Mahesh

I have fond memories of Mahesh. Some of my first sea food experiences have been at Mahesh (Thank you Arvind!!). For some obscure reason I stopped going there when it became cheaper to drink at a quarter joint and then do Vandana for dinner. Whatever happened to Vandana incidentally ? Great sea food at Mahim it used to have. Anyway last weekend went there and was somehow disappointed. Its not like the food was inedible or bad but just bleah. It was competent but nothing stuck in my mind. The Bombil fry was done the bawa way with the whole fish being fried and not flattened but Brittania is much better, Ladyfish fry was so so and the pomfret in green sauce is way better at Excellensea. The only thing that stood out for me was the yellow dal which was a weird hybrid between Sambar and Dal oh and of course the wine list had some very decent wines. We had a nice tart Chilean white which cost us 1200 bucks which was a steal.

It's all Crystal Clear

The best kheer in Mumbai is available at Chowpatty. On a clear Sunday you step on to the beach and then keep walking towards the Air India building. This old lady who sits somewhere on the beach opposite New Yorker does the most amazing kheer. According to her it's stirred for about 7 hours by Bihari dwarfs.

Oh all right enough with this. The best kheer in Mumbai is available at Crystal. The place is near Wilson college on the same side as Wilson on Marine Drive. While the kheer is definitely one of the highlights I love it for the palak paneer, Chole and Baingan Bartha. Actually screw it anything punjabi including the chaach is awesome there. Some poor misguided Gujju souls still wander in for the Pav Bhaji but who really would eat anything other than Punjabi @ Crystal. The decor is not the most uplifting but listening to Manna Dey songs is part of the charm. The door to the kitchen is firmly closed but I really don't want to see in what conditions is the food turned out in. Suffice to say this is one of the few vegetarian places that I would walk a mile to. Which incidentally I almost did thanks to Jayesh's idea of parking....

Shanbhar Barobar

A million miles away from Mumbai (Seems like anyway) is the sylvan bird sanctuary of Karnala. It's nice and green but this is a food blog so lets focus on the Shanbhar Vishranti Gruh. Its about a couple of kms or so before Karnala coming from Mumbai. It's a bit of a drive but the food is seriously worth it. It's the perfect way to spend a Sunday. Leave at 11ish and hit the place by 12.30 ish. A couple of beers with some insanely great prawns and then the serious business of eating. The Pomfret is awesome, the Surmai is about as good as it gets (I'm not a great fan of Surmai), the bombils are delicious. But the trip is worth it for the prawns alone. And a honourable mention to the Kharvas. This underrated sweet is just about sublime at Shanbhar. All in all worth spending the hours commuting for the bliss of Shanbhar.

On a aside forgive if this is beginning to sound way too much like Rashmi Uday Singh but sort of tired and sleepy after dinner at Crystal and lunch at Brittania. There you have something to look forward to...