Malaka Spice, Koregaon Park, Pune

Malaka Spice prides itself on being not only one of the finest restaurants in Pune, but also across the country. With my limited food experience, I tend to whole heartedly agree. For the sheer quality, and variety on offer Malaka Spice is most definitely one of the finest restaurants in India at least when it comes to question of fine dining options in South East Asian cuisine. The most striking aspect of the restaurant apart from the absolutely brilliant food and great décor is the Menu Card. Tastefully designed, the menu card has small stories about the restaurant and tales about the lands from which they have put together their astonishing selection. They have over 250 choices not including drinks, to give you a most delightful choice of excellent mouth watering and mostly spicy dishes.

Malaka Spice has the décor of a high class fine dining restaurant. Situated in a swanky neighborhood, the restaurant takes up a pretty large area, there are indoor and outdoor sections, both of which are pretty spacious and very comfortable. The light in the evenings is stylishly dim, yet adequate, adding to the overall fine dining experience. The staff is bright, attentive and dressed in bright beach t shirts and dark trousers. They go out of the way to make you feel at home. The restaurant also has a staff card at the table introducing your attendant to you along with something about the person. Very cool and adds to the classy, yet casual feel at the restaurant.

The food? Well South East Asian is my favorite cuisine and Malaka Spice does a fabulous job of creating on spicy delight after another from the region. The last time I was there I had the prawn tom yum soup, burnt garlic and shrimp rice and chicken Penang curry. All three dishes were good in their own way, but the highlight was the tom yum, I cannot take too much spice but love the zing I get when sampling something that borders on the brilliantly tasty, which is just under the bearable spice level and the tom yum soup hit the sweet spot. Lots of ginger, lemon grass and chilli and the prawn stock created a broth for the heavens which served as the benchmark for the rest of the evening which could not be surpassed.

The main course was very good as well, the burnt garlic and shrimp rice imparted the essential garlic flavor but still left enough room for the side dish to make its mark. The Penang curry was on the sweet side and was a yellowish curry of chicken, carrots in a cinnamon and cream base. Very tasty and quite soothing after the tom yum soup, also it went excellently with the burnt garlic and shrimp rice. A fantastic meal and worthy of the restaurant. The only issue I have with Malaka spice is that they don’t seem to have a dish anymore that I used to love – the Garlicky prawns. The same is also the case in Lemon Grass as well who have done away with their Chicken in Indonesian Yellow Curry – I guess that’s the price you pay for innovation and trying to do justice to the gastronomical paradise that is South East Asia!

A meal for two at Malaka Spice without drinks will cost you approximately Rs 1200/-.

How to get there: Malaka Spice is on Lane 5 in Koregaon Park in Pune. Once you reach Koregaon Park you should be easily able to locate it with a bit of help.

Casa Toscana, Chowringhee, Kolkata

Casa Toscana is a relatively recent addition to Kolkata's food supermarket and in a relatively short period of time has been able to create its niche in the fine dining options the city offers. The same is with good reason and not by accident.
Casa Toscana, has two seating areas, one outdoor and the other indoors. The seating is comfortable, yet exuding a casual homely ambiance allowing one to settle down and enjoy decently authentic Italian cuisine. The place is obviously run professionally and the service is prompt and polite. The waiters are well dressed, smart and try to go the extra way to help the customers.
The food that we sampled was good without being spectacular. The standard Olive Oil and Vinegar combination is there on each table, however they serve complimentary bread sticks instead of bread at the table. The bread sticks although individually tasty do not go well with the Olive Oil and Vinegar and I really think bread would work better. After a round of prawn and chicken starters which were all very tasty, we went on to the main course. Being a large group we had ordered quite a spread and we sampled The Mushroom Risotto, Spaghetti Bolgnese, Meat Lasagna and a Pepperoni Pizza. If I had to pick one dish out of the lot as the best it would have to be the Pepperoni Pizza - outstanding and ranking amongst the best Pizzas I have ever tasted.
However, that does not say much for the remaining dishes which were decent, (especially the Spaghetti Bolognese), but lacked that extra something. I am sorry to say this but Mumbai has far better Italian fare. The desserts were however better and they served a very good tiramisu and shortcake.
Overall, Casa Toscana serves as a good option if you fancy some Italian food in Kolkata. Great variety for Kolkatans I guess, but do not waste a meal if you are visiting the city for a short period. There are a lot better culinary options in the City of Joy.
A meal for two at Casa Toscana without drinks will cost you approximately Rs 1400/-
How to get there: Casa Toscana is at Chowringhee Square in Kolkata, just opposite the Nehru childrens museum.

Haryana Sweets, Kankurgachi, Kolkata

Kolkata is a Bengali city. Without doubt. But the Bengaliness of Kolkata does not mean in any way that the city does not welcome people from all across the country. The city welcomes hordes of people all over the country with arms wide open and imparts in all its residents certain values and characteristics which make them and the city inextricable Bengali in nature, and also largely in language spoken. There is no MNS equivalent enforcing the diktat in Kolkata but the people from the other states inevitably learn and start conversing in the language of the state. Kolkata belongs as much to the Marwaris, Biharis and Tamilians as it does to the Bengali, and the cosmopolitan nature is seen not only in the constitution of the population but also in the food habits of the residents.
If the roll and the 'phuchka' are Kolkata's most popular snack through the day, the morning belongs to the Kachori and the Aloo Subzi. Aloo Subzi called Aloo Tarkari, and the Kachori, pronounced Kach'oo'ri is easily the most popular breakfast in the city of Kolkata. The food is available at most street corners in Kolkata. The menu : Hot Kachoris, Aloo Subzi, some Samosas rounded off by Jalebi and a cup of tea. Positively brilliant and a great way to start the day.
Haryana Sweets in Kankurgachi is one of the more famous shops serving the Kachori - Aloo breakfast in North Kolkata. The claim to fame, the obvious quality and the effort to create the smallest Kachoris you will ever see, yet each piece cooked with better care and precision than the larger variety at most street corners. Haryana Sweets is a treat for the regular Kolkatan for the smaller variety of Kachori and to the visitor to begin the Kolkata day in trademark fashion. A great breakfast, if slightly unhealthy, but what the hell, when in Kolkata, you just cannot worry about health when it comes to food. Also, do please remember to have a Jalebi to end the meal. Food in Kolkata is never complete without a sweet to round of the meal. It is part of being Bengali!
A meal for two at Haryana sweets will cost you approximately Rs 40/-. The Kachoris come for Rs 2/- each
How to get there: Haryana Sweets is on the main road from Kankurgachi Mod towards Phul Bagan, it is a 50 m walk from the cross road. It will fall to your left.

Flurys, Park Street, Kolkata

Kolkata was a city founded by an Englishman and served at the capital of British India for a significant period of time and it is only apt therefore that one of the finest English Coffee houses outside of the British Isles be based there. If the Cricket fields of India served to be "a corner of a foreign field that would be forever England", then it is not reasonably daft to suppose that Flurys, founded by Mr and Mrs J. Flurys in 1928 was envisaged to be "a cafe in a foreign city that would be forever England".
Flurys in the middle of Kolkata's business district is easily one of the most popular all day cafes and break fast joints in Kolkata. In my childhood days, the get up, and the service was very grand and
fashionable slow. The prevailing colour was white and the waiters well decked up in bleached white clothes and head gear. The highlight used to be the trolley full of pastries they used to take from table to table asking guests to choose very similar to crabs and lobsters are paraded in todays sea food restaurants.
Flurys a few years ago has decided to go Pink. Fortunately however the quality of the food remains impeccably brilliant. The service has become more modern, the service levels are better although the bleached white has been replaced with contemporary black. The one miss is that the trolley laden with pastries has been replaced by a bar where one can go and choose, but if the owners are reading this, do please revert to the trolley. It was a one of a kind experience and you will definitely sell more of those beautiful pastries.
The last time I was at Flurys, I ordered the Chicken Mustard Sandwiches and Beans on Toast, both are truly must haves. The Beans on Toast is a Flurys speciality and is served with finely chopped onions and chilli. One has to sprinkle the onion and chilli on the serving of beans on toast as per ones taste, and eat away to glory. I particularly love the Chicken Mustard Sandwich and would recommend you order the Non Grilled version. The diced chicken, mustard and soft white bread are an unbeatable combination. Of course the meal was washed down with a glass of cold coffee. Other delights of Flurys are the Club Sandwich and Mushroom, the Chicken Ommelette and Chicken on Toast, all three are highly recommended from past experiences. Alas one is limited in appetite and cannot keep on eating. Sigh!
A meal for two at Flurys without drinks, will cost you approximately Rs 400/-
How to get there: Flurys is on Park Street right next to the Music World.

The Dhaba, Baghajatin, Kolkata

In 1984, when the first pogrom ensued in the history of independent India and Sikhs were mercilessly slaughtered all through the country, Kolkata was spared. The communist Government in one of its few moments of glory ensure that not a single Sikh was hurt. Kolkata became one of the favourite cities of the Khalsa outside of the land of five rivers and the culinary scape of the Kolkata was the winner for it.
There are a couple of Punjabi Dhabas famous in Kolkata and one of them most joyfully has decided to spread its wings. The Dhaba at Ballygunge Phari has decided to open a branch at Baghajatin mod towards Garia and was the place where I had a typically hearty Punjabi meal in my last visit to Kolkata.
The Dhaba has very simple, sparse decor. Clean but without any unnecessary pieces of art on the walls or on the floor. The focus is wholly and solely on food and jolly good food it is as well.
As is the case as with most restaurants in Kolkata, the menu was fixed in my mind even before I stepped in. The Naan is a must at The Dhaba, large, and very soft. With Naan, we ordered the Egg Tadka and the Chicken Bharta, two of Kolkata's great dishes and especially good at The Dhaba. The Egg Tadka is basically nothing but Daal Tadka cooked with a bit of egg scrambles with it. The taste of egg adds to the flavour but what really gets me is the slightly burnt taste you get with the Tadka of Kolkata. The burnt flavour gives a whole new twist to the taste buds and takes the Egg Tadka on a whole different plane of quality. Super and incredibly good!
The chicken Bharta is shredded chicken and a sliced boiled egg cooked in a sauce not very different from the standard butter masala. The taste is not exceptionally different but is as good as any butter chicken anywhere in the country. The fact that the Bharta is not usually available at restaurants outside of Kolkata makes the dish that much more special and a definite order in all visits to The Dhaba.
A meal for two at Tha Dhaba without drinks will cost you approximately Rs 450/-
How to get there: The Dhaba is right on Baghajatin Mod, where all the buses and autos stop to unboard passengers. If you are travelling from Jadavpur towards Garia, The Dhaba will fall towards your left.

Kusum Snack Bar, Park Street, Kolkata

In the minds of the Indian foodie, the Kati roll is as inextricably linked to Kolkata as Sarson da Saag is linked to the Punjab. Kolkata is pretty much Kati roll city, with outlets vending rolls to be found in almost every nook and corner. The kati roll shop along with the 'Phuchka' (the Kolkata version of the Gol Gappa) vendor are as symbolic of the city as the Vada Pav outlet and the local train is of Mumbai.
Kolkata is the city for dreamers and thinkers, to debate is to breathe and the Phuchka and the roll are often the fuel on which many hours are spent debating everything from Kurusawa to the Kolkata Knight Riders.
What is the Kati roll? Cooked meat, spice, fried onions and a bit of green chilli, wrapped inside a hot parantha and served hot. Tasty, simple and uncomplicated as some of the best things in life inevitable are. How something like this can taste so deliciously brilliant and yet not be found anywhere else in the country is down, I believe to simple economics. Something this simple cannot be priced too high, and in Kolkata, to an extent, at least, economics don't matter!
Kusum Snack Bar on park street is easily one of the most famous Kati roll outlet in Kolkata. Tough to say if it is the best, given the sheer number of roll outlets in Kolkata, but Kusum does serve a very decent mutton roll. Kusum is a shack and like other roll outlets does not have any seating. People stand outside munching on their rolls in their groups of friends or just take the roll and continue on their way.
Kusum has the standard options of Chicken, Mutton, Egg Chicken/ Mutton, Double Egg Chicken / Mutton and the obscene Double Egg, Double Chicken/ Mutton options. The Egg basically indicate the coating of egg on one side of the Paratha but the Double Chicken / Mutton options just have too much meat in them even for an obsessive carnivore like me! If you listen to me go for the simple Chicken/ Mutton roll. If you like egg you can try an Egg Chicken/ Mutton.
A meal for two at Kusum Snack Bar without drinks will cost you Rs 140/-
How to get there: Kusum is on Park Street just someway off from Park Hotel. You will see a steel gate on the left just after the Park Hotel and the famous Olympia bar. Kusum Snack bar is on your left as soon as you enter the gate.

Shiraz, Circus Avenue, Park Street, Kolkata

"What is your favourite food?", "What is your favourite restaurant?", two potentially tricky questions for foodies - after all we love most types of foods and adore most restaurants. For me, however, one of the two answers are relatively straightforward. My favourite cuisine is South East Asian, if the choice come down to a particular dish, it is undoubtedly the Biriyani, the Kolkata Biriyani.
My favourite restaurant however is undoubtedly Shiraz. Why Shiraz? Quite simply, it is because the restaurant began my love affair with food. Shiraz, the Golden Restaurant will always hold a special place in my heart. Shiraz in my mind, heart and tongue serves the best Calcutta style Biriyani and that is that. To me that statement is final and completely non - negotiable.

Shiraz has recently moved from one side of Park Street to the other and has opened a fine dining section along with the regular Non AC section of the restaurant. The fine dining section is the one I visited the last time I was in Kolkata. They have done a pretty decent job of retaining the essential slightly rustic feel of Shiraz, and making the place far more comfortable and amenable to a family outing than what it used to be. The service is very prompt without being overtly polite. If there are space constraints however, I noticed that they are still open to sharing tables with other ravenous eaters.

What to order in Shiraz, quite a lot actually. The essential dishes are the Mutton Biriyani and the Chicken Chaap. Go for the standard and not the special Biriyani, the egg in the special Biriyani, according to me is a pointless addition and does not add to any flavor whatsoever. The Mutton in the mutton biriyani will be the softest and most flavoured you will have tasted. The Chicken Chaap is the ideal foil to the Biriyani. If you are lucky, you will get a breast piece - I think the amount of chicken is far far more than a leg piece. The chaap is cooked in a slightly reddish masala and is very tasty. The highlight is the gravy. The dish is relatively dry, there isn't too much gravy, but every oily morsel of the gravy goes incredibly well with the Biriyani rice. You are obviously not supposed to think of Choleseterol and fat. You are having Biriyani! You are in Kolkata!

That would pretty much be a complete meal but I will ask you for two more add-ons, you may need to over eat but the add-ons are a must to round off the Shiraz experience. If you do not want to over eat please go in a group and taste everything I am talking about. Order the mutton rezala, not so much for the meat, but for the gravy. Ensure that you are generous with the gravy on the portion of rice you are having with it. The portion of gravy in the morsel should not be less than 35%. Sorry for the specifications and detail but it is Shiraz, it is my favorite restaurant, and if you follow my instructions, you will bless me while you are having one of the tastiest morsels of food in your life.

The 2nd add on would be the Mutton Shammi Kebab, it may not be in the menu, but order it all the same. You get mutton mince, mutton fat served in a delightfully oily kebab formation. The kebab breaks quite easily and it goes excellently with Biriyani rice or Rumali Roti.

Of course no meal is complete without dessert and what better than the Firni to round off the meal of a lifetime! Shiraz, the Golden Restaurant does not have a special place in my heart for nothing!

A meal for two at Shiraz without drinks will cost you approximately Rs 350/-.

How to get there: Shiraz is on Park Street at the Circus Avenue crossing. If you are going towards Park Circus, the new place falls on your left. Previously till just two years back it used to fall on your right. Do not get a shock and think like I did for some time that the restaurant has closed down. It is alive and well on the other side of the road. Any taxi driver/ Kolkata citizen worth his salt will know where Shiraz is.

Tomatos, CG Road, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad

This blog is about one of my favourite restaurants in India. This blog is going to be a biased one. Tomatos was the scene of many a joyous celebration during my time at IIM Ahmedabad from 2001 to 2003, it was pretty much the non vegetarian oasis in a largely vegetarian city that Ahmedabad was then. Tomatos served great food in a posh, upmarket ambience. The vegetarian food was also decent which made the restaurant a default option for dorm lunches and dinners. The dessert was exceptional - it still is!. They also gave us a 10% special discussion if we produced the IIMA ID Card. If you ask people who have passed out of IIMA, my batch and, 2 to 3 years either way as to which restaurant was the most frequented for celebrations, during their time in B - School, 90% of the answers would be Tomatos. Great food, great place and great memories of two of the best years of my life.

Tomatos is an American style restaurant and has typical decor. Pictures of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson adorn the walls making the walls very busy and cluttered. A bar-type set up serving mocktails in the dry state of Gujarat. Good background music and comfortable seating. The menu is varied and has the standard Indian and Continental dishes, alongwith the Tex Mex servings from Enchiladas to Nachos. Decent grub and quite tasty. The vegetarians used to particularly freak out on the Cheese Nachos. The service however is definitely on the slower side. The last time we were there, we had to wait almost half an hour for the food to arrive and we did not order anything that typically should take a lot of time.

Last time I was at Tomatos (and to be honest every time I go to Tomatos), I ordered the Chicken and Mushroom Stroganoff. The Stroganoff is a simple dish of buttered rice and chicken and mushrooms in a light sauce. The Stroganoff at Tomatos has a spicier brown sauce instead of the lighter one I have seen more often at restaurants and tastes absolutely amazing. They are also very generous with the mushroom and chicken and the dish is just right for a hearty and delicious lunch.

I followed up the Stroganoff with the highlight of the restaurant, and no trip to Tomatos will be complete without tasting this, the Chocolate Delight. The chocolate delight is basically pieces of Black Forest cake, interspersed with scoops of Vanilla. There is then a very, very generous helping of slightly warmed up Chocolate sauce and peanuts that is layered on top to make the dish, pure gluttonous heaven and a must have for all black forest cake, ice cream and chocolate sauce fans (basically the whole human world). My mouth waters even when I think of it. Only warning, it is a lot of dessert, so make sure you save space or have someone to share it with. Tomatos is a great place to go for a meal and is a must stop in any visit of mine to Ahmedabad.

A meal for two at Tomatos without drinks will cost you approximately Rs 600/-

How to get there: Tomatos is on CG Road, Navrangpura. It is near Mudra House. It should be identifiable by a large Tomato sign on the main road. You have to walk 10 m from the main CG Road to get to the restaurant.

Ambica Dalwada Centre, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad

Gujarati's love their food. Gujju food, is famous across the length and breadth of the country through the revered Gujarati Thali - Kadi, Rice, Khichdi, Subzis, and a whole variety of rotis and puris. All served up, mostly unlimited, round after round, unless one asks for mercy. All, please not that the food is typically sweet and almost drips with ghee, so please exercise, and get enough good cholesterol to negate the inevitable buckets of bad cholesterol that is a necessary bi-product. The thali almost immediately springs to mind when one talks about Gujju food, but it is the next frame entering my mind when discussing Gujju food that really makes my mouth water. The delicious world of Gujju snacks (or 'snakes' as they like to pronounce.)

Gujju snacks is I believe the greatest contribution to the Indian food landscape by the land of Gandhi. The offerings are almost as numerous as the offerings on a standard thali, I particularly love the Gathia, the Dhokla and the Khandvi. The last time I was in Ahmedabad, I was introduced and fell in love with a 4th. The Dal Wada.

The Dal Wada is as the name suggests, a vada made of Dal, the Dal is soaked overnight in a secret spice and is packed in to little balls which are then deep fried. The other visible condiment in the mix is coriander which adds its unique flavor. The result is an incredibly tasty offering which makes for a fantastic break fast or mid day snack. I had the Dal Wada at Ambica Dalwada Centre which is a food landmark in Ahmedabad.

It is a small shop with just a few tables for seating, their primary business is however take away, they are renowned for their Dal Wadas so much so that they actually sell the Dal Wada mix in packets which you can take home and fry and eat in the comfort of your home. A pointer obviously to the quality that they produce. We had our Dal Wada at the store however. They sell by weight and two of us ordered 250 gm. We absolutely devoured our plate of Dal Wada that was served, piping hot and absolutely delicious. The Dal Wadas were served with a few Onions and Chillis/ Hari Mirch, the mirch was marinated in salt and sugar and not very spicy at all - went extremely well with the Dal Wadas. It is interesting to note that Ambica serves nothing apart from the Dal Wada, nothing at all, no other snacks and not even a cup of tea, not even water actually. A completely mono liner Dal Wada centre, nothing else. I would think that it made business sense to serve some tea to go with the Wada, but I guess it just shows you what a focused approach can do, I guess.

A meal for two at Ambica Dal Wada centre will cost you approximately Rs 60/-

How to get there: Ambica Dal Wada centre is just off Commerce 6 Road, in Navrangpura, in Ahmedabad. It is a very famous joint and you will not have any problems getting there.

Mia Cucina, Andheri West

Mia Cucina came with a reputation. In the times food guide that I have Rashmi Uday Singh had rated the food as the best Italian restaurant in Mumbai. I tend to agree partially with her and would rate the restaurant at par with Don Giovannis as the place to sample Italian food in Mumbai. Mia Cucina, "My Kitchen" is a high end Italian restaurant which has just opened in Versova. The place is chic and the decor very classy and very Italian. I loved the picture of Marlon Brando as the Godfather at the entrance and was pleased to see that the place had both outdoor and indoor seating options. The tables were long with a wood finish, the interiors were well lit without being too bright and the walls had a brick finish adding to the overall feel of the place. Mia Cucina is also a favorite with the film/ TV Serial crowd of Suburbian Mumbai and we spotted Arshad Warsi, Maria Goretti and Anchal Kumar in the time that we were there on a Saturday night.
We ordered quite a spread at Mia Cucina, the food at Mia Cucina as we found is served not as full plates but as smaller bowls from which you can share which was a departure from the regular high end Italian restaurants which I think is great as you can taste a larger number of dishes without awkwardly transferring food from largish place. The other slight difference that we noted was the fact that the restaurant accommodates slight changes in the ingredients of the preparations. If you want your favorite ingredient added to a particular dish and it makes sense, the chefs comply to your request.
At Mia Cucina we tasted Lasagna Al Forno, a lasagna made with a mince mix of beef and pork, a really nice taste though I felt that the cheese was slightly on the lighter side, Risotto al pollo - a risotto made with chicken and mushrooms which was good without being really brilliant. We also sampled a bit of grilled Rawas which was also very tasty and had a lot of herb flavour going well with the fish - again very good quality. The undoubted highlight of the meal however was the tagliatelle pasta with mascarpone cheese and spinach. My sister had the brainwave of adding chorizo or pork sausages to the preparation and it tasted absolutely fantastic. The spinach, cheese and the pork was a truly outstanding combination which must be tried and will be definitely repeated in my next visit. As is the case at most high quality Italian restaurants, leaving space for dessert is a must and we sampled the cheesecake, the tiramisu and a chocolate pastry all of which were of the highest standards as far as taste goes. Do go to Mia Cucina for outstanding Italian food!
A meal for two at Mia Cucina would cost you approximately Rs 1300 without drinks.
How to get there: Mia Cucina is on the main Versova road. If you are coming from the station side. You have to keep driving down the road past Indian Oil Nagar and straight past where the old Versova bus stop used to be. You have to drive straight as the road bends left from the bus stop and then goes straight before turning left again before taking a half u-turn towards the right. Mia Cucina will fall towards your left just after you take the half u-turn.

Mani's Lunch Home, Matunga

Mani's Lunch Home rounds off the corner of Mumbai that will forever be Tamil Nadu. The location with the Aayappa stall serving regular South Indian snacks, the Nalli Silks outlet situated right opposite and the typically South Indian temple at 45 degrees from the outlet gives one a picture that would be completely at home in Chennai. Mani's rounds off the picture with a typical Tamilian lunch home serving delightfully well cooked and hygienic vegetarian Tamil meals at incredibly affordable prices. Mani's is however definitely not a fine dining option, it is a small place and believes in community seating. You will most probably have to wait till you get a table and will definitely have to share the table with other ravenous eaters.
Mani's has two meal options the rice plate and the full meal. We were

not at our hungriest and ordered the rice plate. The rice plate consists of unlimited chappati, rice, rasam and sambhar, one bowl full of three standard South Indian Subzis, a bowl of curd and one chhaas. The food is very simple, is served hot and is brilliantly authentic to taste - highly recommended by my Tamil friends. Amazingly the cost of the rice plate is Rs 35/- and you have to buy the coupon before sitting down for the meal from a counter at the shop entrance.
The other option is the full plate which costs Rs 70/-, the full plate is served on Banana leaf instead of the steel plate we were served food on and has some extra bits in sweets and banana chips that we could see from a photo of the dish that we saw. After devouring the rice plate we ended with a little helping of Mysore Pak and the typically Tamil slightly fat and dry Jalebi which we bought from the counter at the entrance of the shop. Great food and definitely recommended if you want a typical vegetarian Tamil meal in Mumbai.
A meal for two at Mani's lunch home without drinks will cost you Rs 100/-
How to get there: Mani's is on Telenga road in Matunga right opposite the Nalli's Saree shop. If you do not know the area you have get to Kings circle. From Kings Circle you have to get on the road leading to Matunga station. From there you have to take the first right to get on to Telenga road. Mani's will fall on your right. It is almost impossible to find parking on that road near Mani's so chances are you might have to walk a bit to get to the lunch home.

Great Punjab, Cypress Market, Powai

Great Punjab is a typical Punjabi style dhaba which is usually difficult to find in Mumbai. Replete with a Sardarji owner who is not averse to loudly telling you that you are parking your car too close to his vehicle even when your on your way in as against on the way out. I love sardarjis for their forthrightness and the Great Punjab is an honest attempt at a Punjabi style Dhaba in Mumbai. Great Punjab does most of its business through the phone on the delivery model and the seating space is slightly on the cramped side. The ambiance is not great but the food usually is.
I say usually because while we swear by the Chicken Malai Kebab and have ordered the preparation multiple number of times at home, when we ordered the 2nd helping at the restaurant we found that parts of the Kebab were slightly raw. Although implicit in the statement is the fact that we were so delighted at the first helping that the second was demanded. The other problem the restaurant faces is the inability to step up to the plate and serve up a deserving follow up to the outstanding starter that is the Chicken Malai Kebab. The last time we were there we ordered the Chicken Dopiyaza with Roti, which was eatable but nothing to remember the meal by. We left the restaurant slightly disappointed at the undercooked second helping of the Chicken Malai Kebab, but that will not stop me from continuing to order and devour the preparation. Maybe, they were really under time pressure for speedy delivery of the 2nd helping and ended up serving it slightly raw - I will give them the benefit of the doubt based on my home delivery experiences.
A meal for two at Great Punjab without drinks will cost you approximately Rs 600/-
How to get there: Great Punjab is on the Cypress Market road in Powai. If you are driving from Haiko towards Cypress Market the restaurant will fall on your left.

Casa Mia, R-City, Ghatkopar

There is a lot to like about Casa Mia, the Italian restaurant in R-City mall in Ghatkopar. The decor is very friendly and exudes a very casual cafe-ish feel differing from the usual high and mighty ambiance at most Italian restaurants in the city. The place is however authentically Italian with an Italian owner and manager, and has a whole host of photos from the country on one of the walls. The restaurant tries to be slightly different and cool and largely succeeds through a number of special touches. The kitchen is semi open with chefs visibly posted at separate stations and whipping up salads, antipasti and main course. The restaurant has something special happening on all week days, we had gone on a Friday and there was a live band playing. We saw that each day had some special offer such as 50% off for Indian wines etc. The coolest part that I liked about the restaurant was the piece of paper on the table which substitutes as a table mat. All the mats had interesting Italian quotes spelt in English which were to do with food and Italians. A nice touch, and enables you to say something in Italian before digging in to the food.
The last time I was at Casa Mia I ordered the Lasagna Toscana (a chicken lasagna) as the main course and tasted a bit of the (funghi di bosco) a mushroom risotto, and a vegetarian thin crust pizza (pizza verdure). We also ordered two interesting dessert preparations, the salame al cioccolato which roughly translates into chocolate salami, a very interesting preparation of dark chocolate cake made in the shape of small salami strips and served with some cream on the side. Great taste but I felt that the Salami strips were a bit on the hard side. We also ordered a Tortino which was supposed to be a chocolate cake with an interior of gooey chocolate sauce which was there but not in adequate quantity. The proportion of cake was on the higher side. Overall a more than decent dining option, all the dishes were very tasty but I would not rate any of the preparations as truly outstanding. Overall a good meal and definitely a recommended dining option if you are already at R-City but I would not recommend you to go all the way to R-City Mall just to sample Casa Mia cuisine. Oh! one last word, on the day we went the surprise in the form of a live band turned out to be an unpleasant one. The band was really bad and I am sure that John Lennon and George Harrison turned over in their graves at a few of their renditions. Hope the live band is changed asap.
A meal for two at Casa Mia without drinks would cost you approximately Rs 1200/-
How to get there: Casa Mia is on the top floor of R-City Mall. The Mall itself is located on LBS Marg and is impossible to miss.

Cream Centre, Oberoi Mall, Goregaon East

Cream Centre is one of Mumbai's oldest and most famous vegetarian restaurants. They have been around since 1958 and have a landmark restaurant on Mumbai's marine drive. The place is however 100% vegetarian and I half - reluctantly venture into the outlet at Oberoi Mall Goregaon in the company of some office friends and was not at all disappointed.
Cream Centre is a fine dining vegetarian outlet and is nicely decked up. White is the prevailing colour and it adds a nice "creamy" ambiance to the restaurant:).
I was a bit thrown off however by the menu which seemed to be a mix of everything without really having a really large elaborate section on starters/ main course. There was a section on soups, salads and sandwiches, one on starters, one on trademark dishes, i.e. classics that cream centre prides itself on - they actually have the trademark emblem on some of their offerings on the menu card. There were also whole sections on pizza/ pasta and mexican food and a complete section on Thali offerings - a combination of what is there on the menu, you had to choose from a set of dishes which you could also order separately. The menu card also had a very nice picture of the marine drive of yesteryear, specifically pointing out the location of the original cream centre restaurant.
I ordered the Original Chhole Bature TM, and also ended up tasting a number of dishes including Mumbaiya Ragda Pattice, Masala Parathe and Paneer. Here I would like to comment on the service which was very eager to please and asked us specifically if we would like our food to be served together or no. We insisted that the food should be served together but the service was very very dispersed with all the dishes arriving at different times at pretty long intervals. Not good especially after asking first!
The food however was fantastic to say the least. The Bathura was nothing spectacular but the chhole was out of this world - easily the best that I have tasted. The Ragda Pattice was also very good and was served very neatly enabling separate bites of the chhole (ragda) and the aloo cutlets (pattice) as well as the combination offering. The Masala Parathe was also very good, so much so as the same could be had as a meal by itself. I also washed down the meal with another trademark drink they served which was the lime mint cooler. It was as refreshing a drink as can get and is highly recommended from my end. Overall slightly expensive but very good vegetarian fare once you can decide what you want. I think the way it works is that people just come over to the restaurant and order their favourite dishes.
A meal for two at Cream Centre without drinks would cost you approximately Rs 750/-
How to get there: Cream Centre is on the top floor of Oberoi Mall, Goregaon East. The mall is on the Western Express Highway.

Jumbo King, Andheri East

Along with Bollywood, BSE, Gateway of India, and Dharavi, the Vada pav is probably the thing most Non Mumbaikars would associate with Mumbai. However unjust and untrue that may be given the wonderful cuisine on offer all throughout the city, there is a reason why the Vada Pay can lay claim to being the culinary symbol of the city. That reason is the sheer numbers that are consumed in a day in Mumbai and Thane, figures on the net put the number at 1.8 to 2 million Vada Pavs in a single day. If you ever travel across Mumbai on a weekday, you will see that the figure is entirely believable.
What is the Vada Pav? The pav is the bread - a bun slit three quarter way or completely down the middle holding a large fried mass of flavoured potato - the pav. The vada pav is typically had with some garlic chutney and some green chilli to add the extra spice if you need it. Very simple. Very easy to cook. Very cheap - the life blood snack/ short meal of the Mumbai office goer. There are vada pav shops all across Mumbai serving the snack at prices ranging from Rs 5 to Rs 8 and doing raging business.
Jumbo King is a chain of restaurants serving the regular Vada Pav and some innovations on the dish all across Mumbai. Their basic Vada Pav - the Grilled Jumbo King starts at Rs 10. Why they charge a premium and can get away with it? They offer Consistency. The Jumbo King Vada Pav tastes consistently delightful at all branches. They offer Hygiene. The vada pavs are served not different from the way McDonalds serves burgers. These two value propositions have enabled Jumbo King to scale up from one outlet in 2001 to God knows how many today spread across the city.
Jumbo King does not have seating space - I am sure the economics do not allow it. You have to select your Vada Pav, pay, stand outside the shop and finish the vada pav. Their basic offering is the Grilled Vada Pav - priced at Rs 10, they also have a butter grilled Jumbo King - basically a grilled Jumbo King with a large slice of butter on top. They have a cheese Jumbo King where they cover the top of the Pav with some cheese shreds. They also have szechuan and chhole varieties with the szechuan sauce and chhole topping the basic Vada. I have sampled the cheese and my friends have sampled the chhole and the szechuan but have come to the conclusion that the plain and the butter ones are the best. I guess the variations work for those who are regular Vada Pav eaters. I do not fall into that category.
The last time I was at Jumbo King, I had one Grilled Jumbo King and one Butter Grilled Jumbo King. Both were very good. The slice of Amul butter on the Butter Grilled Jumbo King basically provides enough for two Grilled Jumbo Kings to be nicely flavoured. Very good and hard core junk food Mumbai style.
A meal for two at Jumbo King without drinks will cost you approximately Rs 60/-
How to get there: You have Jumbo King outlets all through the city. The Andheri East outlet is on the Andheri Kurla road. It will fall on the right if you are travelling from the Western Express highway towards Kurla. It if right after the JB Nagar crossing.

Nalas Aappakadai, Annanagar, Chennai

Nalas Aappakadai is a relatively recent chain of restaurants in Chennai. The chain of restaurants is centred around innovations on the Appam which is the South Indian bread/ roti made with rice batter. The appam is a wonderful preparation and goes particularly well with meat stew and sea food dishes. The fluffy rice batter offering is worthy of

receiving a tribute by a restaurant chains with Aappakadai aims to and largely succeeds. Given a choice however I will rather keep to the appam and meat stew combination.

The restaurant is an attempt at the South Indian style merging with 21st century fast food prone India. The feel is like that of a fast food outlet, bright lights, bright colours with the menu being loudly displayed on the signage opposite and open kitchen. The menu cards are however on the tables and the waiters take orders at the table, and serve the food.

The menu card at Aappakadai basically consists of three parts, regular South Indian meals, set meals with the Appam as the main staple with meat/ vegetable preparations and a whole range of variations on the Appam starting from Kheema to multi flavoured, multi coloured Appams.

I ordered two dishes, one was the set meal with Appam and Chicken Chettinad, the other was a chicken kheema appam. I was unfortunately disappointed by both. The appams served in the set meal were not the fluffy appam I have had at most restaurants, it was too crispy, slightly cold and difficult to break. People who have tasted the appam know how critical it is for the appam to be soft and hot - the appams I was served with the set meal were definitely up to the mark. The chicken chettinad was the most disappointing part of the meal. The gravy was very spicy as Chettinad gravy usually is, but did not have any flavour of the meat - seemed as if they have loads of gravy pre cooked and decide to serve the meat/ egg/ vegetable depending on the order. They served two pieces of chicken along with the meat, the pieces were with bone and had very little meat on them. I do not necessarily mind bone but the pieces were one of the worst pieces you find on the bird and you would think twice before serving them to guests coming at your home, let alone those paying for food at a restaurant.

The chicken kheema appam was interesting, it was basically a sort of chicken ommelette cooked on the Appam, the insides of the appam, the hollow side had this scrambled mix of egg, chicken mince and chillis on it. Decent taste, but i think that it would have tasted far better if they had served chicken kheema, egg bhurji and nice, hot appam separately. I may have ordered all the wrong dishes, to be fair the place was doing decent business but I fear that in an effort to go completely retail and mass produce the appam and the side dishes, the essence of the preparations have been compromised. To me that is not an acceptable trade off.

You may still go to Aappakadai if you have not tasted the appam before and are not a fan. From a curiousity perspective tasting the various preparations can be fun. Do not go there for having a regular appam meal. If you do go there however, you may be advised to steer clear of the preparations that I have mentioned - particularly the chicken chettinad meal with appams.

A meal for two at Nalas Aappakadai without drinks will cost you approximately Rs 300/-

How to get there: Nalas Aappakadai is on 3rd Avenue Annanagar just below Kebab Court restaurant.

Dindigul Thalappakatti Restaurant, Annanagar, Chennai

I love India. I love to travel in India. And I absolutely LOVE to sample the best food that this beautiful country of ours has to offer. It is even better if the restaurant serving the fare is an institution and Dindigul Thalappakatti in Annanagar, Chennai is an institution in Indian and Tamil cuisine.
Dindigul is the region in the South of Tamil Nadu and Dindigul Cuisine along with Chettinad are the two most distinctive Non Vegetarian Food schools emanating from the Southern most state

of our country. The food of the region was made famous by the efforts of one Nagaswamy Naidu who by his distinctive head dress earned the nickname of Thalappakatti (Tied Turban). Thalapa in Tamil means "turban" and katti, "Tied", the food popularised by Mr. Naidu is today known as Thalapakatti Dindigul cuisine and is a completely different strain of Indian food in its own right. Long may his soul rest in piece.
The decor at Dindigul Thalappakatti in Chennai is that of a typical Chennai meal restaurant, straight lines of tables seating 4 people each. The food at the restaurant is served on Banana leaves which are kept of steel plates. We ordered quite a spread at Dindigul Thalappakatti, we ordered the famous Dindigul chicken biriyani, chicken idicha veruval, brain egg fry and a Karandi ommelette. The Chicken Idicha veruval was a bonlesee chicken veruval and was not too spicy which is usually a problem area in South Indian food if one is not careful. The brain egg fry was basically a scrambled mash of egg and brain and was ok but had too much of the masala flavour almost overpowering the taste of the brain and the egg. The other two dishes were what made the meal special. The Dindigul Biriyani is again a unique adaptation by the region of India's most popular dish, firstly it is cooked with small rice - called seeragasamba rice as against the Basmati used in the North. The Dum flavour is also almost entirely absent. The water used in the dishes preparation is also apparently translated from the Dindigul region. I can already hear screams of sacrilege by Biriyani aficionados but hey, the dish is interpreted differently by all parts of our country and it was very tasty!
The highlight of the meal however was the Karandi Ommelette, which is the most wondrous egg preparation that I have ever seen or heard about. What you get is round hot ball of egg served at your table. It truly grabs your attention and makes you gasp and you have to see it to believe it. The egg is apparently cooked in a round shape container akin to what is used for making Idlis. There is actually an open kitchen in the restaurant where you can see the dish being prepared. Brilliantly there are also innovations where you get the preparation with stuffed meat or prawn. Unfortunately I did not have the appetite to enable me a taste but the same is a positive must have when next in Chennai. The very thought of the preparation is enough to make anyones mouth water. We also rounded off our meal with a glass of Jil Jil Jigarthanda - the traditional drink from Southern Tamil Nadu but it wasn't half as good as what you get in Madurai.
A meal for two at Dindigul Thalappakatti restaurant without drinks will cost you approximately Rs 650/-.
How to get there: Dindigul Thalappakatti Restaurant is in Annanagar. From the Annanagar round circle you have to take the road towards Chintamani. Then you have to take the first left. The restaurant will fall on your right.