goaikar goan cuisine — Restaurant in Mumbai

I ordered one bombil fry, one squid fry, 2 surmai spl thalis, one chicken cafreal, one masala papad, one bhakri, one steamed rice, and one Sprite. Three of us. Total bill: 2160. Conclusion: food not up to the mark nor value for money. Read on for details.

Onto the food: The thalis were passable. The fish wasn't fresh. At least 2--3 days old. When I informed them about it, I was informed that it was fresh, which was not my experience. The javla wasn't good at all. There was no fish in the fish curry, just a couple of small prawns in the prawn curry provided in the thali.

Bombil fry: We got 4 pcs of bombil fry, whereas the norm is around 6 pcs. The fish itself was okay, but for the price, the dish wasn't satisfactory.

Squid fry: This dish came out inedible the first time around. It was fried in burnt oil, as was evident from the taste and appearance, and the squid was completely overcooked. Because this was so apparent, they replaced it. The second round was alright, but by that time, it felt pointless.

Masala papad: They comped the masala papad because "iska ek side toota hai" and also because they were trying to compensate for the bad squid fry. Who says that to a customer?!

Chicken cafreal: This was the biggest disappointment. Although the dish tasted alright, the chicken pieces were just bone. There were 4-5 pieces of chicken in a dish costing 340 INR, and they were mostly bone. That was the last straw for me.

When handing the spoons to us, the service guy was holding the food end instead of the handle. That was pretty bad to see.

All of these points were conveyed to the girl sitting at the counter, but she called for someone called Vedant after listening to me speak for at least 2 min. I was to convey everything to him again. When I was repeating myself, a lady stepped in from the kitchen and started telling me about the freshness of the fish, which seemed to drive the conversation into an argumentative mode rather than a constructive mode.

The five-star reviews here are mostly ones by people with a conflict of interest, and I wouldn't trust them. I must say to the owners that if you're serious about your customers, please listen to them when they are being reasonable and conveying honest feedback to you. It takes time, and it's not their obligation. Customers provide feedback because they want to see you succeed.

PS: For a Sunday dinner service at around 7:45 pm, they did not have any goa-specific fish. Just the usual surmai, pomfret, bangda. Extremely disappointing.

In sum, there's some Goan-ness to their food, but there's a long way to go before I can rate their food five stars. For now, I'm sticking to any of the other well-established seafood restaurants...

Nothing Goan About the place.

We ordered: Bombil Fry - Deep Fried and Crisp Outside and Inside as well. Also the Masala isn't authentic Goan. Jawla Wada - Authentic Jawla Wada (Daangars) are supposed to be fluffy. The one at this hotel are basically Kandaa Bhajis with no flavour of the Jawla Permeating through. A big Big disappointment! Also found a piece of nylon net in one of the wadas. Fried Pomphret : Goan fish preparation is Tawa Fried (Shallow fried). But this monstrosity was so deep fried that the fishmeat had become hard. Also the fish itself was bland without any masala. Threw half of it as it was not agreeing to our palate. Prawns Curry: Was the only redeeming dish in the entire thali. 👍 Bangda Curry: Lacked the sour-spicy taste that Bangda Curry is supposed to have. This also had 2 "huge" half-inch pieces of Bangda which felt like an insult to a paying customer. Egg Bhurji: Why was this in a fish thaali God only would know, but then again authentic Goan Bhurji is made using desecrated coconut. This bhurji was watery and third-rate. Jawla kismur : Dear Chef.. Please get your processes right if you are making Goan Kismur... The onions and the Jawla need to be properly roasted on a Tawa along with tamarind or Kokam, chilli, coconut and garlic. The restaurant's preparation is NOT Goan Kismur but some shoddy alien replication of it. Kokum Kadhi - Like any other no distinction. Mediocre infact. Rice : Sticky rice which didn't go well with the prawn curry or the bangda Curry or the Kokum kadhi.

Special Surmai Thali : Same as the above but had badly burnt Surmai made in a non-Goan preparation instead of the pomphret.

Wanted to try their jackfruit ice cream but was told that it was a seasonal dish (Seasonal availability is not mentioned on the menu or the many posters on the walls) so we left the place in total disappointment.

Rs. 1980 was wasted for this horrible meal between 3 people of Goan Origins.

I believe that the many positive reviews and ratings are just a result of some paid marketing gimmick that the restaurant has driven successfully.

The Name doesn't justify the cuisine, the taste doesn't justify the name, the price doesn't justify the portions.

Totally...

Visited the restaurant on a Thursday evening around 8.45 pm. When we came most tables were not occupied but soon filled up with families and small groups of people.

It's a fairly small place with about 32 covers. Service is quick and attentive.

We had the Bombil Fry and Sol Kadhi for starters. The fish was fresh, crisply fried and well made. The Sol Kadhi was tasteful but I would have preferred a bit more seasoning.

For mains, we had the Prawns Thali and Chicken Thali. The portions were sufficient for one person. The Thali included a fry dish, a curry dish, kismur, and anda bhurji, portion of rice and choice of chapati or rice bhakri.

The fried prawns (8) in the Prawn Thali were large, fresh, crispy and tasty. However the curry had just 2 very small prawns and was too bland. A little spice and seasoning would have elevated the taste. The rice bhakri was nice and soft, just right!

The Chicken Thali had a portion of chicken in gravy and dry. The preparation was tasty and included sufficient quantity of protein. The chappati was also satisfactory.

The menu has no Goan desserts like Bibinca, Patole, Alle belle or gulab jamun / ice cream.

Overall a good experience. A gentle suggestion to look into the taste of the curry...