Aaram may be a tiny restaurant tucked away in one corner of the Grade II heritage structure that is home to Capitol Cinema, but it can hardly be missed thanks to the ceaseless bustle of its humble patrons. “This restaurant is as pure as possible commercially, and people like that. The food is simple and very Mahrashtrian, with the taste of home food. And it’s reasonably priced too,” explains the 75-year-old Madhav Shrirang Tambe who runs the restaurant along with son Kaustubh.

The able Tambe family has given the city several other popular joints—B Tambe at Girgaum and other Tambe restaurants at Dadar, all famous for their no-frills Mahrashtrian food, scrumptious fare at reasonable rates.

The Tambes say the place used to be a bar by the same name, until the Prohibition campaign in Bombay in 1936-38 sounded its death knell. Shrirang Tambe, the current owner’s father, saw potential in the property and bought it, turning it into an eatery. To keep away regular tipplers who might mistake the place to be a bar, Aaram was rechristened Aaram Milk Bar. “On seeing the word ‘milk’ on the signboard, such people would be automatically shooed off,” laughs Madhav Tambe.

The ‘milk bar’ also sold patties, cakes and milk-shakes. “There was no tea served originally, owing to the Gandhian philosophy. We introduced it only at the behest of American visitors and those associated with the East India Company,” he adds. At six paise, the English tea tray was found to be rather expensive. Not many ordered it apart from the foreigners.

Over the years, the milk bar became just Aaram, offering what the Tambes are now famous for. One can savour traditional kande pohe, misal, sabudana wadas, batata wadas and kharwas. True to style, there’s even a thali for just Rs 32. To wash it all down, there is Piyush (sweetened lassi with saffron), kokam sarbat and masala doodh instead of soft drinks.

The Zhanzhanit Kolhapuri Misal is an in-house specialty. Citibank employee Sandeep Parab says he requires a liberal dose of the misal at least twice a week. “It is great and has the perfect mix of ingredients. I like the kharwas too,” he says. The spicy variety of misal was introduced after a relative of the Tambes visiting from Kolhapur found no the plain missal a tad unremarkable.

Best, after every meal, the manager will send the bill with, instead of the usual mouth fresheners like badi suanf or dhana dal, an aawla supari ordered especially from Karjat.

“Many politicians who visit Mantralaya, BMC or Azad Maidan take their meals here or take parcels,” says Kaustubh. He remembers a visit by Rajiv Gandhi during a rally at Azad Maidan. “The guards came and checked the kitchen and security arrangements,” he says.

While Madhav Tambe is the only living family member to have been present at the opening nearly six decades ago, the eatery is now being run on a daily basis by his youngest son. “But I still come and keep a watch for quality. And whenever I come, I do a tasting of all the items to check whether the taste is as usual,” he says.

After the Shiv Sena popularised the common man’s food, the vada-pav, Aaram also started a tiny stall dedicated to selling the humble fried potato-in-a-bun. And here is food for the skeptics’ thought: The Aaram cheese vada pav is giving burger chains a run for their money.