The global pandemic proved to be a spoilsport last year, but things are looking up in 2021 with home chefs and restaurants throwing the most epic non-veg food party
Pics/ Pradeep Dhivar
Prutha Bhosle, Kasturi Gadge and Cynera Rodricks
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Malvan comes to Powai
Pic/Sameer Markande
Rujuta Karkhanis, 38, started cooking very early in college. It was in the pandemic that she finally put wings to her dreams and started Malwan Darbar. “I started in January this year, and just within a month, I got an overwhelming response,” she says. She serves traditional Malvani food that is filled with flavours and spices. This Gatari, she will be delivering combos, which include appetizer, dry and semi-dry curries, bread or rice, prawn pickle, solkadhi and a choice of dessert.
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WHERE: Malwan Darbar, Powai
WHEN: Lunch and dinner
PRICE: Chicken combo (Rs 1,000), mutton combo (Rs 1,500), fish combo (Rs 1,600)
TO ORDER: 9152874195
Seafood platter
You can celebrate with Vinir’s weekend kitchen’s special Gatari menu. Vidula Rane Gharat and Niranjan Gharat own and operate their own weekend kitchen. Along with the famous puranpoli, they will be selling Maharashtrian food items such as Kolhapuri mutton rassa, chicken sukke, prawns kalvan, pomfret, and bangda fry to add to the joy of this celebration. Pre-orders are required.
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WHERE: Vinir’s Weekend Kitchen, Navi Mumbai
WHEN: From 9 AM to 10 PM
PRICE: Rs 99 to Rs 300
TO ORDER: 9372426296
Feast on Pathare Prabhu food
For Amita Jayakar, 41, the pandemic allowed her a chance to explore her love for cooking. She started a home kitchen she calls Weekend Cravings. Her menus explore the lesser-known recipes from the Pathare Prabhu community. Her Gatari special menu will feature crab khadkhadla, mutton rara made using the special Pathare Prabhu sambhar masala, mutton chops and chicken fry. Delivery is available across Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai.
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WHERE: Weekend Cravings, Wadala East
PRICE: Starting from Rs 350 per dish
AVAILABLE FOR: Lunch
TO ORDER: 9820908110
Channel your love for CKP cuisine
Sarita Chaubal, 45, and Rucha Bobde, 45, started Curries & Biryani in December 2020 and they serve Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) and Vidarbha specialties from their Marol kitchen. Bobde says, “Usually, a family meal at home consists of a kilo of meat or poultry, therefore we are offering the convenience of ordering by the kilo this Gatari.” The duo follows traditional cooking methods, which involve marinating the meat for at least 12 hours before cooking to get the correct flavours. Some of their must-try items include mutton keema pattice and CKP-style mutton sukka. They deliver across Mumbai.
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WHERE: Curries & Biryani, Marol
AVAILABLE FOR: Lunch and dinner
PRICE: Starting from Rs 1,000 (exclusive of delivery charges)
TO ORDER: 720879813
Up for kombadi vade?
Biryani by Kg is a mother-daughter duo’s home kitchen that specialises in authentic homemade biryani. Today, they’ve created a menu that includes a Gatari must-have—kombadi vade. Enjoy it with Malvani-style chicken curry. The kombadi vade thali, which includes vade, chicken curry, rice, solkadhi, and salad, is also an option.
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WHERE: Biryani by Kg, Palava, Dombivli
WHEN: 10 AM to 10 PM
PRICE: Rs 150 to Rs 200
TO ORDER: 8830560582
What is Gatari?
Celebrated across Maharashtra, Gatari Amavasya is the last day of the month of Ashadha (this time on August 8). Gatari falls on a moonless night before Shravan begins. Maharashtrians who follow Shravan, eat only one meal in a day and refrain from eating non-vegetarian food. This is because it is believed that this month is the peak monsoon season when the risk of ailments is high so people tend to eat light. Gatari is considered the last chance to feast on non-veg fare and enjoy a drink before abstinence begins.
From a Maratha kitchen
Abhishek Tulaskar and Rahul Kotyan started The Maratha Kitchen (TMK) in October 2020 to break the stereotype of Maharashtrian food being restricted to only Malvani and Kolhapuri cuisines. Tulaskar travelled for over two years to many parts of Maharashtra to bring together the dishes which TMK has to offer. Their Maratha chicken masala, chicken saoji, Maratha mutton fry, kolambi pulao, Maratha pomfret curry, surmai tawa fry, Malvani prawn curry, akkha masoor fry, matki fry and solkadhi are a must try.
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WHERE: The Maratha Kitchen, Goregaon East
WHEN: Lunch and dinner
PRICE: Rs 999 (chicken thali), Rs 1,799 (seafood thali), Rs 1,599 (mutton thali)
TO ORDER: 7400124900
Order ghar ki thali
Mint Biryani is well-known for curating a variety of homemade thalis and dum biryanis. This time, they’ll be selling a Gatari special thali, which includes a spicy chicken curry, rice, chapati, and the popular Maharashtrian sheera. A chicken thali costs R270 and chicken dum biryani is priced at R750 for half kg.
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WHERE: Mint Biryani, Thane
WHEN: 10 AM to 10 PM
PRICE: Rs 270 to Rs 2,200
TO ORDER: 9870383130
Mama sends love
Established in 2019, Mamacha Waada is synonymous with delicious food. It is home to some of the most appreciated Maharashtrian cuisines, including Malvani. This time, chef Priyanka Sandav is offering fish thali, kombadi vade, mutton vade, chicken and mutton thalis. Also on offer are modaks.
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WHERE: Mamacha Waada, Virar West
WHEN: Lunch and dinner
PRICE: Rs 120 onwards
TO ORDER: 9834571032
Good food for all
Bimba Nayak, member of the Pathare Prabhu community, believes in celebrating Gatari with all kinds of cuisines. So, under her venture Cooking Concepts, she has brought to us a fantastic menu that includes a Lebanese chicken platter as well as Lebanese falafel platter. She will also serve Hyderabadi chicken dum biryani and chicken 65 to make your Gatari Sunday a special one.
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WHERE: Cooking Concepts, Prabhadevi
WHEN: Lunch and dinner
PRICE: Rs 1,500 (Lebanese chicken platter), Rs 900 onwards for biryanis
TO ORDER: 9833121884
Celebrate with combo meals
Modern Hindu Hotel (since 1942)has created a special menu with combo meals that serve five to seven people. Mr Ajit Rumde has been running this restaurant and serves traditional Maharashtrian recipes that have been passed down four generations. Pooja Ajit Rumde and chef Anish Deshmukh are carrying on the legacy. Their menu consists of four-to-five-course meals that include appetisers, soups, main course, and desserts. Their main course includes Maharashtrian, Mughlai and Chinese fare, because they believe that everyone should celebrate this occasion by eating what they fancy.
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WHERE: Modern Hindu Hotel, Lower Parel
WHEN: 11 AM to 4 PM and 7 PM to 11.30 PM
PRICE: Rs 2,750 to Rs 3,250
TO ORDER: 9769628807
Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai
llustration/Uday Mohite
Tanmay Bahulekar aka Bombay Bhukkad started documenting his love for regional Indian food on Instagram eight years ago. He travelled the length and breadth of Mumbai in search of authentic and delicious curries. Over the last few years, his work has expanded to Pune. He created a separate platform for Pune called Pune Canteen on Instagram and started hosting food festivals that allow his followers to explore food from across the country. He also realised that India has a lot of festivals that are lesser-known. The latest offering as part of the festive special menu is the Gatari Food Festival, which features grub from home chefs across Mumbai and Pune.
“For the Gatari Food Festival I went back to the basics. I wanted the menu to be regional, meaty and indulgent,” says Bahulekar. He has collaborated with Aiyo Patrao run by duo Ashwin Nair and Marian D’costa, who will be delivering Kerala and Goan dishes. Shazia Tinwala of Chef With Six Pack Abs will present a Bohri menu, while Reshma Mane will dive into the fiery flavours of Kolhapur. Suvarna Haldipur of Suvarna’s Kitchen will finish it off with some mean Mangalorean curries.
For Pune too, the choices are rather meaty and varied. One can pick from Sneha Jadhav’s Kolhapuri Kala dishes, or dive into pork specialities from Angona Paul’s The Pig Boss. For an authentic Goan experience, there is Shrddha Gadge of Goenche Kitchen. Try her mutton befado for sure.
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AVAILABLE ON: All of Sunday
PRICE: Meal for two for Mumbai is Rs 1,999 and Rs 1,499 for Pune
TO ORDER: Visit @bombaybhukkad or @punecanteen on Instagram
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