Around Town: Aamchee captures local flavours of Mumbai and serves nostalgia on a plate

“The idea was to look at the whole trajectory of Mumbai and the various communities that have inhabited this city, from Kolis to Britishers to Gujaratis. It was only befitting to pick something from every community,” shared Dixit, adding that the menu and the vibe of the space complement each other. “The building has an old-world charm to it, accentuated by high ceilings and arched windows,” she further added.

Vegetable au gratin (Special Arrangement)

We visited the 60-seater restaurant in its third week and it was nearly 70 per cent occupied on a weekday. The eatery spread across 2,000 sqft offers a relaxed environment and is divided into three sections: one with a view of the expansive Arabian, another with a cafe ambience featuring a giant display refrigerator showcasing pastries, croissants and other bakery options and the third and central dining space is where we saw families dining.

We took our seats at the table that overlooked the sea and began our meal with a hearty pardawala tamatar soup. It was baked with a thin layer of phyllo dough covering the mouth of the cup.

Pardawala Tamatar Soup and School-wala Khatta Thela Salad (Special Arrangement)

One has to break the soft flaky puff pastry crust, allowing it to go inside the cup, before taking a spoonful of good old tomato soup. The addition of basil oil and the pastry crust alleviated the taste, making us polish it off.

The eatery spread across 2,000 sqft offers a relaxed environment and is divided into three sections. (Special Arrangement)

The school-wala khatta thela salad, their take on raw mango salad that’s readily available in Mumbai throughout summer, was another dish we ended up going again and again for. Here the raw mango was shredded and paired with tiny tamarind balls, starfruit, dried berries and chunks of peanut chikki. To our delight, both raw mango and starfruit weren’t very tarty, and chikki added the right crunch.

From the small plates, the Parsi chutney bombs presenting aloo cutlets with chutney inside worked just fine as munchies and so did their 4-cheese hirva thecha pav. While the pav was surprisingly soft despite being baked, we missed the punch that one expects from thecha.

4-Cheese Hirva Thecha Pav (Special Arrangement)

The East Indian waffle chaat, their take on the popular street food dabeli was disappointing, perhaps a change in its plating and the addition of more chutney would bring out the flavours that it needed.

Vegetable au gratin from the Gymkhana special section was baked to perfection and was as comforting as it should be. For mains, we went for Khar Sindhi sai bhaji meal, and while we thoroughly enjoyed the caramelised onion pulao, the spinach and chana dal could have been better.

Aamchee’s expansive menu featuring diverse dishes from various communities, warrants another visit to try dishes that we couldn’t and see these early wobbles ironed out (Special Arrangement)

The desserts lifted our spirits again. The OG trifle pudding, a medley of fresh fruits, custard, jelly, whipped cream and vanilla sponge cake — which we learnt from our Mumbai-born and bred friend accompanying us on this dinner was once available only at The Taj Mahal Palace hotel — offered a light and delightful conclusion.

Dongri khaja, featuring tiny gulab jamuns and dense pistachio cream sandwiched between flaky khaja pastry, was paired perfectly with mildly sweet kesar rabdi.

Dongri Khaja (Special Arrangement)

While certain dishes left room for improvement and we recognised how small adjustments could elevate them, some shone like bright stars. Aamchee’s expansive menu featuring diverse dishes from various communities, warrants another visit to try dishes that we couldn’t and see these early wobbles ironed out.

Where: Soni Building 46, Pandita Ramabai Road, Opp Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, Girgaon Chowpatty, Mumbai
When: Everyday, 12 pm to 11 pm
Meal for two: Rs 1,400