Broadway is throbbing. It’s just 11 am and it is already hot, humid and the street is crammed. Shoppers wriggle past the long row of parked two-wheelers, trying to squeeze themselves into the sidewalks. A lot has changed on this street, where old-fashioned stores rub shoulders with swanky showrooms. Bharath Coffee House (BCH), however, has been a constant here for the last 60 years.
Kochi, Kerala, 13/02/2017. Inside view of Bharat Coffee House Broadway, Ernakulam. Photo:H.Vibhu.
Inside BCH there is a calming silence. An aroma of coffee overpowers you as waiters, clad in white, hurry in and out of the kitchen, bearing trays with thick ceramic cups of steaming coffee. The seats around the tables are almost full. The relatively plain interiors are enhanced by two sketches — of the city and BCH in times gone by. A small cash counter, and a lit-up glass almirah stacked with sweets and snacks stand on either ends of the hall whose walls bear a plaque that reads ‘Luiz Hall 1919’.
Traditional outlook
“This building originally belonged to AD Luiz. He used to stay here with his family. From what I have heard, the living quarters was on the upper storey, while the space where we now have the coffee house was used as a dance hall. It is a 1919-vintage building,” says G Muraleedharan, partner, BCH.
Kochi, Kerala, 13/02/2017. Inside view of Bharat Coffee House Broadway, Ernakulam. Photo: H. Vibhu
Founded by B Govinda Rao, BCH was formally inaugurated on January 26, 1956, by noted actress Kamini Kaushal. Gopalakrishna Rao, who worked for the Coconut Development Board, resigned from the job and joined as partner. “The hall was rented from AD Luiz. Down the years, the building changed hands, till it was finally bought by my father, Gopalakrishna Rao, who had by then begun managing the place on his own,” says Muraleedharan.
Coffee and conversations
Very soon, BCH became the favourite haunt of youngsters, businessmen and musicians. It turned into a locus for coffee and conversation. And many of those ‘regulars’ still come here every day. “All of us were in different colleges in the city when we first came to BCH. Very soon, this became our haunt. We would come here around 11 am, order cups of coffee, and talk about everything under the sun. This happens even today 50 years later, if we are in the city,” says Tony Daniel, a retired professor of St Xavier’s College, Aluva.
Kochi, Kerala, 13/02/2017. Inside view of Bharat Coffee House Broadway, Ernakulam. Photo:H.Vibhu.
The food is unpretentious and delicious. In fact, the menu hasn’t been drastically altered all these years. “We have stuck to the original menu as far as possible. The focus is on traditional food. The regular vegetarian lunch was started around 30 years back. But our USP is snacks such as bonda , sugiyan , pazhampori and, of course, the most ordered items are our masala dosa and cutlet. The coffee is from freshly ground beans, and is customised to give it aroma and taste,” explains Muraleedharan.
Narayana Rao worked as a waiter here for 30 years. For him, those were ‘happy’ days. “Most of us used to stay in the rooms upstairs. Sunday used to be a holiday and we would watch films. Govinda Rao was a stickler for quality, and so the cooks were on their toes always. Masala dosa , vegetable cutlet and lime juice were our specialities. The hotel still maintains the standard that was set by the expert cooks back then.”
Group therapy
Two of the city’s iconic music bands — Elite Aces and 13AD — used to meet up at BCH almost every day. “They would occupy one of the bigger tables, chat over coffee and snacks before heading out to play at one of the hotels,” remembers Muraleedharan.
Kochi, Kerala, 13/02/2017. Inside view of Bharat Coffee House Broadway, Ernakulam. Photo: H. Vibhu
Of late, BCH has seen a few changes. Some of the wide, recliner-kind of chairs that used to be placed in the corners of the hall have been replaced. They have given way to regular straight-backed ones placed around tables. “We can now seat 65 people in the hall, 20 in the family rooms and 25 in the new air-conditioned space. The antique dome fans have been replaced, we have a marble floor now instead of the cemented one, and we have also opened an ice-cream parlour,” says Muraleedharan.
For PK Mathew, being at BCH every morning with his friends is ‘group therapy’. A mechanical engineer, Mathew served in Kuwait for many years.
Kochi, Kerala, 13/02/2017. Masala Dosa and Coffee at Bharat Coffee House Broadway, Ernakulam. Photo: H. Vibhu
Even during those days, he used to call up his friends unfailingly every morning at around 11 am. “You cannot find another place where you can sit and chat for so long. We are sort of accepted by everyone there. There’s nothing better than being with friends and gossiping over cups of coffee. Some of the items on the menu, like the dosa s, are the best you can find in the city. The filter coffee is still great, but I’m not sure of the new additions, like the samosas . I have been here since the 1960s. The numbers in our group have dwindled over the years. We hope the next generation of retired friends would take our place here. There’s no better place than BCH to meet, chat and bond over a cup of good filter coffee.”
In this weekly column, we peep into the histories of iconic restaurants
Published - May 04, 2017 04:38 pm IST
