In a nutshell:
With a rags to riches history that cud inspire a tear jerker Bollywood blockbuster, food at bademian today is surely is not what it used to be in its peak. Its not bad but nowhere near Wow.

Address & other details:  Bade Mian

The link above will take u to the BAdemian stall & they will direct u to the restaurant.

Meal for 2: 500 onwards

Cuisine type :  vegetarian & non vegetarian

Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.

I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster.

Short description – in case u r in a hurry:

I guess 80% of people we met after relocating to mumbai advised us to try out the city’s famous eating joint bademian. The rest 20% (mostly hardcore foodies) warned us against it. So we surely wanted to have our own opinion and thus paid a visit.

We reached two stalls branded Bade mian on the roadside where they were making kababs in open air. We were told that it was a takeaway place and we shud go to the restaurant. So we ended up at the restaurant.

The chain currently has few restaurants in different parts of mumbai. This restaurant in particular was small, had low ceiling but was neatly done up. There were huge mirrors to give it a larger look, marble floors and walls and ‘covered ceiling fans’ appropriate for low ceiling areas.

The menu card has the story of Bade Mian. Reproducing a jist – as I said, it had all the elements of Bollywood. A 13 year boy reached Mumbai from a small village in Bijnaur, Uttar Pradesh. He started by cutting & supplying meat to nearby hotels. By the direction of his Fakir Guru he set up a kabab shop. The fakir gave him Rs 20 to set up shop. Those days Colaba was not densely populated as today. Business started stlow but steady & over time he became famous. Bollywood stars wud visit as well………………….

The waiting staff that we interacted with was very good. He took care very well from beginning to the end. He had very good knowledge of all dishes

Menu card had a listing of food items but no description or pictures.

Food was good in general but nothing great – a legend who lost its sheen

Detailed description – in case u hv the time to njoy reading:

We started with Mutton sheekh kabab. It was soft and juicy. It tasted good. However it lacked the intense meaty flavours that one gets in the shops selling mutton sheekh kabab on old delhi. Spices overpowered the flavors of meat. The ‘full of fat’ thick juice that is characteristic of sheekh kababs was missing here. It was however good to taste. Rate it 3.5/5

Mutton Baida roti was a dish that we hhad heard a lot about & was new to us. It had a think crispy outer layer and a layer of egg and curried minced mutton inside. Once again the flavours of spices totally overpowered that of the mutton.

The taste overall was good sans the fact that it was over salted. The minced mutton was not juicy at all and the mince seemed to be machine made. Rate it 3.5/5.

Mutton boti was soft, chewy and nice. It had good flavours of masala that somehow overpowered the meat flavour.

Charred ends of the kabab was enjoyable. Wud hv rated it 4/5. However the kebabs had excess salt and hence my final rating revises down to 3.5/5.

We also tried mutton bhuna with rumali roti. The bhuna turned out to b a good mutton curry made from small pieces of mutton. The pieces were very soft but chewy.

The taste was good but nowhere was it like the rustic bhuna that one gets in traditional Mughal food eateries like in Jama Masjid area delhi, khalique KolkatA, jamil hotel Bhopal etc. Rate it 3/5

For dessert we had matka rabdi. This turned out to b the best dish of the evening. It was thick, somewhat daanedaar, reduced milk with slightly above optimum sweetness. Loved it. Rate it 4.25/5.

Overall rating of food at Bade Mian averages out to 3.5/5

I am unlikely to get back. How about u?