Jan 03, 2010 03:23 AM
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You know a restaurant is successful when it is used as a landmark by anyone and everyone throughout the city. Good Luck chowk on F.C.Road is just that. A prime busy crossing deriving it's name from the Irani establishment that lords over the corner.
Since 1935 is what their hoarding proudly proclaims and 75 years in the business is no mean feat. Even donkeys years feels short of an adjective to describe the legacy of this place. From octogenarians to the now college going crowd, everyone fondly remembers at some time having had a cup of Irani tea with brun maska in it's hallowed confines.
Cafe Good Luck is primarily a non vegetarian place with the mutton biryani, mutton cutlet curry and mutton kheema being the mainstays of its eclectic menu. However, many a vegetarians are found enjoying the thali during lunch hour and breakfast time is when I believe the place truly offers a unique experience with the most varied egg options. From omelette's, fried eggs to the most soft and fluffy scrambled eggs on toast, you'll get them here. French toast is served either sweet, salty or both to your taste while the baked beans allow the most fitting accompaniment to the spread. Keep an eye out for that waiter though, he's not going to make way to your table in a hurry nor he is going to greet you with a 32 teeth smile unless you are a regular and are known to tip generously.
Nostalgia pervades the surrounding with glass mirrors decorating the main hall. Antique decoration adds the quintessential touch. For that Good Luck has retained it's original character. It still is at face value a true blue irani joint. Cheap food with no frills service.
Food pilgrimage if there is such a thing ends with the shrine of it's premises where to find a solitary gentleman reading his morning paper with the customary cup of tea gives you a deep sense of satisfaction. At that moment you know, that every thing is alright with the world and there's nothing that a lazy hour spent in the gastronomic temple cannot fix.
There comes a time when you don't just visit a restaurant for the food it offers but as part of a ritual. An arcane rite of passage that isn't complete till you confess to having succumbed to it's marble top charms. For you haven't really experienced the culture and the soul of the city if you haven't tried to absorb it looking out of the window, seated on its chairs wondering about the person who might have sat on the same seat as yours 50 years ago staring out of the same window as the world nonchalantly went by.
So if you are in Pune with a little time to spare, visit this place and you'll find one piece of the puzzle that makes the city complete.
Food - 4/5
Value For Money - 4/5
Ambiance - 3.5/5
Service - 2.5/5
Hygiene - 2/5
Overall - 3.2+ 1 for old times sake= 4.2/5
