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Restaurant in Kandivali (W)
Rated: Good
based on 3 reviews
The Village
1st Floor, Raghuleela Mall, Kandivali (W), Mumbai
- place added by ilovevodka
- About
- Photos
| Locality | Kandivali (W) |
|---|---|
| Place Type | Restaurant |
| Food Type | Indian |
| Price |
  Expensive
|
- Additional Information
-
Pure vegetarian
Credit cards accepted
- Write a Review
-
first reviewed by saffrontrail
- User Reviews (3)
Apr 26, 2008
village never had it so good
Everything seems to have been written about. Whilst it is obviously VFM place, would not be on my list of priorities for a repeat.
Jul 29, 2007
just what the name should offer
Last weekend we had a family dinner at a restaurant called "Village". This is a rather interesting and unique concept place located in Raghuleela mall at Borivali (west). The idea is you pay Rs.300 per head and get an entry which gives you access to all the food that is available that evening at the place. Cuisines available are Rajasthani, Gujarati, Punjabi and live "chaat" counters. Entry is first-cum basis and they don't accept reservations. And that's also because the seating is free style, you just about corner off a table where you set base with your team and then go about on the food hunt.
It's a very gujarati/rajasthani influenced set-up of a typical village with a town square which has a huge articial tree under which tarot card readers, bead sellers, mehendi-walis are located serving the diners. The seating is also very typical with khatiya (cots) and tables. If you move around you will see some rather interesting tables like a truck which had a table set behind its back and a rickshaw split open to fit a four-seater table.
We entered the place at about 8PM and it was moderately crowded but in no time the place was jam packed. Just around that time they start the entertainment show where a bunch of ladies perform a traditional dance and a man saddled on a costume horse does a little jig too! Thankfully after the dance there was a small break and a puppet show kept the noisy kids busy for a while. The large space gives them great freedom to run around like crazy.
Spread out across the place are various food counters where you can just about eat anything as much as you like. We had pani-puri, sev puri, masala khicha, khama dhokla, vada - And a bit more just for starters. I didn't seem to like the khicha very much it was too salty. Maybe the masala papad would have been a better bet!
The pav bhaji was a good choice, because the pav is soft like cotton and absolutely delicious. The center court is where you have the main course items like panner ki sabzi, dal baati, khichu, karela kish-mish, gatte ki sabzi, biryani, khichdi, kadi, dal dokhli accompanied with bajre ki roti, tandoori roti, phulka, channa batura. For a sweet ending there was gulab jamun, jalebi, dal ka sheera, kulfi and kadhai doodh.
For refreshments don't expects the cokes and pepsis of the world around here. There is sugarcane juice, chaas (butter-milk) and a gole wala if you want to suck up some flavoured crushed ice. Oh and yes they have a hooka counter also where you can pick a flavour of your choice. But this ain't included in the 300 bucks we paid earlier.
Verdict: The place is a good experience, tends to get a bit loud with all the naach-gaana. Strongly recommended that you go there in groups - couples stay away and surely not for those looking for a nice quiet place to chat. Food is good variety and quality but nothing awesome about it. I am not sure if I would go back again.
Mar 26, 2007
A new concept with the same old food
Village is a buffet type regional cuisine place inside a mall, the Raghuleela Mall at Kandivli (W)to be precise. We were driving around aimlessly to try out a new place for Sunday lunch and since we had some work at Link road Malad, we decided to try out this place. It was also mentioned in the What's Hot supplement that comes along with TOI Mumbai edition on Fridays.
About Village
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It is a large hall with a traditional village kind of ambience. Three counters serving Punjabi, Gujarati and Rajasthani cuisine respectively, cots and chairs strewn around the place with tables, a central place where they have live musicians and dancers, plus some autos, tempos and lorries converted into interesting seating arrangements.
The experience
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We were welcomed by a guy applying 'tilaks' to men and women alike and a glass of cold chaas (and by some REAL LOUD MUSIC).
Once inside, we saw a lady performing the traditional Rajasthani dance performance to some live music that was quite loud for an eating joint. The place was quite crowded but there were enough seats to accomodate more people. Each of the regional counters had over 15 varieties.
Some of them in the Punjabi couter were Chole, Parathas, the grilled mushroom and cauliflower, Veg 'Kolhapuri', Dal Tadka etc.
The Gujarati counter had some interesting dishes like the Parwal in green gravy, Mixed Kathor nu shaak (mixed sprouts in a spicy sweet gravy), dahi kadhi, bajra ni khichdi, ghee rice, chilas were made fresh in the live counter, bajra rotis, etc...There were the staple dhoklas and khandvis ofcourse, along with kanda bhajia and methi bhajias.
The rajasthani counter had mainly chaats.
The desserts were kadhai wali doodh (milk simmering away in a large kadai with malai floating on the top, garnished with saffron and chopped nuts), moong dal halwa floating in ghee, jalebis, shrikhand, gulab jamun, kulfis from the ice box like the roadside kulfi-wala, golas and sugarcane juice from the live counters.
Add-ons
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They have attempted the mela kind of ambience by throwing in some hukkas, palm reading lady, mehendi lady, pupper show...
My opinion
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While I appreciate the effort in creating the ambience (you almost forget you are in a mall) and the idea behind creating a mixed regional cuisine 'dhaba' - the plethora of choices and noises make it a little overwhelming. I for one, couldn't figure out what to eat. The freshly grilled tandoori mushrooms were good. So was the bajra ni khichdi which I was eating for the first time. The punjabi gravies were run of the mill, high on masala and oil, as in most regular restaurants. As our Punjabi friend remarked - the punjabi counter had a 'kolhapuri' dish and the dal tadka had plenty of curry leaves in the 'tadka' which is not essentially punjabi. The Gujarati food had loads of sugar in everything I tasted. The kulfi was pretty tasteless and the kadai wala doodh was just sugared milk - and I couldn't focus on the food at all while the decibels were increasing by the minute.
Rates
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It is Rs.300 per head inclusive of service charges on holidays / weekends and between 150-250 on other days.
Rating
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6/10 for the ambience
4/10 for the food
7/10 for family entertainment /kid-friendly place etc.
Worth a visit if you are in the western suburbs on a weekend and if you choose the dishes from the menu carefully.