Rajdhani (High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel)

Thali-ho!

Yet another of the Mumbai restaurant misnomers – Rajdhani, instead of serving Delhi food, serves authentic Rajasthani cuisine in the traditional thali. The thali offers you small introductory helpings of close to 10 different dishes, and you have full freedom to gorge some more on whatever you like. The two variants of fries, mostly besun-based, are quite tasty especially with the green chutney. It is then time to take a few small but hot chapatis, and try them out with paneer, potatoes or the iconic Rajasthani gatta, another besun-based dish that is largely bland in itself but tastes quite good in the curry format. The oesophagus-scalding khichdi, a soft mélange of rice and pulses with a generous smattering of ghee, is also worth a try, especially with the kadhi gravy that goes well with any form of rice. The ghee of course is far in moderation compared to what you usually get with anything in Rajasthan. Throughout the meal, the dahi vada, a dumpling in spiced curd, gives your system some variety as it cools you without taking away any of the flavour of the day. For dessert, shrikhand (a sticky milk-based paste) or kheer (sweet milk) just provides the perfect finale, and the Mysore paak variant only adds to it all. Unfortunately for Rajdhani, the excellent food is marred by extremely poor service. Whether it is due to understaffing or the fact that the thali is the only thing anyone ever eats here, you need to ask the steward far too many times for the same thing, and end up giving up the idea eventually. This is especially disappointing given the amount of colour service usually adds to the splendour of a Rajasthani thali anywhere else in India (and especially at the chokhi dhanis within Rajasthan itself), and the fact that the stewards are suitably decked up for the occasion as well. Also, the EDC terminal is often defective, leading to customer embarrassment when the payment card refuses to work and s/he is short of cash. It looks as though like the name itself, the idea of the essential constituents of a Rajasthani jeeman too have got a little befuddled at Rajdhani.

Ambience                ★★★
Service                    ★★
Presentation            ★★★★
Taste                      ★★★★


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