4 days ago
At 71, Thane Chef Turns Her Mother’s Recipes Into Santosham
Bhagyalakshmi Gohokar grew up watching food being made at her father’s restaurant.
Her mother, Parvathy, taught her careful ways to cook and wrote down family recipes.
Years later, Bhagyalakshmi began selling meals from home.
During the COVID pandemic, she cooked while her son Chittaranjan packed the orders.
They opened Santosham together in 2022.
The restaurant serves South Indian food, including dishes connected to Kerala.
Bhagyalakshmi teaches the cooks how to prepare the food the way she learned.
Santosham has opened several locations, and more are planned.
She says she wants diners to feel connected to their roots.
Bhagyalakshmi Gohokar co-founded Santosham with her son Chittaranjan in 2022, building on recipes inherited from her mother, Parvathy.
Santosham serves Tamil Iyer food shaped by Kerala traditions, including banana-leaf meals and weekend sadya feasts.
The business has expanded to several outlets in Thane, Powai and Marine Drive, with two more locations planned.
Gohokar began selling home-cooked food through a housing-complex WhatsApp group around 2014–15; during COVID, the kitchen earned at least Rs 2 lakh monthly.
She trains cooks to follow her methods, including making dosas in ghee and fermenting batter naturally without soda, colour or preservatives.
- Who
- Bhagyalakshmi Gohokar and her son Chittaranjan Gohokar, co-founders of Santosham.
- What
- A restaurant business built around Bhagyalakshmi’s family recipes and Tamil Iyer food shaped by Kerala traditions.
- Where
- Thane and Mumbai, including outlets in Thane, Powai and Marine Drive.
- When
- Santosham was founded in 2022; Bhagyalakshmi began her home-kitchen venture around 2014–15.
- Why
- Bhagyalakshmi says she wants to take people back to their roots by serving food connected to her family and cultural traditions.
Traditional methods
Conventional restaurant shortcuts
How Santosham prepares its food
Traditional methods
Bhagyalakshmi retrains cooks to follow her family’s methods, including natural batter fermentation without soda, colour or preservatives, and making dosas in ghee.
Conventional restaurant shortcuts
The article notes that the cooks she initially hired knew many dosa varieties, including cheese and schezwan; Bhagyalakshmi taught them to prepare food her way.
Key facts
- Co-founded
- Bhagyalakshmi and Chittaranjan Gohokar founded Santosham in 2022.
- Bhagyalakshmi’s age
- She is 71.
- Signature meal
- The banana-leaf meal offers 21 items with unlimited helpings for Rs 499.
- Weekend offering
- The weekend sadya includes more than 30 dishes.
- Kitchen
- Santosham has an 8,000 sq ft kitchen with an air-conditioned room for natural batter fermentation.
- Home-kitchen earnings
- During COVID, the kitchen brought in at least Rs 2 lakh a month.
- Planned locations
- An outlet in Malad and another in Thane were in the pipeline; the Thane outlet was due to open in November that year.
Quotes
Bhagyalakshmi Gohokar
Santosham co-founder and head chef
“Older customers, many from Kerala, say they haven’t eaten like this in years. One woman wept at the counter, telling her the food tastes like her late mother’s cooking.”
indianexpress.com
“My only sincere effort is to take people back to their roots. Nothing more, nothing less.”
indianexpress.com
Sources
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