The good, the kebab, and no ugly!. Review on Kebab Corner, Andheri, Mumbai

A few days ago, my colleagues decided on an impromptu lunch at Kebab Corner at Mahakali Caves Road, Andheri East. I'd never heard of the place and was skeptical. You don't want to mess with outside food, especially in the monsoon. But a colleague told me not to act all hoity-toity (in not so many words) and I decided I could stand to be more adventurous, so I went along and I'm glad I did. This blink-and-you-miss-it little restaurant is on Mahakali Caves Road, just after the Dominoes and Garcias outlets and just before the turn that goes to Sher-E-Punjab society. That explains the authentic north Indian flavors; with all the Punjabis living there, nothing else would do.

There's a lot to choose from, with the non-vegetarians having an advantage in terms of variety. But what else would you expect from a place called Kebab Corner? We started our meal with some subz malai seekh that was spicy, but delicious. Mutton kebabs and nimbu chicken kebabs were what the non-veggies ordered, which they loved.

For the main course, we ordered a chole biryani, a raita to go with it, and a veg kebab lunch, which included paneer tikkas, roomali rotis, and ma ki daal. I absolutely loved the chole biryani, I mean it tasted very close to the chole you'd get in the north! And the cold raita offset the hot, spicy biryani perfectly. The non-vegetarians ordered a non-veg kebab lunch, which included the rotis and daal and some non-veg kebabs, and a chicken biryani. They say it was awesome, I'll take their word for it :) The beverages on offer include carbonated drinks (diet and regular), lassi, chaas, fresh lime, and jal jeera.

The service was a pleasant surprise here. All the servers are very courteous, very prompt, and very skilled. They balance trays of beverages expertly and serve platters of kebabs speedily. They remember who the vegetarians at the table are and don’t threaten to dump non-veg food in their plates as they bring each dish. This is something that rarely happens, usually you have to stay alert at a meal to ensure no non-veg comes your way. So I was absolutely thrilled with the guys who handled our table. And they never made the mistake of topping off our bottled water with regular water, which sometimes happens even in the poshest restaurants. They were so considerate and attentive even at their peak lunchtime, when every table was teeming with people.

After the excellent service, another pleasant surprise came at the end of the meal: the bill for six of us came to 900 bucks! That’s amazing value-for-money for the amount of food we ordered!

What I didn’t like about the place: The hygiene levels are questionable, at least it didn't seem like the cleanest place to me. My colleagues didn't agree, so I guess I just tend to be overly cautious. It’s like I always say, “You get what you pay for.” No, I’m not being a snob, it’s just common sense. For a meal that costs so little, I don’t expect them to be running a state-of-the-art and completely sanitized kitchen. I totally enjoyed the food, but was wondering if I’d spend the weekend recovering from food-poisoning (thankfully nothing happened).

My advice is that if you like north Indian food, you should definitely check this place out. But whatever you do, don’t drink the regular water, get bottled water, and don't get any beverage that involves mixing with water or ice. Try sticking to bottled or canned beverages. I stuck to bottled water and a diet coke. That’s another thing, they had just two cans of diet coke available. I was the only one at my table who wanted it, so it wasn’t a problem for us, but it was surprising especially at lunchtime.

Now for the only bad part about the food: no dessert! Kebab Corner has absolutely nothing to offer in the name of dessert. I’m the kind of person who lives for chocolate (a brownie would be heaven, but even plain chocolate ice cream can make me happy), so that was disappointing. The other thing is, the restaurant is pretty small and gets a pretty large crowd from nearby offices at lunchtime. So if you don’t get there early, you’ll have to wait for a table. The air-conditioned section tends to get smoky (from the cooking, not smokers), so the open-air section is preferable. For us, this place was fun because the weather that day was amazing. Cool and breezy, thankfully no rain or sun, so it was pleasant to sit outside. Any other day, it would have been so humid that we’d have had a hard time enjoying the food. Also, finding parking outside can be a bit of a problem. But if you live nearby, they do home delivery, so you won't have to worry about getting a table or parking.

Overall, this was a nice, casual place, the service was excellent with the ever-smiling and attentive wait staff, the food was delicious and totally VFM. (And sorry about the review formatting, MS is acting funny today!)