Friends eat Maharashtrian brunch at Puranpoli / ImageCredits: Ritu Marwah

Roshan and Sheetal Shivalkar, a brother and sister duo, have opened two restaurants in the Bay Area serving authentic Maharashtrian cuisine. They both achieved immediate success.

Puranpoli is a vegetarian restaurant, while Surmai is a fish-focused coastal cuisine restaurant. The vegetarian restaurant is tucked away amongst office buildings on Scott Blvd in Santa Clara California while the second restaurant is located in Sunnyvale. 

The duo has revealed that their family does all the cooking.“ Me, my mom, and my sister do the cooking. We don’t have chefs,” said Shivalkar. 

The food at Surmai features coconut and rice, staple crops of Ratnagiri, where the family is from. King mackerel (surmai) and pomfret (paplet) fishes are imported. “Getting the license to import the fish was a very big problem for us. Then, on the same day that Ram Mandir opened in India actually, we got a call that our license to import the fish had been approved. God has been kind to us," said Shivalkar.

Kolambi fry (rava-fried tiger prawns cooked with Malvani spices), surmai rava fish fry (rava-fried king mackerel), and pomfret take some diners back to their mother's kitchen in India and other it is a novel experience. 

“About thirty to thirty-five percent of my clientele is non-Maharashtrian. And that is huge,” said Shivalkar. 

A new taste of India is introduced to the diners who are used to naan and butter chicken. Maharashtrian cuisine is still something that is considered a blip in the radar on the world map.

“We remember the only non-Punjabi food we ate growing up in North India was the South Indian dosa and idli. We didn’t know the smorgasbord of cuisines that India has,” said Anil Gera, a diner at Puranpoli.

“The clients know karahi paneer and samosas only and then Puranpoli introduced them to bharali vanghi and misal,” said Shivalkar with a smile. “ At Surmai most order the thali to get an authentic tasting experience. They love what they call ‘mootan curry’ aka mutton. They are huge fans of it,” said Shivalkar.

“At Surmai we serve tawa salmon and mango lassi on the menu for people unfamiliar with Maharashtrian fare. The solkadhi drink (a popular drink in coastal Maharashtra made from coconut milk and kokam) is very different, “said Shivalkar.

“The mango lassi is actually liquid shrikhand, the cardamom-flavored mango dessert, and not the fare served in Punjabi restaurants,” said Swati Advani, an erstwhile resident of Mumbai. She was happy with this new flavor of mango lassi while her Punjabi friend wrinkled her nose at the tanginess of the drink.

 

Punjabi cuisine has been Indian cuisine to most diners outside of India. In 1947, the Punjabi left his homeland when it became part of the newly minted Pakistan and carried his tastes to his new home in independent India’s capital city, Delhi, and in many cases into the world. The cuisine of the migrating Punjabi aka butter chicken, saag paneer, samosa and daal makhani laced with kasuri methi has defined what is considered Indian food. 

As a large number of Indians migrate abroad, regional cuisines such as Puranpoli and Surmai are gaining popularity.

Roshan and Sheetal Shivalkar grew up in Ratnagiri and Mumbai. They are among the over 10,000 Marathi families who live in the Bay Area.  “Eighty percent of the families are from the western belt of Maharashtra state: Mumbai, Kolhapur, Pune, and so on,” said Prakash Bhalerao, convener of the Maharashtra Mandal Bay Area (MMBA) conference. 

The menu of sabudtdana kichdi sabudtdana vada, bharli vanghi, and misal has never been tasted by diners like Anil and Anita Gera before. “It’s actually quite nice," said Anita Gera, tasting misal pau for the first time. She is used to tasting food around the world as she travels. 

“The food here is comforting. It is well-spiced but not so overpowering that you can’t taste the food. I’m an Indian food novice. I can’t tell you what I ate. All I can tell you is it was well done for my tastes,” said Sonja Jeter. 

“The pav bhaji, vada pav, sabudana vada, and kothambir vadi were particular standouts,” said Durgesh, another diner at Puranpoli.  “I love the modak," said Sulu Karnik. “I have not tasted better modak. Not that crazy about their Aam ras. “

The hospitality of Surmai has been enjoyed by many famous Indians, including Raj Thackeray, Sunil Gavaskar, and Mahesh Manjrekar. “Sunil Gavaskar Sahib came at 10.30 pm. We had to rustle up crabs as we were sold out of them,” reminisced Shivalkar. “We woke up people, got crabs, and cooked them that night!!”