Cream Centre’s iconic chole bhature
The history of Mumbai’s iconic restaurant Cream Centre is as old as the history of the country.
“My father, Ramesh Chona, came to Mumbai during the Partition. He was an ice cream man and started ice cream brands 72 years ago,” says Sanjiv Chona, the chairman of Cream Centre. “He was a foodie, so he thought let me open a north Indian restaurant. We found a place in Chowpatty. Those days the name didn’t matter much. His friends suggested that his ice cream brand name was famous enough, so why not keep the same name for the restaurant.”
Today, Sanjiv runs the company with his son Rishi Chona, who is the CEO. Cream Centre is in 30 plus locations, in cities such as Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, and now opens doors in Bengaluru.
Cream Centre in Chowpatty
Patrons of Cream Centre include names such as the Ambanis, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh, Anand Mahindra and Ravi Shashtri. The owners of the building they opened the first Cream Centre in were Jain, so they had to adopt a vegetarian menu.
Rishi says, “We are a premium multicuisine vegetarian restaurant. If someone wants Mexican, Chinese, Italian, or Indian and chaats, we have everything. We are a family dining setup, so even on our menu we wanted something for all generations. When a family comes with their grandparents, and kids, the kids have pastas and pizzas. The adults can have their chana bhatura.”
The restaurant in Mall of Asia, Bengaluru
What is so special about the chole bhature?
Speaking of chole bhature, when I told my Mumbai friends about Cream Centre, the resounding opinion was that the dish is a must try. “That is our most iconic product. It is a secret family recipe that has been passed down for three generations. We use 20 different spices to make the chana’s masala. The actual chickpeas we import from South America,” Rishi says.
Sanjiv chimes in, “Just like diamonds are one carat or two carats, we specify the size of our chickpeas to our supplier. That size is picked for us, so that each chickpea is the same size.”
A selection of dishes from the menu
The restaurant also has a special formula for the nachos cheese sauce that has been going strong for 37 years. That makes it another of their best sellers. Also on the menu are pav bhaji, wontons, tandoori dishes, sizzlers, and a whole section of chaats. Desserts include sizzling brownie, kulfi and sundaes. Old school!
The duo stresses that they are a family business and keeping it within the family, and maintaining the standards is very important to them. “We have 4,000 franchise requests. But I always wait to open a restaurant at the right place and the right time. I was waiting for Mall of Asia to get a good location,” Sanjiv says. Cream Centre will open in three or four more outlets in Bengaluru in the coming few months.
₹2,000 for two. At Mall of Asia, Sahakara Nagar. For more details, call 9867479224
Published – December 10, 2025 03:20 pm IST