Food Review - Royal Sindh, Versova

Andheri is home to a new Sindhi restaurant which serves North Indian dishes along with few signature Sindhi ones. I went there for dinner this Monday and was quite bowled over with the simple food that they served.

Royal Sindh sits to your right as you walk towards Yari Road from WTF! The small 16 seater eatery is owned by Harsha Vishnu. While Harsha has designed the menu it’s her home cook Ranjit who dons the Chef’s hat. Ranjit, who has been with her family since past 20 years has learnt the nuances of Sindhi cooking from Harsha's mother-in-law. I went there with Amrita Rana, a Sindhi bahu and her husband Vicky to get some gyan on the food that we were going to devour. I must say I came back with tons of knowledge about Sindhi food.

The decor is simple and the limited seating area suggests that the restaurant is focusing more on home deliveries and take-aways. The menu has a mix of North Indian and Sindhi food and we found few traditional dishes like Tuk aloo, Sindhi kadhi and Dal pakwan. While dal pakwan is a Sunday special rest of the dishes are present throughout the week.

On Harsha's recommendation we started with Tuk Aloo (Rs 100) - fried potato sprinkled with chat masala, Aloo tikki Sindh se (Rs 70) - deep fried potato patty, Paneer lahsuniya (Rs 110) - deep fried cottage cheese stuffed with garlic based masala, Dhaniya wala chicken (Rs 110) - chicken cooked in spicy green coriander masala and Mutton tikki (Rs 110) - deep fried minced mutton patty. Despite being a carnivores that I am it were the vegetarian starters that got my attention. Tuk aloo was crisp with tangy masala, aloo tikki was soft and had peas thrown in for the added flavour and the paneer lahsuniya just melted in our mouths. The dhaniya wala chicken had a brilliant masala but the chicken pieces seemed a tad under-cooked. Mutton tikki on the other hand was crispy with dal, spices and few chunky pieces of mutton. Something similar to the shami kebab minus the smooth texture.

As we waited for our main course an old gentleman next to our table voiced his disappointment on not seeing some of the very traditional Sindhi dishes on the menu. Taking notice of that Amrita and Vicky realized that a few delicacies like doda  - flatbread made with jowar and fresh garlic, lola and beeh – lotus stem preparations are missing. However, we were told that more dishes will be added in the menu soon.

The main course justified the expectations that were built by the amazing starters. Bhugha mutton (Rs 170) - mutton cooked in dry, yogurt based gravy was light with minimal spices and tender mutton falling of the bones. We wiped it clean with hot phulkas slathered with ghee (Rs 15), Bhindi tali hui (Rs 99) - deep fried okra and Aloo gobi (Rs 99) - a very home like rendition of the cauliflower sabzi. The Sindhi kadhi (Rs 130) - a concoction of gram flour, tamarind and vegetables and rice was unanimously liked. We were surprised to find out that there are 16 different ways of making Sindhi kadhi. Well, I haven't tried all of them but the one I ate at Royal Sindh was something I can go back for.

For dessert we ordered Chashni bread (Rs 40) which was a relatively guilt free version of Shahi tukda. The fried breads were dunked in sugar syrup and were topped with cream instead of the heavy rabdi.

Sindhis are known for their ability to eat papad with almost anything but we were surprised to see none of it on the table. Papad or no papad Royal Sindh definitely gets thumbs up from us. Dal pakwan, here we come!

Must try – Bhugha mutton, bhindi tali hui
A meal for two – Rs 800 + taxes

Address:
Shop No. 2, Ground Floor,
Opp. Jewel Shopping Centre,
J.P. Road, Versova,
Andheri (W)
Mumbai - 61
Phone No.:
022 6535 6625/26, 98205 60835

Facebook: www.facebook.com/royalsindh1
Twitter: @royalsindh