All grown up

For Kala Ramanathan,a professional in the creative industries,Busaba in Colaba was where broke college students went to party on Friday night. “We used to get these free passes to Busaba during college festivals,which were a big deal because we were so broke back then,” she says. Ramanathan recalls the place’s tunnel-like entrance,blue lighting and house music,that was quite progressive at a time when Bollywood music was a club staple in Mumbai.

However,all this underwent a makeover in 2007,when its owner and chef Nikhil Chib returned from Paris with a degree in the culinary arts from the Ecole Superieure de Cuisine Française,and the experience of working with some renowned Michelin star chefs. After his two-year Paris sojourn,he decided it was time to give brand Busaba a fresh touch.

Thus,the once “shady” back entrance was done away with,and the dedicated reception area,stylised purple walls and dark wood furniture were introduced. “We were trying out a lot of different things at the time,” recalls Chib,who temporary flirted with the prospect of switching to French cuisine. “But we got too many calls from regular customers who said that they didn’t want us to change the food at all. So we decided to keep the same dishes and just change everything else.”

The restaurant’s 10th anniversary was celebrated on Thursday night at the Colaba outlet. The crowd saw the likes of designer Narendra Kumar,Arjun Khanna,model-turned-photographer Sheetal Mallar and former CEO of Lakme Lever,Anil Chopra,in attendance in addition to friends,family and patrons. The Kowsuey — the Burmese dish comprising fresh herbs with noodles and soup,which was made popular by this place a decade ago — was the most preferred item on the buffet.

It’s tough to imagine after all this that Chib,who has a degree in economics and finance from Rochester,New York,had no inkling of how to run a restaurant in his initial years. “I had no prior knowledge of the restaurant business before I opened Busabong in Goa with Thai food,” he says,going back to a time when he had to manage everything at the front house as well as kitchen. “When we opened here in Colaba,people said we were making a mistake,that we wouldn’t last because of Indigo being right next door. But I knew our product was very different.” With a strong focus on Southeast Asian food from places like Vietnam,Burma and Thailand,Busaba was quick to set itself apart from Mumbai restaurants. That’s the reason its second outlet in Lower Parel that opened earlier this year too,has become a crowd-puller,though it’s yet to match the popularity of the Colaba branch.

Chib hasn’t expanded beyond the two establishments he has in Mumbai. “I haven’t done it yet because I’ve been a bit lazy,” he laughs. “We’re planning an outlet in Bandra in the next nine months and Andheri soon after. I’m also looking at Chennai as a potential city to expand.”