The restaurants and bars that appear in this section are chosen by TOM’s critics. We visit the establishments anonymously and pay for our own meals and drinks.
Meal for two
$ Under Rs 500
$$ Rs 500-Rs 1,000
$$$ Rs 1,000-Rs 2,000
$$$$ Over Rs 2,000
Baluchi
This jewel of a restaurant (the interiors look studded with diamonds set in gold) serves very authentic kebabs and north-west frontier cuisine. Baluchi explores food from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The menu is a journey, but if you need help deciding, the chef recommends dudiya kebabs, barrah Baluchi, subz handi, dum nalli ka gosht and, for dessert, sheer Baluchi. In the evenings, the restaurant has ghazal singers for atmosphere.
Intercontinental The Lalit, Sahar Airport Road, Sahar, Andheri (E) (6699-2222). Daily noon-3pm, 7.30-11.30pm. All major credit cards. $$$$$.
Blue Frog
Perhaps it’s just too much to expect Mumbai’s smug diners to keep shut and listen to the performers. One night, when one of the partners requested them to tone it down, a few were offended at the idea, especially since they had paid a gate charge to enter and were putting down a few thousand rupees for their drinks and food. Both of which are also very good. The menu is varied enough for diverse tastes, from burgers to salads, and spring rolls to mini chocolate puddings. Here’s a tip: get a table early, have your meal early and then linger (quietly) over their signature cocktails while the musicians play.
Mathuradas Mills Compound, Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel (4033-2300, www.bluefrog.co.in). Daily 7pm-1.15am. All major credit cards. $$$$
Celini
The lavish 350-item buffet at Celini will make your jaw drop. But if you loosen your belt and get there really early, you can out-intimidate this spread. The trick is to divide your meal into five courses over three hours so you have enough space in your belly for that scrumptious Danish pastry filled with blueberry compote. But be warned, this is an almost meditative experience that demands a voracious appetite.
If it’s not brunch you are after, the pizzas here are among the best in the city. On the à la carte menu, pick risotto over pasta and don’t miss the goat cheese salad. Celini has nothing to separate it from the lobby of the Grand Hyatt hotel. This gives it the air of a more open, casual Italian diner, even if the prices don’t quite match.
Grand Hyatt Mumbai, off Western Express Highway, Santa Cruz (E) (6676-1234). Daily 7am-midnight. All major credit cards. $$$$.
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni, widely credited with being the best standalone Italian restaurant in the city, believes that good food takes time to prepare. “We don’t pre-cook anything,” Giovanni Fredrico said. “We start to make your dish only after you order.” No wonder that his ravioli di magro is the stuff of legend. Stuffed with spinach, ricotta, gran padano with a hint of salt and pepper, the pasta pillows – like the 12 other varieties of pasta on the menu – are made fresh every day, and you can tell.
Opposite Juhu Church, behind Kings Hotel, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu (6742-6770). Daily noon-3pm. 7pm-midnight. All major credit cards. $$$
Hard Rock Café
Much of the 6,000 square feet Hard Rock Café inherited from the Bombay Dyeing Mill has been used well, spaciously incorporating split levels and performance areas. Ornate frames and velvet red tapestry to combine with the stone grey walls to lend the place a regal yet industrial look. Alongside Madonna’s bandana, there are also platinum discs, autographed album sleeves and eye-catching guitars that were once the possessions of members of the Doors, KISS and Led Zeppelin. While the service was good, the burgers were great.
Bombay Dyeing Mill Compound, Pandurang Budhkar Marg, Worli (2438-2888). Daily noon-1.30am. All major credit cards. $$$
Kebab Korner
It’s hard to live up to a legacy. Even more so when it’s got to do with something as prone to nostalgia and exaggeration, like a seekh kebab. But the InterCon has pulled out all the stops: they’ve managed to track down the legendary restaurant’s original chefs and lure them back, and they’ve stuck to their traditional menu and techniques of preparation (kebabs are made on a sigri instead of tandoor). The cool, tasty dahi chutney is courtesy the 80-year-old former chef who still won’t part with his 36-spice recipe. Everything else is marvellously updated: beautiful décor, stunning view, and notable pieces of art.
InterContinental Hotel, 135 Marine Drive (5639-9999). Daily 12.30-3pm, 7.30pm-midnight. All major credit cards. $$$
Mia Cucina
Mia Cucina is “my kitchen” in Italian and the chef never lets you forget it. He gets away with it because when you listen to him, he gives you superlative Italian food. There is care in all the food. The delicately dressed Caesar salad has cheese shaved so finely, you’d think it had been run through a pencil sharpener. The four-cheese pizza is the stinkiest quattro formaggi we’ve ever had the good fortune to encounter. But what showed us they care was the bill. The annoying paisas in the VAT were rounded off – not to the next rupee but to the previous one.
Gasper Enclave, next to Papa Pancho, St John Street, Pali Naka, Bandra (W) (6710-4000). Daily noon-midnight. MC,V. $$$
Oh! Calcutta
Oh! Calcutta has the reputation of pleasing even hard-to-please Bengalis, homesick for malai curry and fish preparations. The restaurant is a tasty reminder of Kolkata, with an ornamental rickshaw at the entrance, and is a revelation for those whose taste buds are limited to sub-continental standards like butter chicken and idli sambar. Don’t miss the prawn or chingdi malai curry, a light, mild gravy whose key ingredients are coconut milk and local scampi, fleshy prawns with large, blush-coloured heads that give the dish its tone and delicate taste.
Hotel Rosewood, Tulsiwadi Lane, Tardeo (2496-3114). Daily noon-3.45pm, 7-11.40pm. MC, V. $$.
Woodside Inn
Thin-crust pizza, unhurried pints of beer and long, leisurely views of the strollers on Colaba Causeway. These are the primary attractions of Woodside Inn, the slightly dingy vegetarian restaurant and bar at the head of Wodehouse Road that's undergone a remarkable transformation to emerge as an airy Mediterranean-focussed bistro. The management has also recently started breakfast, with all the old staples given a Woodside twist: waffles, pancakes and eggs. We think Mumbai could do with more places like this. In a fast-food city that’s increasingly gobbling up its nutrition on the trot, Woodside Inn is a gentle summons to fritter away your afternoon in a haze of conversation.
Indian Mercantile Mansion, Wodehouse Road, opposite Regal, Colaba (2202-5525). Daily 8am-midnight. All major credit cards. $$$
Zaffran
Zaffran is a place where nothing is taken seriously except for food and sheesha. The cuisine at Zaffran is sort of North by North-West featuring various venerables from North Indian and Frontier cuisine: raan and gilauti kabab, handi gosht and nihari, khubani ka meetha and zaffrani phirni. But there are also excellent pizzas that are happily served after-hours when revellers flock here.
Link Plaza Commercial Complex, Oshiwara Link Road, Jogeshwari (W)(6450-2828). Also at Crawford Market (2344-2690). All major credit cards. $$
Source : Time Out Mumbai ISSUE 1 Friday, September 03, 2010
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