If you want to go beyond 'idli, vada, dosa'

Discerning South Indians approach the sambar served in modern-day Udupi joints with caution. As one Tamilian laments, “How can they serve sambar sweet? It's supposed to be either spicy or sour.”

South Indian restaurants started opening up in Mumbai more than five decades ago. They attracted people who had migrated to Bombay.

But as South Indian food started gaining popularity, restaurants spread outside localities dominated by South Indians. Here, to suit the local palate, restaurateurs started tinkering with flavours. “A restaurant in a Gujarati or Maharashtrian locality would have sweet sambar to attract more customers,” explains Satish Rama Nayak, who runs A Rama Nayak's Udupi Shri Krishna Boarding, which serves Udupi-style thalis.

In the process, says Somashekhar Rao, “South Indian food here lost its distinctive regional flavour and got generalised.” Rao shifted to Mumbai in the late sixties after finishing his education in Mysore. The Mysoreans, says Rao, have saaru, not rasam. “Tamilians have rasam and it is watery thin. Saaru, on the other hand, is slightly thicker, and it takes the right amount of tamarind juice among other things to get the correct flavour,” he points out.

“In the old days, people flocked to Mysore Association in Matunga for a game of cards and saaru.” Another restaurant Rao used to frequent back then was South India Concern, which shut shop ten years ago. “The curd served at Concerns was so thick that you could fall on it without breaking the surface,” remembers an 85-year-old resident of Matunga. “If you want to have Tamilian food today, I suggest you try out Mani's lunch home,” he says.

Sriramulu Vennelakanti too remembers the old days fondly and with a tinge of regret. “In the 1960s I’d just moved to Bombay. Many people from Andhra like me were bachelors and would crave for Andhra food. Behind Matunga station there was an eatery called Narayanrao Mess. We would basically get Kannada-style food, but the owner had lived in Vizag for a while. Some 25-30 of us approached him and asked him to cook Andhra-style food for us in the night and he agreed. But once he passed away the restaurant shut down.”

While snacks like dosas and idlis are eaten all over South India, there are many dishes and condiments unique to each state. Andhra food is characterised by its abundant use of chili. “We have a lot of pickles and powders. In fact one of the powders, called kandi pudi, became known as gunpowder because it was red hot,” laughs Vennelakanti. 

Although sambar seems ubiquitous in the south, it has no place in a traditional Malayali meal, says Dr A Venugopal, former BARC scientist. “We serve avial, olan, kalan, and erussery (types of curries) with rice,” he says.

Old-timers suggest Udaya, near Chembur East station, is where you might get authentic Kerala food cooked in coconut oil. Then there’s the West Coast Diner in Dahisar, which has a wedding dish called Chicken 16 for which it’s worth going all the way.

Deluxe in Fort, Sneha in Mahim, Rice Boat in Bandra East and 7 Bungalows in Andheri deserve a mention too. One item you should not miss at these places is tapioca (an accompaniment to curry), which is unique to Kerala cuisine. “The story goes that the king of Travancore ordered tapioca (native to South America) when there was famine in Kerala. But even a royal order could not persuade the population to eat this. Frustrated, the king devised a plan where he grew tapioca in a garden and put up a board announcing that anyone caught stealing would be punished. Within two days all the tapioca was stolen,” says Venugopal with a laugh. “Today, no toddy shop is complete without tapioca dishes.”

The best day to go to a Malayali restaurant is on Onam (September 2). “We serve 22 dishes, all vegetarian, for Onam Sadhya,” says Kenneth Pais, co-owner of West Coast, a restaurant that serves Malayali food in Borivali.  

Matunga walk

A walk down Matunga gives you a whole range of South Indian food. You can start with breakfast foods. Mysore Café at Maheshwari Udyan is known for rasa vada.

Close by is Café Madras, with different kinds of dosas. Closer to Matunga station is Sharda Bhavan which serves excellent upma. For brunch you can have the bisi bele bath or pongal at Amba Bhavan.

When it's time for the main course, go to Mani's Lunch Home near the flower market which has Palakkad style thalis, or the old favourite, Rama Nayak's. Finally, when you want to wash it all down with filter coffee, the one at Idli House is considered the best.