Thane

There are Udipi hotels spread all round serving vegetarian thalis. But almost all of them are similar in terms of the items and taste. The monotony makes one feel after some time that ' enough is enough'.

Another negative factor is that probably to justify the cost there are too many items in the thali. One finds that some of them are of no use and ultimately one leaves it untouched. Again the vegetable dishes are not wholesome because of the mass preperation and changes are made according to the demands. The dal in most of the hotels is watery

Swaacha Upahargruha scores on all counts. Located near the Kunju Vihar Wada Pav outlet and on the road to the Mamlatdar's office( yes,thats the place where you get the famous Misal. You need not go all the way there.Swaacha Upahargruha is at the start of the road on the left side).

The thali comprises of a Maharashtrian vegetable, kadi, dal, sambar and dahi,chapati or puri and rice.Compact. The highlight is the tasty Maharashtrian vegetable. A different vegetable is served each day and it is authentic Maharashtrian food. Again the sambar and dal are not watery. They serve 2 chapattis or 5 puris. The chapatis may be thin for someone's liking. Try the puri then.The puri is superior and most of the folks prefer puri.I was also surprised to see alot a lot of people opt for pulav instead of rice , I tried the pulav and found it was well made.

Its a place where one can go to when one is in a hurry but at the same time looking for wholesome food.Hygienic and good service. Whenever I have gone during the lunch time I have found only thalis on the table although the menu card has the regular lunch items. as well. Economically priced at Rs.26/-.

Khavayya is an awesome Maharashtrian food joint in Thane. Surprisingly, finding simple home cooked Maharashtrian food in a restaurant setting is hard in Bombay unless you know where to go in the few remaining Maharashtrian areas. Khavayya is in Thane - hence you need a visa to get there from Bombay ;). It is near Teen Petrol Pump, on the road going straight-right if you are approaching from Teen Haath Naka.

The best food available ehre is Maharashtrian lunch/dinner and snacks. The snacks include Misal, Thalipeeth, Khichadi, Vadas etc. - usual fare at the Dadar snack joints. But the best part is the lunch and dinner menus. There are limited thalis ranging from 45 to 75. Bhakris, Chapatis, rice, moogachi khichadi along with a host of veggies. The Usals and Zunka are also great. Don't bother with run of the mill non-Maharashtrian stuff here.

Two of us guys had a Zunka-Bhakar-Thecha, Dalimbi Usal, Chavli Usal, 4 Chapatis, Moogachi Khichadi. We were stuffed and overate in this - so servings are pretty sumptious and not by the katori. The total bill was 123.

I regret not having found such places in Mumbai earlier. How much one likes a place is unratable and never an absolute. But our experience and the entire setting was simply amazing.

Added: I am told the place is closed on Wednesdays.

The Grill is a decent enough sizzler joint in Thane and Mulund. The Mulund branch plays excellent music which would put some of the rock pubs to shame. Hopefully our evening wasn't a one off on the music front. The sizzlers themselves are decent and priced at about 200. These guys only serve chicken and mutton sizzlers. The ambience and decor is good, but they have made a phenomenal blunder in ventilation. The place is sealed shut in a sizzler joint which leads to a lot of smoke sometimes.

Good food apart - we are pissed off at the shady business policy these guys seem to have. They take cash only, no cards. That in itself is ok. The bill looks very shady and is hand written, not printed on a computer. The menu says, 'prices exclusive of all taxes', and no taxes are added in the bill. All these things combined, the impression we were left with was that the owner pockets all the money and probably doesn't pay his taxes to the government. Decent food apart - we are probably not going there again.

One vadaa paav and you are done, two and you need help to move. You find a huge line for the vadaa paav they serve. Used to be Rs. 6 wonly, now maybe 7 or 8. The imli chutney, and the lasoon chutney they put in the vadaa paav tastes excellent. Oh yes, and they bake their bread fresh. My mouth is watering as I write this review - its been ages I've seen Kunja Vihar. :)

This is the second branch of a Royal Challenge somewhere in the western suburbs. They have massive, good Gujarati Thalis. The massive one is expensive at about 150. However you can pretty much drown in food even if you just taste everything. And then, they start bringing in the deserts. And not to be selected from cups in a tray. It is all compulsory :)

It is on the main Eastern Expressway Highway's service road, going north from Teen Haath Naka. Near Nitin company area.