landmark as cafe.

Worth knowing

• Dunk the brun. That is what the hard crust is for.
• Mawa cake at B. Merwan means going before nine in the morning.
• The rules on the wall — no sitting long, no combing hair, no fighting — are real and are old.
• These are disappearing. Go now rather than next year.

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