Mumbai’s Irani café culture comes to Dubai with Batliwala & Co, introducing a dining tradition that traces back to Persian families who made Bombay (now Mumbai) their home, where Irani cafés evolved into iconic neighbourhood institutions.
Walk in through a recreated Bombay-style provisions store, its shelves lined with pantry jars and familiar staples you can explore, and the space features a colourful sweet shop that gives way to the main dining room before the whole thing spills out onto a terrace with an uninterrupted view of the Burj Khalifa. Vintage gramophones share corners with retro sewing machines, tiffin boxes are stacked beside framed black-and-white photographs, and old radios line the shelves. Old Indian coins are pressed into tabletops alongside pages from vintage editions of The Times of India and cinema tickets from back in the day.
Menu highlights
Arriving at the table, the first thing that catches your eye is the menu itself: a rustic clipboard of dark wood and brass clip, nodding to the humble, no-frills charm of a neighbourhood diner. The menu is a deep dive into a cuisine that doesn’t get nearly enough attention. Snacks, sharers, appetisers, mains, curries, and a dedicated bread section, all made in-house using traditional methods. The menu is expansive enough to reward repeat visits, with new dishes to discover each time.
We opened with the Parsi Cutlet: four crisp, golden chicken cutlets seasoned with warming classic spices, arriving hot and crunchy. The house mint chutney brought an extra kick of heat, while a light slaw offered a sweeter, cooling counterpoint. They were dangerously moreish; we genuinely debated ordering a second round. Following that, the Bambai Fry Naan Chap delivered a soft milk bun packed with fiery pepper mutton. Both starters were excellent.
For mains, the Britannia’s Berry Pulao was the centrepiece: a fragrant, mildly spiced rice dish available with mixed vegetables or chicken (we chose chicken), topped with jewel-like zereshk berries (dried barberries that lend a gentle tartness), toasted cashew nuts, and crispy brown onions. The trick here is to dig all the way to the bottom of the dish, where the rice and chicken have absorbed the most flavour. We paired it with a side of raita (a cool, lightly spiced yoghurt condiment) and the combination was spot on.
Alongside it, the Salli Boti earned every bit of praise it gets: tender mutton slow-cooked in a rich, sweet, spicy gravy, crowned with a generous mound of thin, crisp potato salli. We tore into garlic naan to scoop up the gravy.
Dessert was a Mango Kesar Kulfi (a dense, creamy Indian ice cream), topped with crispy sesame crackers and finely chopped pistachios. The textures played off each other brilliantly: creamy, crunchy, and nutty.
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