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After an extremely successful year-long stint as everyone’s go-to pop-up at events across Mumbai and eventual progression into catering, which too carved a niche for itself in no time, Hoppumm has finally brought to life a Sri Lankan food-lover’s dreams by finally opening a full-fledged restaurant. The brainchild of Sahil Wadhwa, Jai Wadhwa and Lakshit Shetty, Hoppumm opened it’s doors to Mumbai’s foodies on October 18, 2018.
Sneakily airlifted from a Wes Anderson movie set and inconspicuously placed in Mumbai’s plush neighbourhood — Pali hill — is the first thought that will cross your mind when you first lay your eyes on this quirky yet quaint eatery. The black and white checkered floor covers the entirety of the restaurant’s modest exterior before slipping under the teal doorway and continuing its way inside where the walls of the restaurant are covered with oversized banana leaves. Even though flamboyant, these individual elements seem to fit together and spark life into this cosy 15 seater set-up.
Hoppumm is one of the many restaurants that have cropped up across the city, which operate out of smaller spaces as compared to the usual Indian restaurant. “People don’t really like waiting considering it’s a small space with minimal seating, but that’s something we are trying to work around. Having said that, people have definitely become accustomed to and more receptive towards the idea of a micro-restaurant or a space that isn’t like a conventional Indian restaurant,” said Jai Wadhwa.
Wadhwa goes on to talk about how Hoppumm’s journey had a humble beginning with a small tasting hosted at his house for a group of friends with menus scribbled on sheets of paper. “I still have that sheet of paper and it’s amazing how far we’ve come and have an actual restaurant now,” he said.
Between the three founders, they have collective work experience in multiple fields — catering, hospitality, bartending, event management, and culinary arts — which is probably the reason behind the innovative and delicious dishes that feature on the menu. Prawn moilee and hopper, spinach hopper with four cheese, chilli-cheese egg hopper, vegetarian moilee for the non meat-eaters, and the chicken 65 are Wadhwa’s recommendations for all those visiting Hoppumm for the first time. The menu that features options such as neer dosa, kothu roti, and brown rice for all those who aren’t hopper or appam people, was conceptualised after the three founders went on a four-day-long trip to Sri Lanka during which all they did was “eat all day every day”.
Scribbles on a piece of paper that have transformed into bowl-shaped Sri Lankan pancakes with fillings straight out of heaven have created an astonishing amount of buzz in the city for the extremely short period of time that it has existed. “Everyday is really overwhelming. We did not expect the kind of response we’ve gotten, but it’s great. All we want to do is serve good soul food that is reasonable and take that all over,” said Wadhwa.
With dishes that don’t burn a hole in your pocket, Hoppumm is looking to open another branch in the city in the near future, and later expand to other parts of the country and eventually take this unique culinary experience overseas. But does the opening of a restaurant mean that Hoppumm will steer away from its roots and no longer be seen at festivals and events as everyone’s favourite pop-up? “We will continue doing pop-ups till the brand exists. That’s how we tested the waters initially and it is the best place to test and experiment with new recipes and concepts,” signs off Wadhwa.
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