May 05, 2003 02:01 PM
7185 Views
(Updated May 05, 2003 02:02 PM)
Dear friends,
A review on just about one of the favourite casual hangout for bachelors' and regular office-goers in South Mumbai.
GOKUL - the very small, modest restaurant-cum-bar in the early seventies, has slowly been evolved, room after room, to become what it is now popular as - a vast drinking factory in Colaba. It is divided into six sections, which can accommodate around 250 tipplers totally at a time, including around 100 or so in the air-conditioned sections, upto 0030 hours. The original owner, Jaya Shetty, was a very friendly man (died in an accident around 10 years ago), hard working, and quality conscious, very fond of music and was quite popular among his regular clientele during his time. Even though the quality of food has been maintained by his son and successors, the over-all atmosphere inside the place is all-too commercial, with ''no nonsense'' and unfriendly service, with no ambience at all, and dark granite stones on the walls, against which the sounds reverberate end-to-end.
Even so, food-wise, the ''Dal Fry'', ''Mutton Fry'', ''Fish Pompfret'' and ''Surmai Fry'' are of good quality and good VFM (value for money), the few Chinese dishes are quite edible as starters, from a very limited menu, which also includes basic ''Mutton/Chicken Biryanis.''
The drinks are well within the college student/common man/bachelors' budgets, which ensures that this huge bar is almost always mostly packed with foreigners, college couples, groups, birthday bashes, a stray couple here and there, gays, and a few old regulars from Jaya Shetty's times.
The bad experience of Gokul is when you feel like relieving yourself in a 4-pronged tiny gents' urinal, touching back-to-back, and the ladies have to wait behind a single wash-room, and literally travel to the A/C permit roon at the rear. Another terrible encounter is with your cellphones, that are ''not available at the moment'', as the current management doesn't really care enough about their customers, to fit a booster inside for cellphones, as most places have done, where necessary.
Gokul has a cult following of sorts and there are some people who swear by it. The atmosphere is distinctive and you don’t face fiscal catastrophe after spending an evening here. Make it a point to check it out if you are in South Mumbai, but avoid taking the better half.
P. S. Gokul is not a restaurant. It goes beyond being an institution. Gokul is a state of mind. Usually it involves a hangover, but that's a small price to pay :)
