South Indian Fare in Mulund

Location : Shree Ganesh Snacks
Getting there: Outside Mulund Station (W), next to Citibank ATM

Visited this small eatery near Mulund Station on the recommendation of a south Indian coffee trader, in the hope of getting good filter coffee and authentic Tamil / Malu goodies.

This is a really small place, more like a dhaba. The genre of people around varies from workers to middle class Gujjus who love their idli and sambar. Hygiene and professionalism are really not high on their list (Who in India has it on their list? you may ask). So if you are from the picky ones, do not venture here. But here's my take on the food. The idli's were ok, not really the perfect round idli's which if done well can be visually appealling dish too. The coconut chutney was watery. The winners however were the wada's and sambar. They were easily among the top stuff i have had in south indian fare. For all you can say, the stuff was really tops. The wadas were perfectly fried, crunchy on the outside and soft inside, salt and all being just right. The sambar was also almost there. I think the spice was a bit compromised, otherwise it had all the ingredients in right proportion with the texture and taste being right. The odd bit was that they had added some jeera to the sambar, which is uncommon. The sad part was that they do not serve filter coffee and i had to make do with bru. The place is light on your pocket and you can snacks in about 20 to 30 bucks. It cost us 40 bucks for a plate of dosa, idli, wada and a glass of coffee

A visit to Dhobi Talao - Kyani's Bakery

Date: November 1, 2007
Place: Kyani's Bakery
Cuisine : Parsi Food (Starters/ Side Dishes), Sandwiches, Burgers, Biscuits, Rolls etc
Getting There: Opp Metro Adlabs

As usual deciding the location was a crazy task and we were a divided house. We finally agreed on Kyani's. Somehow i have just not been able to get the team to go to Olympia. On arrival at Kyani's the distinguishing fact about the entrance is the long rope that is hanging at the entrance. The kid in you may just encourage you to swing to and fro by clinging to it. We realised on being seated that they may not be having a 'propah' lunch. The ambience is pretty much old world, the way i like it. Some of the posters around maybe 30 to 40 years old. We walked around checking the bakery counter and saw an interesting range of biscuits, scones and rolls on display. The place has 2 levels, with the upper level being for women, children aka family seating.

Coming back to food, the realisation that we would have to experiment with sandwiches was just sinking in and the old waiter was definitely not in the mood to entertain any young 'uns like us. The menu was primarily sandwiches, burgers, omletes, burjees etc... We started off with mutton cutlets and keema pao. The cutlets had too much potato in them. In fact i was to have a kheema omlete, but was later informed that these would be served separately and were not a single dish ( I doubt it !). The kheema omlete was nice, not too spicy ! just nice. Sreekanth had ordered a chicken burjee and chicken burger , both of which took ages to come and apna Kaivaan baba as usual had Cheese Omlete , With Extra Cheese !! By this time Mallika had again ordered cutlets ,which were being ticked in with pao. The agonising wait for Sree's chicken burji turned out to be worth it. The dish was tantalisingly spicy ( haldi being a tad excess) and was well peppered with shredded chicken. The Chicken Burger finally arrived. Let me tell you this has been one of the finest burgers i have had, it had 2 layers of piping hot chicken cutlets placed between the buns and they were just divine ! Simplyyyyyy Divine. We had chided Sree on not experimenting, only to find out that he had made the discovery of the day with both the dishes he ordered. Dessert was Lagan nu custard, caramel pudding, followed by Irani Chai. All of these were average. Sree complained that they had not boiled the milk. But i found it ok.

Kaivoo tried to speak to the Irani/ Parsi gentleman behind the counter, only to get the cold shoulder.

The place is also good on the wallet, cos the bill for 4 people and about 10 dishes (incl coke etc) was about @INR 300. My rating - 4 out of 5, simply for the old world no nonsense ambience and the interesting food, which was of good quality. Interesting how a bakery could have such cool menu.

Backdrop:

Our office location is shifting from South Mumbai, Express Towers to Lower Parel (Upper Worli - as some tight assed people now call it !). As the days to shift draw to a close, some of us like minded food lovers from office have decided to pay obeisance to the fine places to eat, which have been around and hopefully will continue their service to humanity (esp. foodies like us).

Date: October 30, 2007

Location 1: Apoorva

Cuisine: Coastal, Seafood, Malvani

Getting there: Vasta House (Noble Chambers), SA Brelvi Marg, Near Horniman Circle, Fort Mumbai- 1.

After much dilly-dallying, Kaivaan, Sreekanth, Rajeev, Mallika and myself agreed on Apoorva. In fact it was Kaivaan who kind of had pretty much made up his mind. I have been wanting to go to Olympia but somehow his superstitions come in the way. Sree and myself set out in a separate cab and as usual were walking around searching for the place while Kaivoo and the gang had already made it there. Apparently they had a foodie friend in the cabbie too, who wanted them to see other places on his list.

We were up on the 1 st level, which is air-conditioned. Decision making was driven by Kaivaan once again and we ended up ordering:

Prawns Koliwada, Chicken Lajawab, Chicken Biriyani, Surmai / King fish Fish Fry with curry rice (my choice), Pomfret fry, Neer Dosas

I was very keen on trying the squid fry or shellfish sukka, but somehow did not go ahead with it.

Prawns Koliwada: These were done well and for one, the quantity was much more than expectation.

Chicken Lajawab: I kind of liked this dish, although i had my apprehensions for dishes with names like Lajawab. This sounds weird but the chicken kind of reminded me of some of the stuff i had eaten around eat europe, the masala notwithstanding. Kaivaan felt the taste was more closer to butter chicken.

Chicken Biriyani : This was yummy and Sree in all his equanimity did a good job of putting it all away.

Surmai / KingFish fry: The size of the slice was awesome. I have not seen something so large being served as a slice of fish fry in a long time. The fish also was fresh, however there was something missing in the preparation and it did not give me the aha feeling!

Ranjan and Mallika tucked into the neer dosas quickly and had another go at it.

The most interesting part was the dessert, where we opted for a chocolate mousse (1 piece only). It was served in their small brass vati, in which they serve accessories.

All in all my rating would be 3 out of 5. Go here if you want to eat seafood, malvani cuisine. They also serve drinks. Quantities will not disappoint vis-a vis the prices which can be between @Rs.200 to Rs. 300 per person for a meal.