Welcome to Dum Covent Garden

ACCOMPANIMENTS

BIRYANIS

DRINKS

PUDDINGS

VEGAN

FOR CHILDREN

DAIRY INTOLERANCE

GLUTEN INTOLERANCE

YOUR MAJESTY'S BANQUET

ACCOMPANIMENTS

BIRYANIS

DRINKS

PUDDINGS

VEGAN

FOR CHILDREN

DAIRY INTOLERANCE

GLUTEN INTOLERANCE

YOUR MAJESTY'S BANQUET

Bombay, 1949. A sultry June evening. Lights glow golden. I watch, entranced, as Ruby brings the last bars of her song to a wistful close. Cheers erupt from the audience. She stands at the microphone, grins bashfully. Her sari, draped and perfumed, is bottle-green and gold. The glamorous of Bombay, members of the band, old friends, wayward sailors all clap and shout their praise. She bows slightly and floats off the stage.

She glides between tables, past where I am sitting, making her way to the bar. “Come beti, sit with me,” suggests her mother, Yasmin, at the bar, drink in hand, strikingly beautiful in deep blue chiffon. Yasmin loves these evenings in her café-cum-club like nothing else. Each performance a hit, attended by all manner of Bombayites and revellers passing through this slightly wild port city. The obviously wealthy hobnob with the beautiful, the rakish and the occasional ne’er-do-wells. Jazzmen, languid on rattan chairs, unwind to swing and jazz sounds. Cine stars, at home on the page 3 society photos, chatter self-importantly about the latest talkie showing in the new cinema next door. I remember when this was just a large, sleepy Irani café owned by Yasmin’s father. I used to idle here over Bun Maska and Chai and read my newspaper while fans stirred the warm air gently.

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Reservations

Dum is mostly a walk-in café. All are welcome, any time, no reservations needed. However, if you’d like to make a reservation, we hold a handful of tables back for groups of all sizes every day until 5.45pm. After 6pm, a small number of tables are available to be reserved by parties of six or more, at specific times.

36 hours earlier.

Invitations were for eight but no one arrived before ten. There are handshakes and air kisses, musky perfume, laughing and singing, platters of delicious food. Glittering, rising film stars call each other darling and sway in silk and chiffon to the music; business barons cheerfully argue amongst themselves; local gangsters chat with tainted police detectives while socialites with butterfly eyes work the room.

The party is in full swing and in the middle of it all, is Nauzer. He can’t quite believe it. His café is the talk of the town, full of bonhomie and a dazzling mix of talent, ambition, money, beauty brought together by business deals, clean and shady. He looks around and feels content, complete, happily intoxicated on a faint but very pleasant feeling of belonging.

He spots Prashad, who raises a glass and nods to him across the room. Nauzer gives an acknowledging smile. He still feels nervous whenever their paths cross – which is more and more these days. Sometimes he wonders whether he should ever have gotten involved with someone like him… but he couldn’t ignore the potential profits. He lets the thought drift away on a coil of cigarette smoke.

Whisky and cigarettes, late evening turns to night. Glancing at his Rado, two in the morning, he decides to walk home smiling, drunk. In his heady state, the dance of streetlights makes the city seem to glitter.“Everything will be fine”.He bites down on his own lie.

The following morning, Nauzer is lying in bed feeling jaded, heavy and hazy. He rubs his face, eases out of bed, stretches and walks to the window to open the wooden slatted blinds. The room fills with light and he takes in the mess of clothes amidst the ornate cut-glass vases and beautiful rosewood furniture. Turning on his transistor radio, the All India news bulletin blares out.

Continue reading

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Reservations

Food & Drink at Dum Covent Garden

BEGIN YOUR DAY AT DUM with breakfast, which might be a Bacon Naan Roll, a Kejriwal or a Big Bombay. Then lunch lightly on Roomali Rolls and Salad Plates, or linger with a feast. Refresh your afternoon with a drop of Chai and a small plate or two. Dine early or dine late. Or just join us for a tipple – perhaps an India Gimlet, a Permit Room Old-fashioned, or our very good Dum IPA?

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Menus

Bombay breakfast, lunch, afternoon chai, dinner and late tipples.

"All talking, singing, dancing"

Early silver screen Talkies brought an intoxicating world of adventure and liberty to Bombay. Thrilling “all talking, singing, dancing” Indian-made dramas featuring bold, outspoken and feisty heroines cast a glamorous spell over picture house audiences.

Through the story, design details and artwork of ‘New’ Dum Covent Garden we pay homage to Bombay’s theatrical journey from Parsi theatre, to silent film, to the thrill and amazement of the Talkies era. Warmest appreciation to the Madan family and New Empire archives for their kind support.

PICTURED: The welcoming interiors of Dum Covent Garden

Welcome to the Permit Room

Since 1949, and to this very day Bombay has been under a state of prohibition. Set apart from a family room, there is a special place where only permit holders may consume liquor which has come to be known unofficially as a Permit Room. Our Permit Room – the bar within our Covent Garden café serves the most delicious and sincere old cocktails, recalling the days before Independence, such as Gimlets, Juleps and Sours; Fizzes and Old-Fashioneds, and a Bombay Presidency Punch.