In a nutshell:
A tiny yet very beautiful restaurant run by a chef couple that serves awesome food made with a lot of passion.

Address & other details:  Villa Vandre

Meal for 2: 750 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:

This restaurant is run by a couple – We got to know that the gentleman is East Indian. East Indian – In case u think he is from Orissa, Bengal or Assam, u r mistaken…

‘East Indian’ is a community in Mumbai who were the original inhabitants of the 7 islands of Mumbai & were the first to convert to Christianity long before the ‘city’ of Mumbai was gifted to the British as Dowry by the Portuguese.

They speak Marathi, eat a cuisine that is unique & is a closely knit community. They also have an Anthem – click here to listen: Anthem

East Indian food – Quote unquote from East Indian website – ‘East Indian Dishes are mainly served with either boiled rice or with aps (bhakri). Rice is at times presented in a variety of preparations called pullaos or arros. For feastive occasions this is substitued by fugyas, wadds, polias, chatiaps and sannas.

In curries, Bombay Duck or Bobil is a great favourite.Khudi, Moile, Sambarin, Fritath, Temprath, Gizad, Tambrinath, Sak-Sak, Tirfuri, Kald, Baffath, Indal, Salpatel, and others have their own distinctive tastes.’ Find recipes of East Indian food here: Recipes

The menu card has quite a few East Indian & Parsi food in addition to dishes from different parts of the world that the Chef learnt during his stints in different countries.

The restaurant is tiny but it is made very tastefully. Hats off to the person who designed this place.

There is usually a waiting outside in the evenings & lunch times. So b sure to go early if u do not want to wait much.

Food was outstanding. We went on Christmas evening & hence got to NJOY the Christmas menu.

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

For drink we had Tropical Blush – It was a Guava based drink that was thick & had a very good balance of salt, sweetness & sour. It was refreshing. Rate it 4/5

We also had Citrus cooler – It was an Orange based drink that was thin.It too had a very good balance of salt, sweetness & sour. It was tangy & refreshing. Rate it 4/5

We tried Mutton Khudi – It is an East Indian mutton curry. It was hot & had a grainy, thick gravy full of flavours, It was so good that we drank the gravy till the last drop. Meat was super soft and yumm to taste. Rate it 4.5/5

Next dish we had was Sorpotel (East Indian style). It was brilliant. It was hot, tangy and full of flavours of good meat and spices. Textures varied in different bites based on proportion of fat and meat that was going in the mouth. Again too good a dish and we polished it off till the last drop Rate it 4.75/5

Prawn curry had scraped coconut in it. The prawns were excellent, fresh, flavorful & soft. Loved the gravy that had incorporated the flavors of prawns , coconut & spices.

The most interesting part was teh presence of okra. Rate it 4.5/5

We also tried Festive roast chicken – This Roasted chicken was one of the best I have had recently, not just because of the chicken but the full dish. It was a full meal & had fries, sautéed veggies, roasted chicken & sautéed offal.

The roast chicken was very good – juicy, YUMM. The outer layer was crisp & enjoyable. Rate it 4/5

The offal was outstanding – every bite wud come up with different taste & texture depending on what landed on the tastebuds. Rate it 4.5/5

Overall rating of this dish averages out to 4.25/5

For dessert we tried X mas pie with creme anglaise. The creme anglaise was thinner than it shud have been & thus failed to make an impact.

The pie was outstanding. It had a crisp yet moist outer layer & an outstanding filling. Rate the sauce 2.5/5 & the pie 4.5/5. Average 3.5/5

Overall rating of food at Villa Vandre averages out to 4.2/5. Look forward to revisiting.