Khyber, Kala Ghoda

Sometimes its just pre ordained. It is only when the subject of pre-ordination (if such a word exists) is a restaurant that does not need to advertise, even through a decently visible frontage that it is located there, do you know that you are going in for something really special. Dinner on the night of my 4th anniversary was just that - a very very special dinner for two at Khyber, Kala Ghoda.

We left home on the 18th with our minds divided between Cellini at Grand Hyatt Kalina, and Urban Tadka at R City Mall. Unable to choose between the two we just decided to drop both and go for a drive and hit the eastern express highway towards town. After dilly dallying options at Colaba driven more by the thought of dessert at Theobroma, finding out that the revolving restarant at The Ambassador was still under renovation, we finally settled for Khyber (highly recommended by the Mumbai Times Guide) and we drove towards Kala Ghoda. Khyber is actually so non conspicuous that we actually asked the cabs parked right outside the restaurant where it was located - little did we understand then that the quality of food made it a landmark in itself.

Khyber has the complete feel of a swanky South Mumbai restaurant, marble flooring, wooden panels, wall paintings depicting North West frontier scenes. The restaurant has multiple sections and we were given a table for two on the first floor which had a whole host of Anjolie Ela Menon wall frescoes which gave a nice "cave"y ambiance. We went through the menu, and took the waiters advice to we ordered the chicken and lamb kebab platter, a plate of kali daal and roomali rotis.

The kebab platter contained Tangdi Kebab, Chicken Reshmi Kebab, Mutton Sheekh Kebab, Chicken Lasooni Kebab and Mutton Chops. The four kebabs were indeed very good but you get a similar quality at Peshawari and a few other places. What blew me out of my mind were the mutton chops which are marinated overnight and are cooked in a red onion gravy. The gravy is out of this world and is not in the least bit hot. The Khyber mutton chops rate right up there with the best mutton preparations i have ever had in the same league as Boti Kebabs at Kareems, Delhi and Gilawati at Tundays, Lucknow.

We had our fill and barely managed to finish the platter aided definitely by the wondrous taste. We were so full that we gave up any thoughts of dessert and returned with a very satisfying and very tasty anniversary dinner.

How to get there: Khyber is bang on Kala Ghoda. Be prepared to ask a taxi driver where it is and be embarrassed when he points at the door in front of you.

A dinner for 2 at Khyber without drinks will cost you approximately Rs 1500/-