Weekend offer: Eat at 1953 prices

Two annas for a rice plate, three-and-a-half annas for a loaded thali, three paise for batata wadas, two paise for thali peeth and two paise for sheera — the menu has 250 Maharashtrian dishes and this weekend, they all cost next to nothing.

On Saturday, over a dozen customers visited the joint for lunch and left behind four anna and one paisa coins they’d collected, along with their best wishes. Sunday saw the felicitation of some of the restaurant’s oldest customers.

Established in 1953, Dattatray was a small lunch home catering to the middle class population of Dadar. It has grown with time, with interiors renovated and menu modified. But loyalists say the taste has not changed.

‘‘I used to have lunch here when my office was close by. After the office moved, I couldn’t visit this place very often,’’ says S.D. Gaikwad, an Excise Department official. ‘‘I’ve come here today to celebrate. It’s the best I’ve known. Nothing’s changed.’’

The clientele mostly belongs to the older age group. ‘‘The new generation does not know what eating well is all about,’’ says Ram Bedekar, an architect and die-hard Dattatray fan. The restaurant has recently introduced Udipi, Punjabi and Chinese cuisine. So, while parents tuck into alu wadi and kothimbir wadi, kids gorge on pav bhaji. Wagle sighs. ‘‘Business is getting tougher. The competition is strong,’’ he says, putting the old coins back into a plastic bag.