| Locality | Matunga |
|---|---|
| Place Type | Restaurant |
| Food Type | South Indian |
| Timings | 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM, 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM |
| Price |
|
first reviewed by spikedeinstein
Jan 15, 2008
Well, my review is going to be a little different from the rest. Walked in for lunch, there was a bit of a waiting and i was fairly excited about trying something different.
it was 70 bucks for the unlimited thali. Now we got seated and were lucky to sit together, got the banana plantain and they served us with yogurt, buttermilk, pickle,salt, rasam, sambar and three veggies (potato based, cabbage and something else) you get puris and rice, some pappad and 1/3 sweets.
Overall the service is slow, the place is crowded and its weird because people will be watching you eat, waiting for you to finish so they can have the seat. Fairly mercenary but i don't mind that, when it comes to food i am fairly militant.
however the sad thing is the food was not up to the mark.the veggies were weak, devoid of taste and all tasted way too different for any harmony. The butter milk was pungent and strong, almost like it was fermented.
The sambar was fairly tasty but the rasam was pretty disappointing.
Also, the food is cooked in coconut oil, a lot of people here are used to groundnut oil or olive oil at the most. Coconut oil, for me is a fairly vile thing.
Overall, i get the sort of ambiance and set up it is, i have no problem but it only works if the food is superlative which it really is not(will remind people of Bhagat Tarachand, another place i don't go anymore after i got very sick from the food)
Damage was 280 for 4.
Jan 03, 2008
I am a big fan of south Indian cuisine. Being a punjabi, me and my mother have never grasped the fine art of making sambhar or rasam. No matter how hard I try and use the correct ingredients and species...south Indian food never tastes the way it does at my best friend's place, where I used to live almost every other day.
And then my friend got married and moved to the US. The only alternative Ieft for me was to search for a restaurant which served authentic south Indian food. And my search took me to A RamaNayak's bang outside Matunga station.
I used to always see this restaurant passing through Matunga station and think of it as a shady joint...however I decided to give it a shot after reading about it in 'The Times Good Food Guide'. So I convinced my friend to take me to the restaurant. He is impatient and hates queues and that was the first thing we saw when we reached the restaurant. After glaring at me for a few minutes and waiting forever we finally managed to get a seat on one of the benches.
Soon a banana leaf was kept in from of us and for the next 2 -3 minutes there was an onslaught of pickles, papad, puri, sambhar, rasam and some sabzi on our plate. It was a little difficult to ensure that all the things that were put in front of us stay on the rice plate....
The food was awesome..I ate like it was going out of fashion. Obviously the unlimited helpings helped. For 150 bucks we ate to our stomach and hearts content. I would strongly recommend this restaurant to all south Indian food lovers. It is a great experience in itself sitting with so many people and gorging on the heavenly food.
Sep 02, 2007
The experience of eating with your hands from a Banana Leaf is, to say the least, difficult- what with your fingers moving in one direction and the Rasam moving in the other! But, by the time you finish, one feeling endures- "This is the best Southee meal I have had"..
There is always a queue- Let it not overpower you. Wait it out and it is really worth it!
May 22, 2007
I have been a regular here for past 7 yrs or so.........TRUST me its simply scrumtious food ........excellent food served in very traditional way on banana leaf , good hygiene and yes in my opinion go for unlimited food .......
oh ya it doesn't burn a hole in ur pocket......a mere 60 bucks.
it's akin to guj. thali type .......simply everything......
you ought to try this one out.............
Feb 18, 2007
The unlimited Thali is the best...served on the traditional banana leaf..You can finish your meals in 20 mins as the service is very quick...only the long queue can can you down as the waiting time can be as long as an hour....Most disciplined management and great food....