At lunch, there were few folk there (and I gather, in an attempt to garner more business, they have…read morea 40% lunch discount if you reserve through Restorando and pay in cash). A table of four were there when we arrived, and a solo guy arrive a little later. It's sort of surprising, given how much foot traffic there is in the area, and that they offer a rather enticing sounding menú ejecutivo for a mere 350 pesos, that includes appetizer, a main course curry, rice, naan, and a beverage. We decided to order off the extensive a la carte menu which stretches an impressive seven pages, offering up more than four dozen different dishes, from a variety of Indian regional styles.
While we perused, a little basket of simple naan, with a quartet of classic sauces - yogurt with garlic (excellent), sweet tomato (a little too sweet), mint and cilantro (very nice), and a truly fiery chili sauce (like, sweat inducing).
They have a mixed appetizer plate, which for our trio (originally planned as seven folk, but four cancelled during the last hours before the lunch for various reasons), was more than sufficient. A mix of vegetable and chicken pakoras, a potato samosa, and a couple of "crispi onion" pancakes. Yum all around. Good start! 280 pesos.
And, a trio of main courses - a kadai ghost - a classic lamb and black pepper curry, one of the house specialties, and it definitely had a kick from that pepper (460 pesos), another house specialty, the bangalore mix, a prawn and angel shark curry with a beautiful depth of flavor and the fish cooked just perfectly (475 pesos), and a classic dal bhukhara - slow cooked lentils (overnight according to the menu) that'is one of my favorites, and this one was one of the better of the dish I've had (415 pesos). All absolutely delicious, as was the cardamom spiced jeera rice, and garlic naan (could have used a little more garlic, but tasty).
Friendly and efficient service. Nice ambiance. Great food. Leaps and bounds ahead of what it used to be downtown, and really, nearly as good as meals we've had at other Indian favorite spots in town. The menus at all three are, in reality, very different, with what (in my limited knowledge of Indian food) I assume to be regional variations. On the whole, Mumbai is less expensive (15-20%) than Tandoor and more expensive (10-15%) than Taj Majal, but I'd happily eat at any of the three, any day. Lunch for 3, with cubierto (35 pesos/person), and a trio of waters, rang up to 2080 pesos, but knock off that 40% discount, and then add in a tip on the original price, and we walked out for 1500 pesos - a bargain!
