In a nutshell:

Some Super YUMM, someYUMM & some not so YUMM Vegetarian Punjabi Dhaba food in Gurgaon at unbelievable prices, with the owner & his family at the shop floor at all times to attend to customers.

Address & other details: As u enter the one way road of DLF Phase 3 from beside Gateway tower (Jahajwali building), u come across a building on the left that has RBS. Take the road on the left as soon as the RBS building ends. Mame da Dhaba is just less than 50 meters into that road.

Meal for 2: Rs. 150 onwards

Cuisine type: vegetarian

Short Description – in case u r in a hurry:

This tiny eatery looks pretty unimpressive from outside. However, it is pretty neat & clean within. There is seating for 10 persons at any point of time – One has to share tables with strangers. Might sound odd but believe me, once the YUMM food arrives, people just stop talking & eat till they r full.

Outside, near the road there is a juice counter. The tandoor is also right beside the entrance.

Service is pretty fast. The owner is on the shop floor at all times & so is his family (most of the time). The owner supervises , takes home delivery orders on phone, manages the cash box, at times lends a hand to serving & at times to clearing plates as well. Staff members r quite good & r experts in fast service.

The 3 page menu card has a real long list of items. I wonder how they manage it. Stock-outs however happen ‘ aaj ye item khatam ho gaya ji’.

Some of the food items we had were extraordinarily good. Others were just good. One of the six dishes was suboptimal.

Detailed description – In case u have the time to njoy reading:

Day 1:

We started our meal with tandoori paneer tikka. As it was served we noticed huge amounts of onions & salad on the base of the plate & piping hot paneer tikkas peeping out of them. The paneer tikkas were super duper soft, good to taste & had mild spice flavors. The best part of the tikkas was that they had perfectly charred corners – not too much, not less. Even the dry salt & masala mix sprayed atop was just in the right proportion. I Think this is one of the best paneer tikkas in Gurgaon – better than the ones served at OM sweets & Bikanervala. I give this one 4.5/5.

For main course we started with Aloo gobhi. The first bite was quite a shock – sweet!!!! Yes, there was an element of sweetness in the curry. After the second bite I realized that the salt was suboptimal. Added a bit of salt & suddenly the weird tasting gobhi aloo was tasting good. The combination of sweet & salt & a hint of hot – good but nothing near the best aloo gobhi I have ever had. I wud rate this 2.5/5.

Post this we ordered Sarson da saag with makke di roti.

The sarson da saag was a bit watery / less denser than the ones at OM sweets Gurgaon or Bikanervala. However, the taste was not bad at all. Good balance of spices, chillies, seasoning. As it is I wud say this is 3/5.

The makke di roti was just too good – crisp outside, soft within, charred in the corners & most importantly tasty. I give this a 4.5/5.

Day 2:

We started our Dinner with Kadhai paneer. Super soft Paneer but once again sweetish curry!!!! A pinch of salt dramatically improved the taste. I wud give this 3/5

The Moong masur daal / yellow daal was just too good. It was textured, had flavors of good ghee & subtle masalas. Nothing out of the world / unique but just good execution. I wud give this 4.25/5.

Aloo methi was however the best dish of the evening. Small pieces of aloo, loads of uneven methi, not too oily not too dry – just right. I wud give this a 4.25/5.

Overall rating of food at Mame da dhaba adds up to 3.7/5. Not bad at all for a pure vegetarian eatery.

Day 3:

Went back after 6 months. Tried aloo jeera – Outstanding. 4.5/5. Not overdone, not over spicy, not too hot, just perfect.

Re tried the kadhai paneer – It was very good this time & much much better than what we had experienced earlier. While I had rated it at 3/5 earlier, today’s version was excellent & I rate it at 4.25/5

Considering today’s rating, overall rating goes up to 3.95/5.

Look forward to trying out malai kofta, baingan & different kinds of stuffed paranthas that I have heard is very good here.

I wud love to go back here many more times to eat fresh good basic Dhaba food (at non NCR prices), in millennium city where even a useless tasteless  non-authentic sandwich in some of the stalls in the Malls cost Rs. 150.

Pls share ur experience in case u have been here as well.