First published on Instagram on 4/3/25
Stuffed bombil, Fish Curry Rice
What excites me the most these days are young entrepreneur driven standalone restaurants that feature local cuisines.
Where food is not reconstructed or deconstructed, or treated like a work of art. They just serve food that is simple, wholesome, is familiar and is of the sort that you want to go back for.
It takes conviction to go against the trend to run such restaurants but that’s how legends are created.
An example of this would be Fish Curry Rice run by Sandesh Bhat which offers Goan Saraswat food.
Shrimp stuffed pattrel
The restaurant was started in Pune by his father, late Sudhir Bhat, who was into production of Marathi plays. It was his longstanding dream to have a restaurant which served his native Goan Saraswat, Goan Hindu, cuisine. This is different from the sorpotel, vindaloo, chauric pulao, etc from the Goan Catholic side. Sudhir ji opened Fish Curry Rice in Pune, though he was from Mumbai, as it worked out to be cheaper. They finally came to Mumbai a couple of years back when Fish Curry Rice opened in Kohinoor Square opposite Shiv Sena Bhavan.
The restaurant is set in a fancy office building/ shopping arcade, but is fairly simple in terms of decor. Sudhir Ji has passed away. Sandesh, is equally committed to the business, and also handles the responsibility of their theatre produution company.
Sandesh Bhat, Fish Curry Rice
I was hosted by Sandesh for lunch there a few weeks back. The food was delicious and the passion with which he explained the dishes, and how to have them, made the meal special. Delectable light prawns curry, freshly fried surmai , innovative takes such as the surmai pedawan, prawn aru wadi and bombil thecha were a delight.
Surmai pedawan
The prawn tikolo was a bit hot for me but Sandesh showed me how to have it with sol kadi and that opened a whole new world for me. Another stand out dish was kanda chi tambori, a light gravy spiked with raw red onion which was most refreshing. I packed some curry for my mother in law. She loved it which showed how subtly flavoured it was as she can’t handle spicy food. The newly introduced Saraswat thali gives you an opportunity to try out the full range even when alone.
Sandesh Bhat explains what Saraswat cuisine is all about
Add:
F&B Standing Ward, Shop No. Unit 3, Kohinoor Square, G North, N C. Kelkar Marg, Shivaji Park, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400028 #eatwithkalyan #mumbaifinelychopped #hosted
(Indian food, fish curry, curry, goan food, Saraswat food, fish fry, mumbai restaurant, thali, seafood)
