Around Town: How a canteenwala at Mumbai’s Grand Central Station joined hands with Kamats to start Churchgate’s favourite thali spot

“I had failed my BSc final exam and my father said, ‘It’s alright, it is time to join the business,’” recalled Ishwar Gupta, Gopichand’s son, adding that they got the premises in January and by October, they were up and running with a 100-seater ground-floor restaurant serving thalis alongside Punjabi and South Indian fare. “Our research showed there were only two air-conditioned restaurants offering Gujarati thalis — Purohit and Thackers — so we decided to cater to the office crowd and local residents,” added the 73-year-old.

Ishwar Gupta, 73 and Aditya Gupta, 47 pose for photographs inside Samrat, a veg-only restaurant at Churchgate in Mumbai on 07 November 2025.
(Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)

‘Solid customer base’

The restaurant became an instant hit. “We have had a solid customer base since day one,” said Ishwar. “Our lunch crowd is mostly office-goers, and evenings see families dining in. Even today, about 70–75 per cent of our lunch orders are thalis, and we sell between 300–700 thalis daily.”

Laughing, he recalled, “In the early days, there were 10–15 people on the management side alone because four families were involved!” Having grown up manning the cash counter at his father’s canteen, Ishwar was always drawn to the food business. “I sold chai for 10 paise and Charminar cigarettes for 15 paise. I remember on Budget Day, when the price rose to 17 paise, people cursed us!” he chuckled.

Thali served by Samrat, a veg-only restaurant at Churchgate in Mumbai.
(Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)

Through the decades, Samrat has remained a Churchgate institution. “Barring the seven years when Metro construction dug up the road outside, we have always had a good run,” Ishwar said. “Business was down 40 per cent then, but this Diwali — our first after the Metro opened and construction barriers went off — was better than before.”

For Ishwar, consistency comes from daily presence. He continues to eat both meals at Samrat — chapatis and sabzis from the thali for lunch, and khichdi for dinner — to ensure the kitchen’s quality remains intact.

Expansion and the next generation

In 1974, the families launched Asiatic, which they later converted into a department store. By 1981, they added a 130-seater first floor at Samrat, and in 1983, they opened Status, another thali restaurant serving Punjabi and South Indian fare. “There was no credible restaurant at Nariman Point catering to the office crowd,” Ishwar said.

Through the decades, Samrat has remained a Churchgate institution — a landmark for comfort food and consistency.(Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)

When the new millennium arrived, a new generation joined in. Ishwar’s son Aditya, a hospitality graduate from Sophia Polytechnic, entered the business in 2001 and launched Relish, a multicuisine restaurant known for its sizzlers, platters, chocolate fondue, and chimichangas.

Solo run

In 2012, the Gupta family — Ishwar, Aditya, and his younger brother Anuj — decided to branch out on their own. “We started with Quattro, an Italian and Tex-Mex restaurant, in 2012, and then launched Spice Club, a modern Indian restaurant, in 2014,” said Aditya.

Today, Quattro has outlets in Churchgate, Lower Parel, Juhu, and Breach Candy, while Spice Club operates in Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Dubai. “There is a growing demand for vegetarian food, and we want to cater to it,” said Aditya, adding, “We are already in Pune and Belapur, and opening soon in Lonavala. The plan is to keep this momentum going.”

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