Soak in the warmth of neighbourhood restaurants in Mumbai's Andheri West

It’s a Sunday evening, and I am at a coffee shop in Aram Nagar, a locality tucked away within Versova in Mumbai’s western suburb of Andheri. It’s teeming with people, some busy on their laptops. A television actor next to me goes on about his next gig. Some theatre folks are reading out a script.

Aram Nagar, once a British army barrack and then a shelter for Partition refugees, is now an entertainment hub with production houses and casting agencies confined in its dusty labyrinthine lanes. Today, what has amplified the neighbourhood’s popularity is its location right off the beach brimming with sea-facing properties, and more recently, a mega coastal road that will connect it with Bandra. It has also attracted hip restaurants and cafés, transforming the economics of the stretch that’s over a kilometre long with every inch of real estate taken over by trendy cafés and hole-in-the-wall eateries, including an Instagram-viral ramen stall, named Ramen Bowl. When one talks about Mumbai's dining scene, the focus is usually on neighbourhoods like Bandra, South Bombay and Lower Parel. The city's western suburb of Andheri has a unique food landscape that often goes unnoticed. This area has a new restaurant or café every week, a unique seafood festival and a dozen eateries selling momos.

“Versova is fairly liberal in many ways. Be it accomplished artists or ‘strugglers’, it has welcomed everyone, mainly because of the creative energy. This also means there is something at every price point,” says filmmaker Abhijeet Deshpande, 46, who was born and raised here. Versova, or Vesave, was once a quiet fishing village. Today, the annual Koli seafood festival in January attracts food lovers from across the city for a taste of grilled crabs and lobsters, prawn khichdi, and the freshest of fried bombil and pomfret. Towards the 16th century, it came under the Portuguese, who built a port for trade. Around the late 19th century, the island continued to expand under colonial influence. The arrival of affluent Parsi and Gujarati businessmen saw posh bungalows come up, forming micro neighbourhoods, one of them being Seven Bungalows or Saat Bangla. The Peswanis, who took over the century-old Shanti Niwas, one of the original seven bungalows, from its Irani owner to open Nazneen Bakery in 1973, have fond memories of the area, particularly of their grandfather’s shop in Aram Nagar. “He moved here after the Partition, and eventually our family settled nearby. Back then the road ended after the bakery. Now we will have the coastal road right outside our door,” says Ghanshyam Peswani, 59, whose mawa cakes are sold under the brand 'Mum’s' across Mumbai.

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While Andheri boasts of umpteen family restaurants, many unite at Tanjore Tiffin Room for home-style Tamil cuisine, and Malvani fare at Nav Chaitanya. For Goan food, there is Sorozai with an assortment of fish thalis and fun snacks like tuna sev puri. Global influences have found new concepts like the Japanese izakaya-themed restaurant Sozo helmed by chef Parvez Khan. Best-sellers include “baogers”, a cross between a bao and a burger. Next door is Shelter by Javaphile, an Instagrammable space popular for its gluten-free and vegan breakfast options. Think sourdough poha and vegan akuri toast made with tofu.

With KTR or Karnataka Tiffin Room that opened in December, Andheri has finally caught on to the recent quick service dosa trend popularised by the tiny eatery Benne in Bandra West. Inspired by Bengaluru’s darshinis, it offers quick and affordable breakfast options. Eat the Devangere benne dosa and thatte idlis for sure. “For a long time, Mumbai’s south Indian food scene was largely dominated by Udupi restaurants, or the food of coastal Karnataka. We wanted to introduce something different starting with the dosas in this part of the city,” says co-founder Sourabh S.

North-eastern and Himalayan food is finding momentum too. There is Naga Belly at Four Bungalows with traditional Naga favourites like smoked pork, and fun twists like axone chicken wings. Mountain Goat in Lokhandwala is popular for its Sikkimese-style jhol momos. There is also home-style Manipuri and Assamese thalis at The Taste of Northeast India. Along the same stretch, an amusing war of momos has been brewing, often in odd variations and names: one is called Crime Master Momo, a dig on Shakti Kapoor’s character ‘crime master Gogo’ from the film Andaz Apna Apna (1994). The craze peaks at Suraj Lama momos, the OG momo vendor, who came to the city from Mirik in Darjeeling, and opened a small shack near the beach. There is also Darjeeling Lepcha momos, with a steady clientele.

Over the last decade, while the dining scene further north of the suburb has seen a shift with glitzy lounge bars and craft breweries, some of the old favourites like Woodside Inn, Homemade Cafe, Doolally and Sammy Sosa continue to engage diners with consistency. Virat Kapoor, who co-founded the Mexican restaurant Sammy Sosa along with his brother Samrat in 2007, and has expanded to multiple outlets, says there were no standalone restaurants serving Mexican food back then. The duo came up with a menu with the help of a Mexican chef in Dubai, and the rest is history. "We’ve had dating couples, who got married and now bring their kids along,” he adds.

For newer spaces, breaking out of the mould seems to be the best bet. In October, chef Akash Deshpande opened Luv along with his brother to offer comfort food with a focus on modern culinary techniques in Lokhandwala. “We were sure about not doing ‘pink sauce’ pasta. Instead we wanted people to try our handmade tortellini or pappardelle,” says co-founder Luv Deshpande. Akash’s French training is a bonus, and sees him experiment with his mother’s recipes. Take the coastal sea bass curry, in which the fish is cooked skin on, crisped, and then plated with silken Malvani masala.

As real estate costs hit the roof, it may take a while for experimental formats to take over Andheri’s dining scene. Until then, neighbourhood restaurants will continue to bring diners to the table with good food and service.

Rituparna Roy is a Mumbai-based independent features writer.

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