The crest on the coast
While continuing to run the Orchard Resort in Bordi Micky Irani has launched the Sea Creat Resort in Dahanu
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In its earlier avatar in Dahanu, in the 1990s, "the place had a relaxed Goan shack feel to it, with a tree in the center, a thatched roof, tables and benches, a swimming pool and water slides,” recalls Micky’s wife Bina. "Back then, Dahanu had lunch homes, but no family restaurants. Crazy Crab was the first ever ‘family restaurant’ here,” she maintains, explaining how Crazy Crab has come to be associated as "Micky’s Crazy Crab!” Patrons now have a choice of two dining areas — a sprawling non-AC garden restaurant (100-120 covers), and an AC restaurant that accommodates 50-70 on the first floor. Its multi-cuisine menu — Chinese, Continental, Parsi, Indian and tandoori dishes — is popular but more so is its sea food that is a sellout, especially during weekends. In addition, there is a cafeteria (80-100 covers), especially for breakfast, overlooking the swimming pool.
The Iranis are careful about who visits the restaurant and their 45 room Sea Crest Beach Resort which commenced operations two months after the relaunch of Crazy Crab. Micky specifies, "I would rather do less business” than have unruly crowds. Adds their daughter Mitchelle, "When families know that this is a nice and safe place, they encourage other families also to come here.” Besides Zoroastrians from Bombay and Navsari they also have many Gujaratis frequenting the place.
While Sea Crest is mostly patronized by families, the place can also be used for corporate meetings. Since each twin sharing room has a comfortable sofa-cum-bed even three or four persons can stay in the same room without having to sleep on a mattress. They don’t have the facility of a conference hall, but are happy to arrange a screen and organize other facilities at the AC restaurant to accommodate 50-70 persons. The Iranis would like to promote Sea Crest as an ideal venue for destination weddings too where all the arrangements can be taken care of by the Iranis, or rent out the Resort and have an outside caterer handle the food.
(Clockwise, from top l): Sea Crest cottages; swimming pool; room; security camera
To make certain days such as Valentine’s Day, Parsi New Year and Christmas special for their guests, the Iranis decorate the place and create an ambiance that complements the occasion. Mitchelle, a qualified dentist, in addition to taking care of the kitchen and preparing delectable desserts for the guests at Crazy Crab, creates theme-based desserts on these special days. Dolly, Micky’s mother, proudly compliments Mitchelle, saying, "She recently made some lovely Halloween cakes!” During cricket and other major sporting events, guests can enjoy the tournaments on big screens at the restaurant. The Resort’s New Year’s eve party, more popularly known as "Micky’s 31st Night” was another hit.
At Crazy Crab, the use of food color is a big ‘No.’ This is clearly mentioned in the menu as well. While this is a healthy practice, it does pose a slight challenge to them when the guests feel that certain dishes don’t look the way they appear at other restaurants. Mitchelle elaborates, "People want Schezwan dishes, such as crispy chicken, chicken lollypop, etc to be blood red in color. Since we don’t add food color, the color of our dishes is orange. But, so often, even without tasting the dish, guests think that it’s not spicy enough.”
Challenges and competition
Five years earlier the Iranis had started the Orchard Resort in Bordi which continues to be popular for its well equipped rooms, scenic greenery, geese, and of course, Crazy Crab.
Over the years, Micky has successfully started many other restaurants. "A restaurant business on the highway is a challenging deal, and Micky was always keen on doing something there. In 1997, we got the opportunity of running a hotel named Ashoka on the Bombay-Ahmedabad Highway (NH-8) at Charoti Naka. While the hotel was doing extremely well, after five years the owner asked us to hand over the business to him,” mentions Bina.
"We bought the land next to Ashoka and developed a new place called Atithi in just five months. It was a huge challenge. In one month we diverted all our guests from Ashoka to Atithi. However, we ran Atithi for only one year,” mentions Micky. On learning that a bridge was coming up over there, they sold it.
Micky also has a passion for buying property, developing it, and then selling it. In just 10 years his company, Atash Developers, has constructed approximately 16 buildings, offering about 250 homes for people at Masoli in Dahanu (Bina insists on calling them "homes” and not simply "flats”). He prefers constructing small, affordable homes for the middle class.
(Clockwise from top): Orchard Resort, Bordi; geese; swimming pool; room
(Clockwise, from top l): Crazy Crab kitchen, Dahanu; staff; rice dish; fish platter; Crazy Crab, Bordi
Bar of restaurant
Micky began his career by working at Churchgate Restaurant. The popular Churchgate Restaurant and Churchgate Stores were managed by his father Boman while Dolly managed Pearline Beach Resort (which they had started in 1964) and Royal in Dahanu. After Boman and Dolly closed down Pearline for a year or two and relocated to the US with their elder son Ronnie, in 1993, Micky and Bina restarted the resort and introduced a club house, swimming pool, water slides, Crazy Crab restaurant and 12 additional rooms. On Boman’s demise, the family returned to India. Today, Pearline, managed by Ronnie, is Sea Crest’s biggest competition which Bina regards as "healthy.”
Besides his mother, Micky’s sisters Nancy and Pearline have constantly supported and encouraged him through it all, appreciates the entrepreneur. Mahernosh Dubash and Durgesh Sharma, the managers of Sea Crest, have played a significant role in his establishment. The Iranis encourage the employment of Zoroastrians. A number of staff members have been with the family for several years and showed their loyalty and support even through difficult times.
Love lingers
From growing up in the same town, Dahanu, to studying in the same metro, Bombay, Bina and Micky have known each other for a long time. As Dolly aptly says, "Bina and Micky are lost without each other.” The love, respect and adulation between Bina and Micky is apparent in the way they speak about each other.
Neither of the families was against the interfaith marriage and the couple was accepted into their respective families with open arms. Bina (née Panchal) comes from a Hindu family. Dolly jokes, "As a child, Micky always confused the word champal (meaning slipper) with Panchal. Little did he know that some day he would marry a Panchal girl!”
Interestingly, from Mitchelle’s early childhood, Bina ensured that she followed the Zoroastrian religion, arranging for a teacher to come and teach her the navjote prayers. In fact, it was always instilled into the daughter that she must marry a Zoroastrian. And, Mitchelle did exactly that. The talented young lady is happily married into a Zoroastrian family and lives with her loving husband, Behram Mayar, and has an extremely supportive mother-in-law, Kashmira Irani, and sister-in-law, Fraynaz Ragaby.
The Iranis’ future plans are ambitious, but not unrealistic. They want to keep developing and adding to Orchard and Sea Crest. They don’t want to move out of this scenic coastal belt and settle in Bombay or any of the other major metros. Of course, Bina has a rather different plan — that of becoming a grandmother and taking care of her grandchild, while Mitchelle takes care of the business to ensure that the future of this family and business is in very safe hands!
Sea Crest Beach Resort, Sea Face, Dahanu Beach, Dahanu (W), Thana 401601; tel no +91 9860313383; email: seacrestbeachresort@gmail.com; website: www: seacrestbeachresort.in