New menu – November 2021
In a nutshell:
One of those super few places where we have revisited not once, but multiple times. Loved it always. Only comorin comes close to competing with this restaurant when it’s about representing the diversity of traditional food from different parts of india & giving some of them a modern day twist.
Address & other details: the Bombay canteen
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 lost the receipt. Apologize
YUMMRAJ rates all the food items & then gives 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
Have been going to the Bombay canteen since 2015 when we moved in to mumbai ….. to my surprise, I have written 5 posts earlier on different festivals / special menus of Bombay canteen & once only on the restaurant regular menu.
Post 1 Christmas menu 2015
Post 2 generic
Post 3 Assamese food pop up 2017
Post 4 Bakr eid nose to tail goat pop up 2018
Post 5 canteen bengali bhoj 2018
Post 6 canteen chettinad table 2019
Ever since we moved back to delhi from mumbai in 2019, it’s been a ritual to visit the Bombay canteen when in Bombay ….. mumbai.
Last weekend we visited the Bombay canteen to find a refreshed decor, enthusiastic & cool staff as always & also a refreshed menu – shorter & mostly new items.
Thankfully we had a foodie friend with us – so we were able to try quite a lot of dishes.
Loved the food in general. Floored with a few.
Detailed description – in case u hv the time to njoy reading:
B**f Pastrami sandwich – Lip smacking, unbelievably good sandwich – what a dish!!! . Crisp buttered bread with a super soft, juicy filling, that was bursting out with flavors. Loved the Good amount of fat in the meat. Perfect to taste. Too good. Unmissable. Rate it 4.95/5
Sharing a picture that my foodie friend sent me from the US on DM.
Podi b**f tartare – very good to taste. Dosa Crisps on top contrasted yet complimented the super soft & juicy meat. Rate it 4/5
Lump crab dahi papdi style – lump crab served inside a crab shell. Green apple slices on top. Outstanding to taste. Full flavor of crab. Senses brimming with flavors of crab meat. Taste had the natural sweetness of crab meat. Loved it. Rate it 4.75/5
Tandoori marrow makhani was super interesting. A big piece of bone was saw-sliced & the marrow cooked in it, as it is. Served as it is, on the bone!!! The uniqueness, intrigue & the sheer thought was splendid. The topping with lemon-raw onions, the crisp buttered bread & the two sauces were overpowering the taste & flavor of the subtle bone marrow. After one bite I decided to eat it as it is. Rate it 4/5. Wud have rated it higher if the jing bang were absent.
Butter garlic crab kulcha – we ordered this only coz we were in Bombay canteen, as Most people don’t get their kulchas right. Crazy good. Freshly made Kulcha topped with butter garlic crab. The crab & the kulcha individually & overall were simply outstanding. Rate it 4.75/5
Pork & bacon rishta was a combination of outstanding meatball & an average curry.
For the uninitiated, rishta is a kashmiri dish in which meat is hand pounded & made into meatballs. These are cooked in a red curry (kashmiri chilli & other spices).
Traditionally rishta is made with beef or lamb/goat meat. Here they made the rishta ball with pork.
There are two versions of the rishta gravy – the Muslim version is cooked with onions & garlic. The pandit version of a similar meatball dish (masq) is cooked with asafoetida, ginger powder & saunf powder in place of onion & garlic. The Bombay canteen rishta gravy was made in pandit style.
The meatball was one of the best ever – juicier, softer & more intense flavor than the traditional meats. We had this combination first time ever – rishta with pork!!! Rate the meatball 4.75/5
The gravy was average. Matamaal gravy is way way better. It had the right flavors but was more daanedaar than usual. The taste was also suboptimal probably due to overdoing of the spices while frying. Rate the gravy 2.5/5
Overall rating averages out to 3.6/5
Shetty hotel style fish pullimunchi was served with thatte idli.
For the uninitiated, Thatte idli is a large fluffy idli that, was popularised in a eatery named Shri renuukamba thatte idli , Bidadi (we were told this by our taxi driver). Remembering eating thatte idli there Onway to coorg few years back.
The thatte idli at Bombay canteen was less fluffy, had slightly fermented flavor & had a very good Chutney smeared on top. We liked this one more than the original one. Rate it 4/5
The fish curry was very good. It had flavors of both fish & spices. Very Good to taste. Rate it 4/5.
Gulab nut – gulab jamun old monk style with pista cream. Crazy. Insane. Unbelievable. A gulab jamun that is made like a donut, great balance of sweet & salt, perfect texture, a pistachio based cream with a good dose of old monk rum. Absurdly good. Rate it 4.95/5
Overall rating of November 2021 visit averages out to 4.4/5
Look forward to our next trip to mumbai to again eat out here.
A couple of observations:
1. I thought B**f was banned in Maharashtra!!!!! Recently heard Rajdeep Sardesai crib in an article that he has to come to Kolkata to order a B**f steak
2. Pork & bacon rishta cooked ‘Pandit’ style???? Now that would offend most pandits if you told them that 🙂
So b**f – as written by the restaurant, refers to buff but reminds you of …..:)
Yes it will 🙂 now that I told them
I have gone through many of your blogs & I love them. I want to do what you are doing but financially I am not well. What should I do & where to start? I have lived most of my life in Jaipur, Udaipur & Delhi but haven’t been to a 5 star hotel on my own expenses. I want to write my own stuff. Could you help me get started? This is a dream job I suppose…
Hi Shivoham. Thanks for the note. My model is to pay for the food & then review it. That way I can speak my mind & not am under obligation to write what the restaurant wants anyone to write.
However there are many others who go on invites by restaurants & then write posts/ reviews. You may please connect with such bloggers & find how to start – I decided not to go that way from the beginning. So am inexperienced on that front.