Fading Into Time And Oblivion: The Culinary Journey Of Jaipur

In 1943, a few years before India got its independence, a 19-year-old young boy, Ved Prakash Pardal, a refugee from Jhelum district in the Punjab Province of Pakistan, embarked on a culinary journey to India, leaving behind a career in the Indian army.

Hailing from a family of landlords getting into the restaurant business was new to him. But his cousins, P.L. Lamba and I.K. Ghai brought him to Delhi, to help them run their newly launched Kwality restaurant on Parliament Street at Connaught Place in New Delhi. Indians seldom ate out then. The restaurant catered largely to the British and American soldiers during the Second World War (1939-45), with their barracks just a stone’s throw from the restaurant.

The regular clientele preferred continental cuisine, Indian dishes largely found mention on the menu only after the British left India post-independence in 1947.

As a manager at Kwality restaurant, with a salary of Rs 75 per month, he looked after supplies, monitored food quality and took care of the cashbook, for six years.

From being an intern to being a manager overlooking the running of the restaurant to being a restaurateur. He introduced the quintessential ‘Pindi Chana,’ from the Pakistan province, which was later brought down to Jaipur.

Jaipur's Culinary Journey

Meanwhile, winds of change were blowing post-independence and things were changing in the ‘Princely State of Rajputana.’ Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner and other Rajput states integrated to form the State of Rajasthan in 1948 and Jaipur was declared the capital in 1949.

Sensing an opportunity, Ved, who would have been 100 years old today, took a trip down to Jaipur to explore an opportunity for starting his restaurant in Jaipur.

The Mirza Ismail Road, named after then Prime Minister of Jaipur -- who is still fondly remembered as the architect of modern Jaipur -- had a row of newly constructed buildings, with hardly any takers.

While taking a stroll on the M.I. Road, he stopped under a Banyan tree, at a building, Bombay House run by two Muslim brothers, who tailored uniforms for the Jaipur State Army that catered to the royals and ‘jagirdaars’. In March 1949, the deal between the two parties was closed and the former was offered to pay a rent of Rs 200 per month. He with the help of his wife Mohini’s jewellery, took over the place, refurbished in August, with an initial investment of Rs 18,000. The Niros -- the first multi-cuisine (Indian and continental) restaurant of Jaipur -- the culinary journey of Jaipur was born. It was inaugurated by the first education minister of the newly formed state of Rajasthan, Rao Raja Hanut Singh, also a well-known polo player from Jodhpur.

The Niros, celebrating its 75th anniversary next month, has stood the test of time, over decades and with guests arriving in ‘buggies’ (chariots), some erstwhile royals strangely arriving on bicycles, some alighting from camels to now, luxury cars jostling for space in the city’s M. I. Road.

“Every morning our father used to cycle down to Niros from our first house in ‘Frontier Colony,’ at Fateh Tibba, a refugee colony for immigrants from Pakistan, near Raja Park. He would fetch supplies from the market and personally supervise every operation in the running of the restaurant, till late at night” sons Rajnish and Vinay Pardal, who now carry forward their father’s legacy told Outlook. The brother duo, now both in their mid-seventies joined their father, right after finishing their college education.

A meeting point of politicians

In Rajasthan during the 50’s, eating out was not a norm then. The restaurant was only frequented by government and military officers, ‘rajwadas’ and ‘rajgharanas’ of Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, and Bikaner whenever their families visited Jaipur.

“In the grip of a feudal mindset and caste proscriptions, women rarely ate out, in those days. Initially, families that came to dine out, enquired if there were cabins. Keeping that in mind, our father opted for a well-lit restaurant space unlike the dingy ones, a few decades back. The food was good and the ambience was bracing. Gradually the word spread and families started stepping out for food”, Pardals told Outlook.

Besides becoming one of the thought after jaunts for eating out, the restaurant became a regular place for many politicians including former chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir Farooq Abdullah and late Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who spent innumerable hours sipping unlimited tea or coffee, at just four or five annas.

“As an SMS Medical College student, my friends and I had the privilege of frequently visiting the restaurant when our hospital mess was closed, particularly on a Sunday. The food, ambience, and service of the restaurant were unmatched by anyone else at the time. Even now, when I visit Rajasthan and I am in Jaipur, I love to have a meal at Niros”, former J & K chief minister, Farooq Abdullah shares in the Niros Coffee Table book.

The 75-year-old Menu retains old dishes

Mutton at that time was available for ten annas per kilo and the restaurant served a plate of mutton cutlets for 75 paisa and Rogan Josh for 80 paisa. It was unimaginable to get Pomfret, Fried Fish, Chicken Cutlets, Roast Chicken or Chicken Stroganoff in Jaipur, Tea and coffee in a restaurant then, was an absolute luxury! But Niros had it in their menu, which they still have but with a different price list.

The menu then had 291 options that you can pick from, right from tea, coffee, soup, to Indian, Continental and Chinese and to delectable desserts. Unheard of in any hotel – forget a restaurant. The menu still retains the dishes Niros launched in 1949, besides adding new-fangled ones along the way, to cater to the younger generation.

Lal Maans the quintessential signature dish of Jaipur was a later addition along with Kung Pao Chicken in the Chinese section, besides Baby Corn Masala and Hara Bhara Kabab in the vegetarian section to name a few.

A ride on a camel & Buggy

“Dushyant Singh of Naila who used to ride his camel for a meal at Niros shares, “At that time, the automobile industry was in its inception stage and it was weird to park a camel beside the two-wheelers”.

While the Surana family of Jaipur reminisces of ridding a buggy to Niros and Arvind Singh of Mewar specially bicycled down to Jaipur from Mayo College, about 140 km, to have a meal and go back to school and late Rajmata Maharani Gayatri Devi, used to drive past the restaurant just to pick up Chicken Cutlets that still find a place on the menu.

In 70’s Padma Vibhushan Satish Gujral, Satish Gujral's mural encompassing the spirit of Rajasthan with figurines of the King and the Queen playing ‘Chaupad,’ arrests attention inside the restaurant.

Restaurateurs Vinay and Rajnish Pardal, who took the baton from their father's reminiscence, ‘Niros introduced Espresso coffee in Rajasthan in 1962. Keeping our authenticity alive, the chef with a tried and tested formula still makes fresh noodles every morning, a trend set by my grandfather”

From the grand-parents to the parents and in some cases now teenage children, generations have hand-held each other over a meal at Niros!

Indian politician and actress Bina Kak, a regular at Niros shared, “When we eat out as a family, we always end up eating at Niros. Whatever else we order -- Kidney on Toast, Pindi Chana and Chicken Tikka Masala remain constant on our ‘to eat’, wish list”.

“I have fond memories of celebrating almost every occasion at Niros. My parents and now my children too are fond of Niros hospitality. I still remember, long ago a foreigner who came visiting Jaipur told me, that she can miss visiting any of the monuments on her itinerary but will not afford to miss a meal here”, Jaipur-based writer and poet Jagdeep Singh shared with Outlook.

Niros’ popularity can be witnessed in their visitor’s book that marks the presence of the likes of M.F. Hussain, Arundhati Roy, Naomi Campbell, the English model, James Coburn, an American actor and billionaire Helmut Swarovski , politicians Rahul Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor and several Indian film stars including Sharmila Tagore, Dimple Kapadia, Bindiya Goswami Dutta, Penaz Masani, Nafisa Joseph, Om Puri besides several others.

Keeping up the legacy, Hamit Pardal, the third generation of the family into catering, with hospitality in his genes, told Outlook, “Presentation, is a symbiosis between taste and aesthetics and to keep pace with the refined aesthetics, we have to constantly entice our guests with food display and invent or discovering new dishes”.

In an age of transience, rare is a situation when the journey of a restaurant concurs with the evolution and growth of a city. Restaurants come and go, and culinary preferences change over time, making several eateries fade into time and oblivion. But Niros, braving all the odds, has remained a constant in Jaipur!

(This piece includes interviews with the Pardal family & excerpts from the Niros archives containing old menus, photographs, a visitor’s diary and an Inhouse Coffee Table book.)