Experiences of life: Girgaon Katta

Girgaon Katta

- Maansokta Khavyagiri (Foodieness till Heart Contents)

Food is what attracts you to a place with the name & memories it associates for you which make you go there. For me the Name itself is nostalgic - Girgaon Katta (Katta meaning a common seating-meeting place - a very common place for friends to meet & eat + Girgaon being very heart of Mumbai). Girgaon Katta a place for reminding us of the eateries & seating which were in Mumbai. The line Maansokta Khavyagiri (Marathi - Means Till Heart Contents Foodieness) itself is so apt!!

Ask Me - Find Everything here!!

Image Courtesy: Nikhil

General Tip: If a Eatery is crowded its good but if there is heavy line outside it even better. In this case i waited for 10-12 mins people were pouring in behind me. I was allotted a table (By a able & courteous staff even after being so crowded).

Literally Means: Satiating Hunger

The ambience is very friendly, warm, and like a place where you used to sit during college days (Nostalgic aint it!). It has No Frills, Simple yet elegant Wooden furniture to give that warmth & normal ceiling fans to cool you down. You wont find a AC section here which i am sure is not needed. The place is roughly divided in 2 places One inside the premises & other under the awnings in front of their own sweet shop. Yes you heard it right this eatery has its own sweet shop filled with goodies (Sweets & Savour items) which you could gobble up. This is a complete Marathi Food paradise if you ask me in Northern Mumbai (A Rarity).

Image Courtesy: Google

I visited in the evening prime time of 7.30 p.m. After waiting for 10-15 mins finally i got a place to sit. (Excellent Service by staff to allocate seats even in crazy rush). The wait had made me even more hungrier & the food served on next tables made me salivate even more :p. Once seated in the outer section of the katta A simple yet foodlicious menu was presented to me. Yes they do have jain dishes to cater to the vast Jain & gujrathi population of the region (Who flock here in plenty - good food attracts not just Marathi folks but also jain & gujju population - Always a sign of quality & taste)

The place is Pure Veg still the menu is full of varied & lovely dishes (Try them all i recommend!!). It has Snack dishes, Fasting dishes & Normal dishes, Lunch Thaali (Although Limited portion size but lovely taste).

The Breakfast Items which this place is known for is so good that i almost ordered majorly from it. So much goodness on a single place can get you mesmerized.

The Sweets section on the menu is something which you dont want to miss even of you dont have a sweet tooth. Many dishes you find in typical marathi homes & speciality eateries like this.

I started the foodtastic journey (Read: A blissful 45 mins Journey into something i love!!) by ordering a plate of Onion Bhajias, Vadas (Of Vada Pav), A plate of Misal, and a plate of single Thalipeeth. Just to start..Well these are one of the very well known dishes apart from Fasting Dishes like Sabudana Wada & Sabudana Khichdi (Which i decided to skip)

Misal Pav - A Tasty Spicy Dish

Misal Pav: It was fabulous spicy dish with lentils, poha in it perfect to start the foodie treat & with pav assal marathi dish.

Kanda Bhajji

Quit Essential Kanda Bhajji - Perfect for the day as it drizzled then. Crunchy Taste of Bhajji with Tamarind Chatni. Perfect batter fried onions just makes you want more.

A Plate of Hot piping Vadas

A Plate of Vadas. Light coating of chickpea batter (Perfectly cooked and completely home like). Inside filling of potato reminded me of the vadas eaten in dadar and at home. Its served with garlic red chutney and a mix chutney of tamarind & coriander. Mind you they were piping hot.

Thalipeeth

A Traditional Marathi flatbread with loads of nutrition (Read my previous Blog post for details on Thalipeeth). Served with Dollops of Butter (Churned one not Amul) & a mix chutney. Perfect to go with the spicy food served earlier.

With all this lovely food i decided to order something to drink. My favourite drinks of this place - 2 actually - Piyush & Kokam Sarbat (Kokam Sherbet).

Piyush - A Sweet drink

Piyush - A really sweet drink well known & found in dadar. It resembles a lassi but a lot thicker & sweeter. It contains Shrikhand (A yoghurt based dessert) + buttermilk (With buttermilk less in quantity). Perfect to compliment the spice of the food.

Kokam Sarbat

Kokam a tropical fruit found in Western India used as souring agent & known for its digestive qualities. The juice of the Kokam fruit is concentrated & used for making the drink. Water is added to the concentrate to make the drink best suited for this Heat. I enjoyed it with gusto/

After having all these i wanted something filling - something traditional so i ordered a Dish called as Zunka Bhakari (Zunka a chickpea based dish & Bhakari a bread made of Jowar).

Zunka Bhakari

The dish is Common Man/Farmers food served with tangy pickle & Onions. Zunka itself is spicy dish made of besan served with Jowar Bhakari. The combination of both is just perfect. If you want to try authentic Zunka Bhakari then this is it. The dish made me remember home food cooked by my granny. I ordered Taak - Buttermilk to go with it which was again good.

Taak - Buttermilk

After having such a lovely spread & waiting for 5-10 mins to enjoy it i ordered a dessert. The dessert was Doodhi Halwi.

Doodhi Halwa

This Bottle Gourd aka Doodhi Halwa had just the right amount of sweetness to cover the evening for me. I was definitely full but satiated to the max. The service was also quick & efficient & they served it all with smile which mattered. The meal & entire experience at the place was highly awesome especially for a foodie who would want to try a Marathi Meal. I am definitely going to go again for sure. And whats good is that they even have a free home delivery.