There is never a better time to be a meat eater in Mumbai than the month of Ramadan, when streets come alive with delectable aromas in the evening as Muslims prepare to break their fast.
Traditionally called iftar, the evening meal is partaken after sunset. Many Muslim families break the fast at home with dates, fruits, tea, meat and sweetmeats. India Ink’s Mumbai bureau set out on a rather more ambitious iftar, visiting some of the most popular restaurants to break the Ramadan fast, widely referred to as Ramzan in India.
We started at Shalimar, a local favorite in Mumbai’s Bhendi Bazaar neighborhood, a bustling commercial area, lined with street side stalls and shops selling everything from electronics to antiques.
On this particular evening, there was a rather large goat parked promisingly at the entrance of the restaurant, while customers streamed past nonchalantly. Famous for its kebabs and North Indian cuisine, Shalimar draws crowds from all over the city for its mouth-watering biryani.
We ordered the raan biryani, which is a slow-cooked preparation of rice with a whole leg of lamb. The biryani was par excellence, fragrant and flavorful, without being exceedingly spicy. We also tried the chicken tikka kebab, though it was dry and paled in comparison to the biryani. A word of caution: bring a large group so you can sample many dishes because the portions are generous. Our waiter looked terribly disappointed with our meager appetites.
Just next door to Shalimar is the Noor Mohammadi Hotel, an unassuming eatery frequented by the likes of the tabla maestro Zakir Hussain and the Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt. At the entrance, hovering over an oversized griddle was a man grilling shammi kebabs, a patty made out of ground beef flavored with green chiles. We promptly ordered some and were not disappointed; the kebab was succulent and delicious.
Next we moved on to the restaurant’s speciality, nalli nihari, a Ramadan specialty, a curry of beef or mutton slow cooked on a charcoal fire through the night and eaten in the morning before the fast begins. Served with warm khameeri roti, a flaky leavened bread that is deep fried, and a pickle made of chopped ginger and green chiles, this dish is not for the fainthearted. The rich, tender meat swims in a spicy gravy laced with fat and melts in your mouth. A few bites of the rich nihari here and we were ready to call it a night.
But we persevered. No Ramadan food trail is complete without a visit to Mohammed Ali Road. Here, as you approach the unmistakable green minarets of Minara Masjid, the narrow, crowded and brightly lit lanes are lined with vendors selling charcoal-grilled meats and sweets.
We stepped into the rather deceptively named Chinese -n-Grill near the mosque, famous among Mumbai’s foodies for its grilled kebabs. The extensive menu had many Indian Chinese dishes and said that the owners had only introduced Indian cuisine as an afterthought because of popular demand. However, none of the other patrons in the restaurant there, Indian or otherwise, appeared to have ordered anything remotely Chinese.
We decided to stick to the Indian food, as well, and ordered the seekh kebab, a dish made of charcoal grilled minced meat (in this case lamb), and tangdi kebab, chicken drumsticks laced with spices. Both were serviceable but hardly anything to write home about. The chicken was a bit on the dry side and the lamb seekh could have used more seasoning.
And just when our stomachs were about to give way, we ended the night at the famed Suleiman Usman Mithaiwala, a stand situated at the base of Minara Masjid. Specializing in Ramadan sweetmeats, the store is best known for its “firni,” a creamy dessert made of rice and milk that resembles rice pudding. It also comes in mango and saffron flavors.
Also excellent was the malpua, a milk-based pancake fried in ghee and dipped in sugar syrup and served with rabri, a rich milk-based sweet. Like the biryani at the beginning of our evening, this dish is best shared with a half a dozen friends and family members because it’s just that big.
