Saturday, February 25, 2006

The Rice Boat, Mumbai

The Rice Boat
Aram Nagar
2 JP Road
Versova
Andheri (W)
2633 6688, 2632 6688

Another restaurant from the RB chain & this one is fantastic.

Just walk into the restaurant & the quiet waterfalls on the walls immediately soothe your senses. The waiters are all dressed in Mallu Mundus & the chef is out there in the restaurant making piping hot appams in front of your eyes.

The food is divine. The fish & sea food is extremely fresh & cooked to exactly the right extent. The Kerala spices make ordinary food smell and taste wonderful. The Kanava Olarthiatu at Rs.95 was an excellent starter of squid done to perfection. Since we like spicy food, we had the Travancore Neimeen Curry (rs.140) and the Aleppy Konju curry (Rs.175). The great thing is you can choose your masala & decide what bit of sea food you want in it. The appams are 20 each unless you want them fancied up like egg appam or flower appam (rs.30) No the flower appam doesn't have any floral additions, its just shaped like a flower which is a pretty decent feat. The Malabaari biryani was so-so, felt almost like rice had been mixed with a thin mutton gravy. But the rest of the food was fabulous.

Total damages party of 3 was around 900/- which is very good VFM for the ambience and the food. They serve alcohol too. They have not yet started home delivery though.

Rio - The Met Lounge, Mumbai

Rio - The Met Lounge
7/11 Meera Apartment
Juhu Versova Link Road
7 Bungalows
Andheri (W)
Mumbai 400 061

Tel : 5602 1389, 5604 7177

Don't walk in expecting to be transported to Rio. Why they named themselves that is not yet known to me. But it’s the closest drinking hole to my place, so its convenient. They have wooden interiors which could have been reminiscent of 10 Downing Street, if the lighting was brighter. But its not.

Crowd comprises some BPO workers when its close to salary dates, some TV heroes, heroines & junta from the 7 Bungalows, Yaari road area that just wants to drink.

Music ranges from retro to everything including bollywood remixes, depending on the DJ and the time.

BOB is around 200. Indian alcoholic brands like old monk are 120 for a small. IMFL like Bacardi is 200 for a small. The imported ones are uin the range of 300 for a small. Soft drinks are 40 a serving. Cocktails range from 300 onwards. I had a Mojito which was too sour, so I promptly moved back to the old favorite R&C. Please remember 205 VAT over and above these rates. Snacks are 150 and above. The tandoor items weren't that tasty though. Complementary groundnuts were served with the drinks.

Not very VFM nor does it have great ambience. But one of the more reasonable joints if you want to do some TV celbrity spotting. Parking is not a problem and its close to home.

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