In a NUtshell

Good food experience in general from this restaurant, on multiple occasions – dine in as well as delivery

Address & other details: mahabelly

Meal for 2: ₹1000 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

We had heard about mahabelly from friends. However, inspite of it being on our list for months, we had not been able to make it to the restaurant till last week.

At my workplace, however I had got food Delivered vegetarian food twice from here, for guests. I had loved the food totally & so did my guests & colleagues. The vegetarian food on offer at this Kerala food restaurant was way wider than what the rest of South Indian restaurants offer.

The tastes & flavors also were closer to what I have had during my travels to the Kerala + at our favorite Kerala restaurant in mumbai – hotel deluxe, fort.

This restaurant is situated in a lane behind DLF Saket mall (the lane next to Bahrisons booksellers).

The dining hall was beautifully & thoughtfully decorated .

The furniture was simple & good.

The walls were adorned with framed pictures.

On another side the wall had a huge painting of a Kathakali dancer.

The menu card was detailed & it had a wide variety of food (much wider than most South Indian commercial restaurants in this part of india). There were many dishes that I have never seen in a commercial menu card in delhi NCR.

The staff members were good. One of them was trying to push for the popular dishes. So we told him ‘we need some more time’. We understood that we were getting into the wrong direction & then we started speaking to a gentleman dressed in white shirt. Had a nice chat with him about toddy shops of Kerala , toddy, karimeen & more. He helped us with the menu.

Loved most of the food.

Have reviewed here, the food that we had in the Saket restaurant last week for lunch & the dinner we ordered same day in gurugram.

Short description- in case u r in a hurry

Buff fry was outstanding after adding a pinch of salt. On its own it was slightly low on salt.

Flavors of coconut oil , spices & meat were beautifully playing along with each other. We also enjoyed the Hot (chilly) aftertaste. Rate the taste after adding a few sprinkling of salt 4.95/5. However, final score of taste as it was served – 4.45/5

The Texture of meat was good but we have surely had better – it might be coz in Kerala it was cow meat vs Buffalo meat here, in Kerala the pieces were smaller vs slightly larger piece here, sometimes this also happens due to meat of overgrown animal vs small animal & it’s pure luck whether you get an athletic animal (tougher meat) vs lazy animal (soft & fatty meat).

The meat here had a bite. It was juicy. Rate it 3.5/5

Overall rating of the dish averages out to 4/5

Mutton stew was excellent. The mutton pieces were perfectly cooked & had great texture. Rate the texture of meat 4.5/5

The Gravy of the stew had nice crunchy veggies. The gravy had good quality, full of flavor , full spices.

The white gravy was just too thick. I don’t remember having it like this in Kerala toddy shops, or at our favorite coastal/ Kerala restaurants of mumbai – Konkan cafe at taj president & hotel deluxe, fort. The gravy at mahabelly was too much thickened & as a result the flavors of spices & meats were lost. The predominant flavor was that of only coconut milk gravy. Rate the gravy 2.5/5

The Taste of the gravy was very good. Rate it 4/5

Overall rating of the dish averages out to 3.7/5

Absolute loved the karimeen fry. We were pleasantly shocked with the freshness of the fish (good FIFO happening in the kitchen refrigerator it seems). Small sized fish, perfectly crisp fried. Perfect seasoning. Rate it 4.5/5

Tamarind fish was hot to taste & was bursting out with flavors – a dish that was very different from what is generally served in most Kerala restaurants in Delhi NCR. We really enjoyed this. Rate it 4.5/5

Pineapple pachidi was very good. Loved the perfect chunks of pineapple & overall dish. Rate it 4.25/5

We enjoyed the above food with some very good appam. Rate the appam 4/5.

We also ordered Gur payasam. This dessert was

Low on sweet. It had enjoyable cashews & flavor of coconut slivers. Flavors of ghee & cardamom were there.

The base of the payasam was something which looked like flat pasta, named ada – made from rice flour.

Rate it 3.5/5

The gur payasam at Konkan cafe, taj President was much better. Even the ones served at hotel deluxe in small paper cups have more flavor of gur.

We also wanted to try biryani at mahabelly but our not so maha belly was full. So we ordered a biryani at night for dinner

The Prawn biryani was excellent. It came packed in 3 layers. As soon as we opened the box, an aroma spread out in the room.

The Aroma was of a combination of rice & spices.

There were 3 layers – an orange layer of rice at the bottom, a layer of large curried prawns in the center & a top layer of white biryani rice , garnished with brown fried onions.

The rice had Flavors of ghee, full spices but the flavor of rice over powered everything.

The curried prawns were outstanding – both the onions & spice dry gravy & the prawns themselves.

The prawns had been cooked with precision – not too much, not less. They were as good as they could get – way beating my expectations

We had been pampered by fresh prawns from Sassoon dock during our 4 year stay in mumbai.

This was the first time prawns in land locked delhi tasted so good & came out in such good texture.

The rice was short grain & aromatic. It had a bite. It was borderline well cooked. A bit less wud have ensured it being partially cooked.

Rate the taste 4.75/5, flavors 4.75/5, texture of prawn 4.95/5, texture of rice 3/5. Overall rating of this dish averages out to 4.25/5

We also had ordered Mutton roast. It had a very good gravy with flavors of meat, spices & coconut. Rate the gravy 4/5

The Meat pieces however were a bit undercooked, maybe the animal was too big. It was however good to taste. Rate it 2/5

Rate the dish 3/5 overall.

Overall rating of food at mahabelly averages out to 4/5

While the rating is less that at many other places, there was something about the food that we liked – enough to do a re visit. To try out the vegetarian dishes (I very fondly remember the first two occasions of vegetarian food delivered from here).