In a nutshell:
A classy traditional look restaurant that serves Yumm west Indian coastal food.

Address & other details:  Konkan café

Meal for 2: 2000 onwards

Cuisine type :  vegetarian & nonvegetarian

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:

The restaurant is located inside Vivanta by taj – president. The inside of the restaurant  has a completely different feel to it.

An ornate pillar in the center draws attention.

Beautiful wall hangings / installations are all around.

The middle area is like a courtyard around which there are open balcony type areas.

One can see an open kitchen on one side

The utensils are all traditional, made of metal – they are very heavy.

Menu card is pretty easy to go thru, with good description of the food items.

Service was good on both occasions, though  both times, inspite of request ( to serve one by one, as and when they are ready, coz we wud share) , all dishes were served together.

Food was very good in general, still longing to get back

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

Day 1: lunch

Lamb soup medium thick, full bodied flavour of good meat, spices. Not hot. Gives a mouthful of taste and flavour. Outstanding. Flavour of curry leaves. 4.5/5

White chutney, yellow Dal based chutney, red chutney tomato based, green chutney pudina based. Loved the dal based one.

Papad and dried fried red chilly was excellent. The chilly was hot, crisp and full of enjoyable flavour.

Solkadi was not as rustic as say in Gomantak or satkar rice plate house. It was however very good on its own. It had its own way, slightly thicker, slightly paler. Rate it 4/5

Meen pollichatu was rawas in banana leaves served on a sizzler plate. There were crunchy  flavourful thickly chopped onions and garlic cloves on the top.

Loved munching on them. The fish had spices but they were not on the face. Onions in the masala added a sweetish tinge. The smokey flavour and a burnt feel was enjoyable. Fish was very nice. Rate it 4.25/5.

Mutton mapas was mutton cooked in coconut milk and coriander. Excellent it was. The gravy was thick, had loads of flavours and was just too good.

The meat pieces were small, super soft and melt in the mouth. Rate it 4.5/5

Appam was one of the best I hv had in a while. It was crisp on the outside, very soft within. It had a mild sweetish tinge to it and a fermented feel that was enjoyable. Rate it 4.25/5. Wud hv rated it higher if it Wud hv been served warmer – I guess it took more than prescribed time to b transported to table from oven.

Neer dosa was soft, had no fermented feel and had a bit of uneven texture. Very good but I have had better. Rate it 4/5

For dessert we tried elaneer payasam. It had scraped coconut in place of rice. Wow, what a taste. Full bodied flavour of coconut and milk along with that of good cardamom. Somewhat thick liquid payasam that was the showstopper. Rate it 4.75/5

Day 2

This occasion we went to the restaurant for breakfast:

We started with Neer moru –  it was buttermilk. We tried both versions – the plain and the mAsala.

The plain one was very good, but not something that everyone will like. It was rustic, had a fermented feel to it, was strong in taste and flavour, tad more sour than usual restaurant variety and pretty close to the real thing. Super loved it. Rate it 4.5/5

The masala neer moru was very good as well but was much more ‘tamed’ and ‘urbanised’…… A bit different than the rustic rural version. Yet liked it a lot as it is. Rate it 4.25/5

Ramassery idli was very good. Super soft, yet not too fluffy, had a bit of fermented feel to it and was very enjoyable.

I still like Murugan idly better. Rate the idly 4.25/5

Egg roast was excellent – organic eggs made into a curry coastal style – curry leaves, spices.

There was a mild sweetness due to onions which I enjoyed. Rate it 4.5/5

Kheema masala was mind blowing – it was able to retain the intense taste and flavour of meat while allowing spices to mKe their presence felt. A brilliantly executed dish I must say. Rate it 4.75/5

We also had an outstanding Malabar parota with the kheema. It was super flaky, crisp outside and soft inside

Navadhanya dosai was something that we enjoyed a lot – it was made from a multigrain mix. The dosai was crisp and very Yumm as it is. The aloo, served separately, was very simple yet very Yumm.

Rate it 4.5/5

Loved the sambhar a lot too. It was full of flavours and super Yumm to taste. The spices were not on the face yet very effective. Rate it 4.25/5

Overall rating of food at Konkan cafe averages out to 4.4/5

Wud surely revisit.