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CHANDRAVILLAS RESTAURANT
INRODUCTION

Chandravilas Restaurant is a traditional Gujarati food serving restaurant. Located in the old town of Ahmadabad, near Ratan Pole. Started in 1905 (more than a century old now), it is the best example to try the traditional food of Gujarat. It is most probably one of the oldest restaurants in the beautiful city of Ahmadabad. The restaurant has not changed its location from the time; it started serving the public of Ahmadabad. Chandravilas is not only known for its breakfast items such as fafda and jalebi but also largely known for its Gujarati Thali which is eaten by approximately 500 people every day. The owner of the Restaurant Chimanlal Joshi has started the thali for just re. 1. It operates for 18 hours a day.

Food

Chandravilas Restaurant is mainly known for its fafda (A fried long strip made of dough and served with slices pineapple), Jalebi (a sweet and soft fried sweet dipped) and the Gujarati Thali. The Restaurant keeps changing its menu over time depending upon the changes in season. For example-the Restaurant serves Benjan ka Bharta in winter season. The serving of the food is done in Steep plates and steel bowls. The restaurant has been successful in keeping its aim in mind of serving the traditional taste and quality which have not changed over the years. It is also one of the significant reasons for this place to express Ahmadabad’s tradition. The thali had green vegetable curries, bread like rotli, bhakri, parantha and puri, apart from potatoes, chaas etc.

It is said that this restaurant has started the tradition of eating fafda and jalebi during Dussehra as it is believe that any fast must end by eating food prepared from gram flour- Fafda and Ram Bhagavan loved a sweet called Shashkuli- Jalebi. The Gujarati thali started at the rate of Re. 1 in the beginning has now increased the price to Rs. 100 today which when seen has not increased to a very great extent as looking at the inflation rate and the value of money.

History

The restaurant was started by Mr. Chimanlal Joshi in the year of 1900 which is way before India’s Independence. It was located next to a pen shop of Mr. Zahir Maniar. This is an excellent example of Communal Peace and Unity among people belonging to different religion at that time. The restaurant had oak chairs brought from France. The restaurant is the first place in entire Gujarat to receive electricity, which has a lot in contribution for locality. According to the owners, the tubelight had increase the sales of the restaurant to a very large extent as it had attracted lot many people from different places as it was completely new for everyone in Ahmadabad. This place is also the birth place of Gujarati Thali in Ahmadabad. Mahatma Gandh, sardar Patel and Indulal Yagnik were one of the regular customer of the restaurant.

The restaurant was started as a joint family business but later it got divided. In the beginning of 1905, Mr. Chimanlal Joshi along with his brothers started the restaurant and the dining hall where they used to serve Gujarati Snacks and Thali respectively. It was a 4 storey building where around 450 workers used to work. The restaurant used to serve 75 different varieties of food items and 25 different style of tea. They also diversified their business into Guest Houses. Later due to lack of co-ordination among the family members, the different part of business got divided among the brothers where Mr. Chimanlal got the restaurant, one brother got the dining hall and the other one got 4 guest houses.

The restaurant had gone through the times of injuries during the communal riots of 2002 when the complete market was converted into ashes during the Godhra riots. The restaurant was four storeys building in the starting stages where on the ground floor, it was the kitchen and rest floors were used as restaurant. When the riot started, the four storey restaurant caught fire and all the floors along with the kitchen caught fire and turned into ashes. Fortunately, the Dargah of Saint Sakhi Satar on the ground floor of the restaurant was saved i.e. it did not get destroyed. The family attributes a lot to the Dargah for saving the ground floor of the restaurant. The riot brought entire restaurant to a stoppage.

It was disaster which the Chandravilas had a great impact on as it lost it shop along with the antique furniture which got burned. It was not easy to bring everything back as there were chances of riots happening again but due to the attachment of public to the restaurant, the owner decided to bring back the restaurant i.e. the restaurant took 10 years (2012) to start its serving of the traditional Gujarati food for the public 0f Ahmadabad. The only changes have been in the infrastructure and the chairs due to the rebirth of the restaurant. The owners did not re-construct the floors rather they just constructed the ground floor. The restaurant has not spend a huge amount of money on giving the best infrastructure rather has focused on serving the best the quality traditional food of Gujarat.

The restaurant is now controlled and managed by Mr. Maval Joshi who is the grandson of Mr. Chimanlal Joshi.

Owners of the restaurant

Mr. Chimanlal Joshi (1st owner)

Mr. Molik joshi (2nd Owner)

Mr. Malay Joshi (3rd Owner)

Mr. Malav Joshi (4th Owner- Current owner)

Mr. Palav Joshi (Son of Mr. Malav Joshi)

Achievements

Many Celebrity and legends of history have visited the restaurant. Some of the people who have there are-:


 * 1) Mahatma Gandhi
 * 2) Shri Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
 * 3) Shri Kishor Kumar
 * 4) Shri Raj Kapoor
 * 5) Mr. Amitabh Bachann (Who also said “Kya Mast Jalebi hai Chandravilas ki” which means “Chandravilas has a great Jalebi”)

Conclusion-:

In conclusion, the restaurant had been of a great significance when it comes to starting of a tradition along with the development of a nearby locality. It had started many new things such as thali and introduced first tube light. It is one of the best places for a person who wants to try the traditional food of Gujarat. There are scope of further research in finding out the current condition of the other owners who currently own the guest house and the dining hall. The condition after the riot and how the owner re-constructed the restaurant could also be find out in a detail manner.

REFRENCES


 * 1) Sonaiya, Janvi. (2017). A Living Heritage Chandravilas Restaurant: Where heritage is served hot. NP; Ahmadabad Mirror.2.
 * 2) NP. (2019). Fafda jalebi Recipe – Gujarati Snack.NP; Kothiyavunu.

3.NP. (2018). About Chandravilas. NP;ixigo