For Shiv Sagar, Authenticity Means More Than Just Recipes

Some restaurants become part of a city’s food culture. Others become part of people’s personal histories.

For generations of Mumbaikars, Shiv Sagar belonged to the latter. It was where families stopped after long evenings out, where friends shared tawa pulao and pav bhaji at crowded tables, where faloodas arrived towering above conversation, and where comfort food tasted exactly the same year after year.

Now, that familiarity has arrived in Hyderabad.

When Shridhar S. Poojary first started visiting the city nearly a year and a half ago, he realised the connection already existed. “We got a lot of clients coming to Bombay asking us to open here,” he says. “People who had eaten with us since childhood wanted the same taste here.”

Recreating that taste outside Mumbai, however, has involved far more than simply opening another restaurant.

“The Bombay pav is totally different,” he says. “You cannot match it easily anywhere in India.”

Even before the restaurant opened, the team spent months trying to recreate the details that regular customers would instantly recognise. Local vendors were trained to make the kind of pav the kitchen required. The chefs were brought in from Mumbai. “Otherwise, you won’t get this taste,” he says.

Many of the staff members working with the family have remained for decades. “Some of our staff are working for over 30 now,” he says. “Under them, we train the newer people.”

The effort extends to ingredients too. The restaurant continues to use the same groundnut oil brand it has relied on for years in Mumbai. Finding it in Hyderabad was difficult enough that Poojary eventually reached out to his long-time Mumbai supplier, who connected him to the right vendor here. Alphonso mangoes are sourced from Bombay through vendors the family has known for decades. The falooda syrups, pav bhaji masalas are still made in-house rather than purchased ready-made.

Even the distinctly Bombay-style pizzas remain untouched by trends. Layered with two types of cheese instead of mozzarella-heavy toppings, they often surprise younger diners. “People compare it to the global brands,” he laughs. “But this is desi Bombay-style pizza.”

For Poojary, preserving authenticity has also meant resisting the franchise model many restaurant brands eventually adopt. “We don’t give franchises,” he says. “It’s all company-owned and family-run.”

That decision, he believes, allows the family to retain control over the one thing customers continue returning for: familiarity.

Listening to him speak about Shiv Sagar often feels less like hearing a businessman and more like hearing somebody talk about preserving memory through food. He recalls his father arriving in Bombay from Mangalore at the age of nine, learning the trade slowly, beginning with juices and idlis before pav bhaji became the game changer.

“Then there was no looking back,” he says.

In Hyderabad, Shiv Sagar may be new. But for many people walking in through its doors, the flavours already feel like something they have known for years.