Copper Chimney set up in 1972 in Mumbai’s elite neighbourhood Worli by J K Kapoor, a top Bollywood film distributor and food connoisseur, was an instant rage right from the beginning, especially amongst the filmi and elite crowd. The legendary Dilip Kumar who was a close friend of J K Kapoor inaugurated the first Copper Chimney way back in 1972. Today Copper Chimney has three outlets – Worli, Juhu and Malad Infinity Mall.
…We reached the Worli venue – this is the first Copper Chimney and as we enter in after being warmly welcomed by the manager, we spot a plaque which says ‘Dilip Kumar inaugurated this venue in 1972’. Cool! 50 years later, Copper Chimney is still iconic and buzzing with food lovers. The ambience is chic yet comfortable – with spaced-out elegant chairs and tables, a huge TV and an amazing show kitchen where you can spot the chef dramatically spiralling a rumali roti on his finger.
So let’s come to the food. Since we made a clean-cut demarcation – Rajeev would check out the veg segment, while I would review the non-veg one. We started out with the legendary Kadak Rumali which Copper Chimney is famous for – it is basically a whole rumali made crisp on the tawa and served as a giant rumali on the table. The veg had vast options ranging from assorted veg starters that had paneer to varied veg delicacies. Rajeev insisted they were extremely delicious. The non-veg starters platter had the iconic chelo Chicken kebab, chicken tikka to mutton tikka and they were succulent and extremely enjoyable.
The next item on the veg menu was the Maharaja Dal, assorted rotis and paneer masala which again was presented with a flourish and the taste was truly awesome. The non-veg main course included Kashmiri Chicken pulav, chicken bharta and royal chicken kofta. This too was cooked to perfection – the chicken bharta and royal chicken kofta were tender and tasty; the pulav was to die for.
Absolutely full yet satiated with some delicious food, we were coaxed to try out the desserts, and the experience just spiralled up to the zenith point. The dhoda barfi which was milk barfi garnished with saffron syrup was truly fabulous and so were the quintessential gulab jamuns. We finished it all off with the Kashmiri Sodas – truly amazing!
