Masala Mantar

1st floor, Mohid Heights( Rear Entrance), Exactly Opposite MHADA Lane, 4 Bungalows, Lokhandwala Road, Andheri(W), Mumbai-53. Tel: 65028944. For Home Delivery: 26396032/33.

Cuisine: Largely Mughlai. But they have Seafood on the menu as well.

Valet parking: Yes.

Liquor served: Yes.

Ambience:
As you take the stairs up to the restaurant you notice happy pictures of people with vegetables, shot by ace photographer Jagdish Mali, lining the wall. The restaurant itself is quite spacious. Bare bubs suspended on wires from the ceiling light up the place, the interiors of which are done up to appear like a cross-between an old ‘kothi’ of Punjab and a Dhaba. The white, brick-coated-with-choona walls, covered with still more pictures by Mali, give the restaurant a spacious feel. Simple wooden tables are well spaced out, giving each table the required amount of privacy from the ones surrounding it.
Do note the cashier-corner, which consists of two little desks, the kinds a ‘munshi’(cashiers) in the movies of the old days used.

Staff:
Well-informed, cheerful and courteous staff who were unobtrusive otherwise but promptly at you table the moment you required them. I have no idea if this is the norm, but on the day we were there, the staff had the day’s specials and special offers written on brightly colored paper squares, pinned on their all-black uniforms. Pretty innovative!

What we ate;
Since none, out of the 4, of us were particularly hungry, we ordered an odd assortment of dishes;
Chicken Shorba, that was a really yum broth and seasoned just right enough to border on fiery.
Gilafi Chicken Seekh; a colorful chicken and vegetable seekh kebab, which was okaish.
Roasted Kaali Miri Kebab; as the name very obviously suggests, tandoori chicken pieces flavored with crushed black peeper. It was exemplary!
Murgh Mirch; a rather unusual tasting tomato based gravy chicken dish that had a tangy taste and the aftertaste of green chillies.
Naan, Garlic Butter Naan and Tandoori Roti; all three of which were soft on the inside and crisply roasted outside, just perfect!
Phirni for dessert which was creamy, light and awesome!

I would like to specially mention that all the food that we ordered has almost no visible extra oil which is otherwise so typical of Mughlai dishes. The food arrived promptly and the serving sizes were very generous.