Bombay Canteen: Fun, Flavour and Fusion

Post date: Feb 20, 2016 1:49:48 PM

A kid friendly place for parents to chill.

Image credit: http://thebombaycanteen.com/images/Gallery/large/img2.jpg

Located in the Kamla mills complex in Lower Parel, Bombay Canteen, is a spacious restaurant with a casual relaxed atmosphere. It is an excellent place for a weekend afternoon lunch with family and/or friends.

As you enter, you are greeted by an auto-rickshaw, little kids will be fascinated by. They can sit in it and pretend to drive. There is a general hum of humanity in the restaurant, so you don't feel too conscious about your kids talking loudly. You can relax and let your hair down and the kids can have fun too. There are also some quieter tables available along the periphery of the restaurant.

The staff is friendly, willing to explain the exotic menu items and make suggestions based on your dietary preferences. They are fairly quick with bringing the food too.

There is a wide selection of interesting starters. The small portions allow you to sample a number of interesting flavours. My favorites were the peas samosas, the jowar and bajra salad with spiced hung curd and prawn chettinad served with pav. I am personally not a fan of sea food, but others at my table liked the sea food bhel.

This month (February 2016) they have added some special dishes under the 'Mother of All Menus'. I loved the fish kachoris and the aaloo dum is one of the best I have ever eaten.

I also had mutton in a coconut preparation. The meat was very soft and just melted in my mouth. The curry though was nothing to shout about.

My daughters enjoyed the multi grain khichadi included in the 'Bacha Party Menu'. If you want it non-spicy they make it that way, but it still tastes great. My daughter loved the bhindi fry and sprouts that came with it. I liked some of the chutneys that came along with it. My 1 year old and 4 year old together were able to finish the dish and loved it.

The gulab nut , gulab jamun soaked in dark rum did not live up to expectations. The coffee rasgullas with salted caramel ice-cream, on the other hand, was unexpectedly very good. How they manage to get the coffee flavour to blend so well in to the rasgulla, I have no idea, but it is delightful. And the salted caramel ice-cream complements it perfectly. I would prefer it if they left out the peanut brittle or put less of it though.

For a limited time they have Kamla Lebur Payesh which is basically kheer with orange segments. I liked this one too. It is not too sweet and quite well executed. My daughters loved it.

The owners certainly have a sense of humour which is evident from the jokes on the T-shirts worn by the waiters and I thought this was amusing too:

10% service charge and ghastly taxes will be added to your bill later :)

They have a pretty fancy drinks menu, but I wasn't in the mood today. May be next time :)

Also published on the mycity4kids website.