Rajasthani

There is a small restaurant called TOSA tucked away next to a big Cafe Coffee Day in VilleParle East, station road. Went there for the second time today (this time for lunch). They happen to serve some very creative authentic marwari / gujarati plus maharashtrian food. I'm told their menu resembles that of Swati Snacks, and the restaurant is run by the famous Trupti Caterers.

We had a kairi na muthia as a starter served with a green chutney and a sweet chutney. Then shared a baked khichdi with raita (mini meal). Yeah the khichdi (very flavourful, no excess masala etc) was actually baked after the thick kadi was poured on the top and the yogurt had browned a bit like cheese.

But the highlight of the lunch was Mango on Mango Kulfi, which was incredible for the creativity involved. It's a slice of mango with peel that had half inch of mango flesh, topped with mango kulfi. They manage to destone the fruit somehow, stuff it with mango kulfi and serve it quartered. I regretted not having carried my camera. Prices are quite reasonable too.

If you are in Vileparle East, you must give this one a try. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

Try and avoid the Pastas and other continental varieties, especially when you have lots of options available from the traditional menu. I've heard that you'll forget what Italian food is all about, if you eat it here. So don't tell that you weren't warned

Status serves excellent Thalis and veg food.

It has two sections.

1.) A small area outside - which sells very affordable fast food with a few tables and chairs and some tables at which you can stand and eat. This section is an office goers favourite in the afternoons due to being in the Nariman Point business ditrict.

2.) An AC restaurant - In the evening you will find it a frequented by families. My favourite here are the Thalis but most veg dishes are quite good too. They serve beer by the bottle which is around 150 rupees.

Soam is a vegetarian restaurant near Chowpatty in Mumbai opposite Babul Nath Mandir.

It serves a few vegetarian dishes from Maharashtrian, Gujarati, Rajasthani and Punjabi cuisines so that overall you get a good choice if you want to mix and match things and experiment. You don't have a comprehensive coverage of any cuisine but that's not the aim.

 

We started with Batata Wada and Sabudana Wada. They were very nice and made excellent starters.

The one thing which would probably come to mind is that similar stuff may be available at about 1/5th the price in small restaurants and may taste better too. As long as you have that in your head you can't really enjoy this place. The USP of this place is really to give you a taste of a lot of vegetarian cuisines and snacks all under one roof.

You're also paying to eat in an AC restaurant where you get served on shiny metal plates and a leaf.

For the main course we had

1.) Masale Bhat which was very average
2.) Gatte ki Sabzi with Lacchedar Paratha which was decent.

At the end we were still hungry and ordered a Farsan Platter. We thought it would be like conventional Farsan Mart snacks but they had tried some innovative ways of making dhokla, samosa etc which we didn't really like.

Conclusion: Excellent snacks but don't get the Farsan Platter. Average to decent main course dishes.