Date: March 31, 2010
Time: 12.30 PM
Occasion: Returning home dejected from ICAI
Place: Crystal
Location: Girgaum Chowpatty
Ratings: ****
Courses Tried: Punjabi, Sweets
Moolah: Cheap
Pricing: Rs. 100
Quantity: 1 dish = 2-3 persons
Transport - Closest Station - Charni Road
We were supposed to go to the Ca Institute and the the CS Institute to get things over 112 sorted out, but before we even went there, we had decided where we were going to have lunch! I was told Crystal was this awesome place at Charni Road famous for Punjabi Food. I thought it would be this fine-dine restaurant which will cost me around 300-400 bucks a head. After getting the expected dejection at ICAI we left for this place.
As we kept walking along the opposite side of Girgaum Chowpatty, suddenly Hardik pointed at this shabby Looking, Old-hotels type, small entranced, 'eatery'. And I need to call it an eatery as it was a billion times crash from what I expected Crystal to be like. Just as we entered, the owner, wearing a plain white shirt, much like the quaint Parsis, yelled at us saying it will take 15 minutes more for food and we should be sitting only if we wanted to wait. We couldn't care less, but yes my stomach did as I was immensely hungry. The waiter was more caring though as he climbed up after us and switched on the fans for us and also took our order. So we did order finally - Paneer Kurma, Dal Makhani, Butter Rotis, Aamras and Mineral Water. And not sooner did 5 minutes pass, the food was already in front of us. The Paneer Kurma was more like Paneer Bhurji, faint yellow in colour, less spicy, and full of Paneer. I mean for 40 bucks they had this plate full of only Paneer. All things I later found out hardly had any salt content in them so we had to be very liberal with that. the Dal Makhani was just awesome, with copious amounts of Makkhan, brown in colour and much like the awesome one you get at NH-4! The rotis were hot, little thick, with dollops of ghee but small in size. I had to have 5 1/2 to satiate my hunger. The aamras was okayish as it was more like milk shake with milk added to it and was served chilled. That certainly did not stop me from having two servings. Later, we ordered the Matter Paneer, which had tomato gravy, less spicy again, with average quantity of Paneer. I would rate it as OK. We signed off with a 2 royal servings of Kheer. and what a Kheer it was! More like Phirni, thick, condensed milk, little burnt flavour like basundi, with boiled rice, chilled. It was the best we had till date but couldn't do much justice as out tummies were already full. The bill was a jaw-dropping Rs. 314 with us having ordered 13 butter rotis, 4 aamras, 2 kheers, 1 paneer kurma, dal makhani, mutter paneer and 2 auqafinas!
Prices as on the abovementioned date -
Dal Makhani - Rs. 35
Paneer Kurma - Rs. 40
Mutter Paneer - Rs. 35
Aamras - Rs. 30
Kheer - Rs. 22
Butter Roti (Chapati) - Rs. 4
I seriously recommend it to anyone and everyone - whether a vegetarian or a hardcore non-vegetarian like me. It's the best place for cheap yet superbly delicious food and of course the desserts. DO NOT MISS THE KHEER!!! and the BUTTER ROTIS!!! It's more like a hangout for people working or staying in hostels nearby and as per information there is bound to be a QUEUE. So go early like we did!!!
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