I’ve reported on a number of Bombay’s premier Malvani and other coastal/seafood restaurants before: Chaitanya, Shri Datta Boarding House, Jai Hind Lunch Home, Highway Gomantak, Mahesh Lunch Home. I am very happy to now add to that list the name of one of the most esteemed of all these restaurants: Gajalee. I’d hoped to eat there much earlier on our trip than we did—the only reason for the delay is that we were based in Colaba and all the branches of Gajalee are further north in the city. And if there’s one thing you don’t want to do after having been Bombay for a few weeks it’s to sit in more traffic than you strictly have to. But when a lunch to thank someone who had helped out with the program in a big way took us all the way to Andheri, Gajalee was an easy call.

There are five locations in Bombay, I believe. We ate at the one in Andheri in relative proximity to Mahakali. It being a Sunday, we’d made a reservation. And a good thing too as the restaurant was buzzing from the time we arrived to the time we left. It’s a fairly large space, probably renovated not too many years ago, but it was jammed.

We got down to business pretty quickly. The first order of business was to order a glass of solkadi (excellent) and then we examined the selection of the catch of the day. From this not too exciting tray we selected some large tiger prawns and asked them to be rendered in the butter garlic form. Those took a while to come out but we were not starved till they did. Proceedings began with two orders of their Bombil Fry and one order of their Prawns Fry. Why two orders of the bombil fry? Well, it had quickly become one of the family’s favourite dishes in Bombay and we wanted to make sure there was enough for everyone. Apparently, Gajalee is said to have originated this particular preparation that is now on every coastal restaurant’s menu in one incarnation or the other. Be that as it may be, while we liked their rendition a lot, we thought it was well behind Highway Gomantak’s rendition (and I also preferred Chaitanya’s by a hair).

Following the fried seafood were three heartier dishes: Oyster Masala Dry, Mutton Masala Dry and Prawns Ambat Tikhat. Given the word “dry” in the name we were not expecting the oyster masala to be essentially a curry but that’s what it was. The small oysters consequently got a little lost in the gravy but it was quite tasty. The mutton masala was even better (and also not particularly dry). The pick of the trio, however, was the prawns ambat tikhat. Despite the similarity of the name, it was quite different from the fish/prawn ambot tik we’ve had in Goa, the sourness coming here from the use of green mango. The Prawn Butter Garlic also came out at some point. The prawns were done very well but we all thought there was a bit too much of the butter garlic on top of it all.

To mop all this up we got a range of breads: vade, bhakri, ghavne, nachani bhakri (with millet) and for the boys, lachha parathas. All were very good but I particularly enjoyed the nachani bhakri. Plus some rice for the curry.

For a look at the restaurant, the menu and what we ate, click on a pic below to launch a larger slideshow. Scroll down for thoughts on the meal as a whole and to see how much it all cost.

Service was very good despite how busy they were. Our lead server was on top of things and we were not neglected at any point. Price? Just about Rs. 6300 before tip or just about $75 or $15/head. That’s very good for the quality of the food and what we ate. That said, I would say that I had this meal well behind my meals at both Highway Gomantak and Chaitanya on this trip, and also behind Jai Hind from my 2018 trip. Which is not to say that I would ever balk at eating at Gajalee. And if you’re in the vicinity of one of their branches I’d recommend you visit.

Alright, next up on the eating out front: a report from Seoul that will feature fried chicken and a market visit. That’ll be on Tuesday. I’ll return to Bombay reports on Thursday.