Uttam da Dhaba
Six of us went to Uttam da Dhaba yesterday after a few of us felt like eating Dhaba food and good Tandoori chicken. Some of us knew Uttam da Dhaba and the rest readily agreed to go. The choice was obvious this side of town; the alternative considered and rejected for the day was random Dhaba exploration at Bhandup/Mulund. We got there at 10:15 pm; it is a 2-min walk from Marol-Maroshi bus depot, which itself is off the Andheri-Kurla road at Marol.
The place has a normal family-type seating with a lot of couples and families, an a/c section which is again a family place, and a proper dhaba-style charpai seating in the back yard. Slightly falsified but who cares when you have an entire charpai to yourself and can go off to sleep immediately after stuffing yourself :)
We ordered about 3 full Tandoori chickens, which turned out to be very good. No excessive masala or colouring, which is always pleasant. I found the Mutton Seek Kababs fishy with a hint of Chinese flavouring or they were just not made well. The Reshmi Kababs were very good, mild, and egg flavoured. After a small break while others had colas and chhaas, we ordered food.
We had Chicken Methi Malai which was probably the best flavour of the evening and excellent. Then there was Chicken Saagwala which was again very good and tasty though the chicken was obviously put into the gravy at the last minute - a little more time would have worked very well. The Butter Chicken was very weird; the place is known for serving a weird Butter Chicken. Very good by itself, but not the standard Delhi-ised melange of flavours and a homogeneous gravy. Suffice to say we would have mistaken it for something else. Then there was the standard issue black dal which was decent though I was expecting something better. Naans and rotis finished us off. Oh yes, the service was slow and inefficient; but the food made up for it all.
It was midnight, and we made space for the great glass of lassi when the dude came and informed us that their dahi was over and at midnight they were unlikely to find it in a nearby shop. That sucked. Nonetheless, a very good meal, costng the six of us 1100 rupees.
