In a nutshell:
Tucked away in a corner of Old South Mumbai, this unusually named shop is not a medical dispensary but a restaurant that serves super YUMM Maharastrian food
Meal for 2: 200 onwards
Cuisine type : vegetarian
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[/caption]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 strangest thing about this place is the name. So I went to the cash counter & said ‘ Bhai, loved ur food. But am still unable to digest why u call it a health home. The answer was verbatim ‘Mujhe nahi pata, Seth Badal gaya, Naye Seth ko b shayad nahi pata’ (I don’t know. The owner has changed & probably the new owner also does not know).
Read the comments by the family below the post (after 2 years of my writing this post) for clarification on the name.
[/caption]The restaurant is actually a rectangular shaped shop in which a small part has been cut out & made into an Airconditioned section. The regular section had the same look and feel as this section sans the AC.
[/caption]The restaurant was very very neat & clean.
The servers were wearing shorts, shirts & caps – a retro look that u see not much these days.They were pretty matter of fact, not overtly sweet / warm but not rude either. Few older ones had a strong parent instinct in them.
[/caption]The Menu card was a long list of food written in Marathi & English. No description of dishes.
[/caption]We tried quite a few dishes & all were good. We were pleasantly surprised.
[/caption]Detailed description – in case u hv the time to njoy reading:
Puneri missal was very good – one of the best I have had so far in mumbai, but not as good as the one in Bedekar tea stall, Pune. The base was white beans that had the perfect texture. This was topped with potatoes and crisp Bhujia and a spicy thin gravy was poured on top. Loved it and rate it 4.25/5
[/caption]Patal usal was white chickpeas in a gravy. The gravy was mildly sweet. The chickpeas were not hard but they were not very soft either. They were firm yet good and hence retained their shape. Loved this dish as it is as well as with the bread. Rate it 4.5/5
[/caption]Suki usal was a sprouted pulses (moong dal sprouts) with a spicy thin gravy on top. Loved having the gravy. It was not as fiery as it looked but it surely got character. The sprouts were lovely to munch on. A very YUMM dish that I am sure is not that easy to make this good. RAte it 4.5/5
[/caption]Pav was very good too. It was super duper soft and a mild fermented feel to it. Rate it 4.25/5
[/caption]Puranpoli with ghee was mind blowing. It was served dry and a flavourful ghee was served in liquid form – so that people can have as much as they want. The polo was served dry. It was extremely soft and awesome to taste, as it is, with ghee and with a lot of ghee. Flavours of the dal filling made their presence felt. Rate it 4.95/5
[/caption]Piyush the drink was thick, sweet, had very good flavours of cardamom and was very good. Rate it 4/5.

[/caption]Sabudana Vada very soft inside, crisp outside, perfectly fried, not overdone. Taste was excellent, one of the best I have had in a while. Great balance of taste. Rate it 4.75/5

[/caption]Overall rating of food at Vinay Health home averages out to 4.5/5
[/caption]Wud love to revisit to try out other dishes & also repeat some of the gems.

Namaskaar !
We are Chandrashekhar Ramkrishna Tembe and Anil Ramkrishna Tembe, the brothers,partners and second generation of the ‘original owner’ of VINAY HEALTH HOME. Our father MR Ramkrishna Vishnu Tembe ; who started this Restaurant on 1st August 1940. In those days people do not opt for eating outside thinking that it may not be hygienic. So to convince the public, there was trend to put ‘Arogya Bhuvan’ or ‘Health Home’ to underline the hygienic element, after its actually decided name.
Regards.
For Vinay Health-
C.R. Tembe and A.R. Tembe
07/07/2018
Namaskaar , Mr. Tembe. Thank you so much for writing back. Your note clarifies the question we had for so long which the man at the counter could not answer.
That is a great fact to know. It is amazing how after so nany years the food quality is so good. Maintaining that standard is a really big thing.