Mumbai / Bombay Recommendations

[percyn]

Will be visiting Bombay after 10+ years and am wondering if anyone has a list of places that I should not miss. Looking for mainly Indian restaurants, chat places, lassi stalls, etc. Want to try a Kutch thali, tandoor, street kebabs, etc.

Who are the top chefs in Mumbai these days?

Cheers

Percy

[thampik]

I am planning to be in Mumbai on two separate ocassions in Aug and would be grateful for recommendations from those in the know.

As I am travelling to Kerala and other parts of Maharasthtra as well, anything other than South Indian or Maharashtrian food would be first preference...And I would like to avoid the 5* restaurants if at all possible.

Here's hoping for more respones than what Percy got

[Gaurav]

Hi Percy,

I would recommend the following -

- Kailash Parbat in Colaba & only the one in Colaba for the Chaat.

- For Sea food - Mahesh Lunch Home, Gajalee

- For Thali i would recommend - Panchvati Gaurav across locations in Bombay, Rajdhani, Friends Union Joshi Club (very non-glamorous) Golden Star Thali for their myriad thali festivals

- Swati Snacks for their Gujarati snacks, some Chaat.

I would also throw in that you try the Konkani style thali at Konkan Cafe or the thali at Dakshin. Also do try and make it out to Kebabs n Kurries though a 5 star but they have some brilliant dishes from across ITC restaurants.

[Gaurav]

i know these replies are late but i hope they help others.. there are plenty of non- 5 stars to check out i would recommend

Veda @ Phoenix Mills

Indigo Deli

Papa Pancho

Crystal @ Chowpatty

Cream Centre

Wood Side Inn

these cover a wide enough variety of cuisine from Indian to others and are on the reasonable price range.

[percyn]

Gaurav,

Not bad timing, as I will be in Mumbai again shortly.

Which place do you recommend for kabobs and falooda kulfi?

Also, which non-Indian cuisine would you say in gaining popularity in India and what would be a good example of "fine dining" at a place which does not serve Indian cuisine?

[Jenni]

percyn, I'm not the person you specifically asked but I enjoyed a "fine dining" experience at Indigo (not Indigo deli) a few years ago. The food is European (heavily aimed at Italian when I went) with a little desi twist here and there. It will set you back a lot in local terms but it's not expensive compared to European or American dining.

[percyn]

Thanks Jenni. What were your thoughts about your experience at Indigo and were the ingredients used authentic to the cuisine or were they local?

Thanks

Percy

[Jenni]

Can't say for sure what was local and what was imported but the ingredients were high quality and some pretty much had to be imported. I had two meals at Indigo and on both occassions I ate very high quality "baby" size mozzarella, artichoke hearts, high quality (and properly cooked) pasta, feta cheese, mushrooms-that-weren't-just-generic-button-mushrooms, ricotta, and so on. Some of this will definitely be imported but the pasta could be made in house (from imported flour) and there's no reason that India couldn't produce very good buffalo mozzarella if it wanted to.

Indigo was probably the first "foreign cuisine" meal in India I had that was any good at all. Since then I have had various well cooked mediterranean meals in several different parts of India and it's possible I would be less wowed with a return trip to Indigo. I think Italian and mediterranean food is definitely becoming more popular for a "posh" meal out and decent quality ingredients are becoming more easily available. For instance I have increasingly eaten very good mozzarella in restaurants that was most definitely not the usual Brittania "Cheeza" or Amul "Pizza cheese". Olives, mozzarella, courgettes, mushrooms, artichokes, brocolli, etc. are all popping up on menus more often. In Kochi, I even saw taleggio cheese in one of the dishes on the menu of a small joint run by an Italian. That's the restaurant scene but shops are also catching up. In Bangalore I saw a very well stocked shop specialising in European goods and even the big shops in Allahabad have a range of imported pastas, olives, etc. in their "Foreign" sections.

Some people get very upset about going out to eat foreign food in India but personally I don't mind too much because it's nice to have the occasional meal out that's a bit different. I do think you should make time for the best of the local stuff first, but after that why not enjoy something with a foreign twist? For a long time the default something-different meal out has been "Chinese", and by that I mean the very special version of Chinese that is done in India. Now I think people are getting excited about Italian and other mediterranean cuisines.