I met a friend of lunch today so it gave me a chance to try out a new restaurant. We went to an area called Kamala Mills Compound, a place where I have gone a few times and posted a few reviews of those places. My friend and I had a look around and then decided to eat some comfort Indian food at a place called Oye Kake, a vegetarian restaurant serving food from the state of Punjab. I am from Punjab so my expectations naturally became sky high and I transformed into a food critic.
The decor of the place was very nice. Felt like entering a cave of sorts, a cave that belongs to a rich thief that has turned it into his mansion from inside.
Didn't have to ask for the menu, it was given to us when we sat down along with water.
As you can see my friend and I were diligently looking at the menu, lol.
We ordered crispy okra fries, chole bhatoore (chickpea curry and deep fried bread - a very common dish sold as street food) and I ordered Rajma Chawal ( Red kidney bean curry with rice - An absolute household favourite). We also ordered saffron lassi and jaljeera (spicy water).
I did not try my friend's kesar lassi but he liked it and my jaljeera was absolutely spot on. The perfect mix of spices and tanginess and just served at the right temperature - slightly lower than room temperature.
The food took slightly long to come even when the place wasn't at all busy. I love Okra fries, so I had high hopes. However, I do think that while they did serve a nice dish, it wasn't Okra fries My mum makes very nice okra fries and they don't need a lot of batter and are super crisp. This was relying heavily on batter and the okra was soft inside. The red spice served with it was quite nice though.
We finished it and then the waiter brought us our mains. Here's chana bhatoora, on which I'll not comment as I didn't dig into my friend's dish.
That bhatoora above looked damn appealing and nice, and it was big.
My dish, picture above, as I said is any kid's favourite when growing up. Till date, of all rice dishes, this is my favourite. The dish was presentated well. The rice used was of basmati variety, also called king of rice for its flavour and aroma.
The Rajma was slightly disappointing. The texture, the softness of the kidney beans was near perfection but the taste had something lacking - possibly too much black pepper, or less salt/low acid tomatoes not having that sourness. Can't complain though. I don't get to eat this dish as often as I'd like because it's time consuming to make and my cook does a bad job of it. So I was happy to have decent punjabi rajma chawal on my plate.
The bill was around 1,000 inr for 2 which is $6.5 pp. Really cheap for 2 course meal.
Later the restaurant gave us a finger bowl so that i dont have to go wash my hands and can clean my hands, on my seat, and loosen my belt a little.
Great place, totally recommend.
Restaurant Information
Oye Kake
Oasis Complex, C 1, Pandurang Budhkar Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400013, India
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The food is strange to me. But I think the food is delicious
It's mind blowing, all 3 dishes!
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