Some dishes carry history in every bite. Kailash Parbat's chole bhature is one of them — a recipe born in post-Partition Mumbai, refined over decades, and now served unchanged at Dana Mall and Oasis Mall in Bahrain. This is its story.
Before Mumbai, before Colaba, before the famous Kailash Parbat restaurant existed, there was a small chaat stall in Karachi. Two brothers — the Mulchandani family — ran it with one belief: that pure vegetarian food, made with precision and care, could be extraordinary. The chole they cooked then was already exceptional — slow-simmered chickpeas, a masala built from whole spices toasted and ground fresh, a deep dark colour achieved not from food colouring but from the quality of the tomatoes and the patience of the cook.
Partition brought the family to Mumbai. In 1952, they opened Kailash Parbat in Colaba — a neighbourhood that was already a destination for food, but which had never tasted chole bhature quite like this. The bhature — deep-fried leavened bread, puffed to perfection — became the talk of the city. Soft inside, golden outside, made from a dough that required hours of fermentation before it was ready to fry.
Mumbai fell in love. What started as a single restaurant became an institution. By the 1980s, Kailash Parbat Colaba was a pilgrimage destination for anyone who cared about Indian vegetarian food. The chole bhature was — and remains — the reason people travel across the city to eat there.
Over 75 years, Kailash Parbat has expanded to 85 outlets across 12 countries. New markets, new kitchens, new teams. Yet the chole bhature recipe at every location is identical to what the Mulchandani brothers served in 1952. The spice ratios are documented. The cooking process is trained precisely. The chickpeas are soaked for the same duration. The bhature dough is fermented for the same number of hours.
This consistency is not accidental. It is the result of a deliberate decision made generations ago: that the recipe should never become a matter of interpretation. Every cook who joins Kailash Parbat learns to make chole bhature the way it has always been made.
When Kailash Parbat opened in Bahrain — first at Dana Mall in Sanabis, then at Oasis Mall in Juffair — the chole bhature arrived with the same recipe. Not an adaptation. Not a local version. The original. The same dark, intense, aromatic chole. The same pillowy, golden bhature. Served with sliced onion, green chilli, and a small pot of achaar, exactly as it has always been.
Bahrain's Indian community recognised it immediately. Many had eaten it in Mumbai. Some had eaten it at Kailash Parbat Colaba itself. The reaction was unanimous: it tasted exactly right.
The original 1952 Colaba recipe — now at Dana Mall and Oasis Mall, Bahrain. BD 2.100 for the classic, BD 2.500 for the KP Special platter.
View Full MenuThe chole is cooked in a deep, heavy-bottomed vessel for a minimum of three hours. The masala is built in stages — whole spices first, then ground spices, then the tomato-onion base — each stage cooked until the oil separates before the next ingredient is added. The chickpeas are added only when the masala is fully developed. The result is a chole that is thick, complex, and deeply savoury without being heavy.
The bhature dough uses a combination of maida and semolina, with curd for fermentation and a touch of baking powder for lift. It rests for several hours before service. Each bhature is rolled and fried to order — which is why there is always a short wait, and why it always arrives at the table hot and perfectly puffed.
Come hungry. Order the KP Special. Eat it the way Mumbai always has — with your hands, fast, before it cools.