Name: Pratap's The Dhaba
Location: Link Plaza, Oshiwara
Contact: 022 – 263222323
Date of Visit: 1st October, 2011 [Dinner]
Yummm..mmy. Go to this Dhaba and try out their Chawla’s Special chicken. You will not want to stop eating and probably not need a finger bowl as well, if like me you end up licking your fingers clean. When I think about it, the taste of that creamy chicken gravy is still lingering in my imagination. I would love to try my hand at making it one day, but don’t worry I don’t think I will be able to unleash the mystery behind this Chawla’s special recipe. I think I will have to bribe the chef for that.
Ambience
I have just one word, strange. They have tried really hard to bring the Punjab ka Gaon and Dhaba feel in the chaos of Mumbai city. The owners’ attempt makes the place look strange in a lot of ways. They have these statue figures in a village like setting which makes it look different but not appealing. The seating is traditional, with woven cots and bolsters and lanterns to light up the outside seating area. The inside seating area is regular and a little cramped up.
Value For Money
In this side of the city, with good food, decent ambience, the food was very reasonable. This is a fairly inexpensive and a very affordable place. I noticed a lot of families and groups with little children, also seated around us.
Menu
The menu, just like the ambience, is strange. It is a wooden board shaped like a flag, it is meant to be user friendly, but its not. It is really difficult to handle this menu. The list of items is short and precise. The menu does not include similar looking items, with the same taste and curry but different names. It is very direct and simple.
Food
We ordered both Chef’s specials along with butter Naan. The Chawla’s special chicken in a creamy white sauce was awesome. The creamy, white gravy was full of flavour and had a distinct combination of spices that gave it a very unique and memorable flavour. Being creamy, it did not have the slightest tinge of sweetness in flavour. The other special on the list Kukkad Bawarchi Di Pasand, was not really so special. It was good but not great and certainly not comparable with the Chawla’s special curry.
It was a masaledar brown gravy chicken but I can say it got overshadowed by the sheer perfection of the other chawla's special. The makhani dal was really creamy, and cream was all I could taste really, so yes, it tasted good but I think it was more the magic of the cream than the chef. I would prefer dal with a little less cream, so that I can get the flavour of spices in it and the texture of the dal. The accompaniments served along were very interesting, an onion punched in the centre sprinkled with some chaat masala and some pickled garlic and green chillies. The Phirni was nice, but there was no real fragrance or flavour in it to make it stand out in any way.
Service
The restaurant was really busy and the servers did pay attention to our table. There were times when we struggled to get their attention but over all they were courteous and attentive. They did underestimate our appetite a little, he told us that six naans would be sufficient for five of us seated at the table. I think we ordered about ten naans in all, if not more. I guess we really loved their chicken curry.
That Thing About This place
The Chawla’s Special chicken, you must try it out.
Ambience: 7/10 Good
Value For Money: 8/10 Very Good
Menu: 7/10 Good
Food: 8.5/10 Very Good
Service: 8/10 Very Good
That Thing About this Place: 8/10 Very Good
Good Ambience + Very Good Value for Money+ Good Menu+ Very Good Food + Very Good Service+ Very Good That Thing About This place= Good
Rating: 8 on Ten
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