Bhagat Tarachand
Zaveri Bazaar
Famous for its fabulous lassi (served in re-used beer bottles) Bhagat Tarachand is pure vegetarian. It serves Sindhi/Punjabi food and is normally greasy, spicy, or both. Although there are three ‘Tarachand’ establishments on the same lane (opened by separate family members after a dispute), the food and prices are roughly the same in all. They have a lunch-time thaali for Rs 90 and a ‘premium’ thaali (with pulao) for Rs 100. This gets you three vegetables, one dal, a starter, papad, rotis, dessert, and that fabulous chhaas.
Rating Excellent
Call 2242 5483, 2242 6988

Candies
Bandra
EVERY self-respecting college student in Mumbai knows and loves Candies, which doesn’t surprise us given it looks like a posh college canteen. It has a diverse menu — sandwiches, pizzas, quiches, burgers, salads, Chinese, Indian, and most importantly an impressive array of dessert. The three outlets in Bandra are cosy and have air-conditioning in parts. They offset cost by the bulk production of food which is then re-heated before serving. While I think re-heating food in a microwave is the ultimate culinary sin, the Lasagne (served with salad and garlic bread, Rs 90) is pretty good, as are the Chocolate tart (Rs 30) and Chocolate brownie (Rs 30). The Chicken and Mushroom Quiche (Rs 50) and the Smoked Chicken Roll (Rs 50) were passable.
Rating Average
Call 2600 0217

Sikandari
Pydhonie
LOCATED opposite Pydhonie police station, no other place quite typifies a cheap but fantastic restaurant as much as Sikandari. Quite the hole-in-the-wall, it has a gorgeous kheema (Rs 9) accompanied by pav (Rs 2), which in itself is worth the visit. Also notable are the fried potato (Rs 9) and the omelet (Rs 9). The gurda (liver, we hope) in spinach sauce (Rs 9) was nice, but we thought the meat could have been more tender. The khiri (kidney, we hope) and kebabs (Rs 9) is probably best avoided. For the sake of public health, we must state that one should not eat such excessively oily food often.
Rating Very good

Santosh Sagar
Napean Sea Road
THE various ‘Sagars’ as well as Sardar in Tardeo or Amar in Juhu are typically frequented on late nights and weekends, often disrupting traffic due to their popularity. Santosh Sagar, located on Napean Sea Road, serves an excellent pav bhaji (Rs 57) and the related masala pav (Rs 40). The South Indian food is pretty good, particularly the Mysore dosa (Rs 40) and butter idli (Rs 24). Although it’s not quite clear how the Italians would like it, the pizza (Rs 75) is uniquely ‘Indianised’ with its Amul cheese and the tradition is to douse it in tomato ketchup. The Chinese is probably best avoided, although the juices and milkshakes are gorgeous.
Rating Very good