By Jilawatan

Although the restaurant opens at 7 pm, the staff at Koyla, Andheri, put on their starched uniforms an hour in advance and go about their daily chores. Arrangements are made to grill kebabs, which is the restaurant’s specialty. There is a general movement of pots and pans while we wait for the owners Farhan Azmi and Ayesha Takia to arrive. As soon as they do, Takia greets us with a warm smile. And Azmi—who owns the Colaba outlet of Koyla and both the branches of Café Basilico in Colaba and Bandra—makes it clear that this one’s a franchise outlet run by his family friend Hasan Gaffar and he is only a stake holder.

Nevertheless, Takia, whose Bollywood career has taken a backseat after their marriage last year, and Azmi are very particular about this outlet, which opened a week ago. And that’s precisely the reason they took as many as 10-years to open the second outlet of Koyla in the city. “Before we start an outlet, we wanted to be sure that the other person involved is on the same wavelength and respects the brand as much as we do,” says Azmi. Takia, who is accompanied by her mom, seconds the thought. “Farhan is very picky about who he wants to do business with. And he wanted the new Koyla on a terrace just like the original one.”