Holi-day & New Srikrishna Bhojanalaya

Holi in the city and Mumbai looks like its been hit by a bandh. On my way to a meeting near Haji Ali, the roads were empty, buses non-frequent, colored people ( no racism here) moving around in groups - children racing around with phickari's of all shapes and sizes - regular water pistols to something that looked as huge & powerful as an AK-47, silver haired old men with green color on their heads, urchins and street children jumping into the sea opposite the erstwhile Lotus theatre and temporarily adding color to its dirty waters, stray dogs who must have been forcibly colored looking all red, blue, yellow and green, a young man who was already all colored up being carried by two others with a sense of purpose, a Pomeranian with green spots, young men standing outside a barricaded wine shop handing money to the guy inside in exchange for some booze and I was in this almost empty BEST bus with all the window panes down shielded from any future water missiles. Some window panes were wet indicating that some water balloon must have landed on it. Well, now you know why no one ventures out on a Holi-day !

After the meeting, whilst walking back to the bus stop, one of the street kid-color in hand, looked at me as if he was politely asking me for permission to put some color. I smiled at him and shook my head and off he went to throw it on his friends. As I was very hungry, I though I should have some Maharashtrian food at Dadar before going to the office.

Only after doing a pradakshina of Dadar from Plaza via Shivaji park to Gokhale road and finally Ranade road, I found that all the Maharashtrian restaurants( Prakash,Aaswad,Dattatraya) were shut . Groups of holi- colored men were eating bhaji's and wada pav's at street corners around Shivaji Mandir. I was dying of hunger when I remembered that there was a Maharashtrian khanawal on the first floor on a road that leads to Dadar station as I had eaten there many many years ago. Luckily it was open and it's called....

New Shrikrishna Bhojnalaya and Shakahari Upahar Gruh.

When one enters this bhojanalaya , it reminds you of the ones in Pune. Its a simple place with wooden tables and chairs and also a 'family room'.The items for the day in the thali are written on a blackboard. Looking at the menu , there is a choice between Sri Krishna Deluxe Thali(Rs50), Shri Krishna Special Thali (Rs 34) , Shri Krishna Thali(Rs 26) and Shri Krishna Mini Thali (Rs 20). The no of items in the thali go on increasing from the Mini thali to the Deluxe Thali which has 4 Chapati/7 puris/3 Bhakaris, Veg pulao/Biryani/Masale bhath,3 vegetables,dal,sweet,papad and Buttermilk. I settled for the Shri Krishna Special thali. The dal was very Puneri - a little sweet but nice. There was a dudhi and tomato subzi, a black pea curry with a coconut masala and zunka and the rice , chapatis etc. The buttermilk was good and so was the sweet - shevayachi kheer.

Don’t also miss the sign in marathi above the wash basin which translates as " Do not make loud noises here" which is a warning for people against making inappropriate noises while gargling or washing their mouth.! heh heh.

SKBSUG also serves snacks like batata wada/ misal and 'fasting snacks' on 'fasting days'. As many other Maharashtrian restaurants you will not get any cold drinks here but the kokam sarbat was good. They also serve other sharbats like amla,kaju,'jinjar lemon' and mango panhe in season.

SKBSUG is located on the first floor of Gokul Nivas on Ranade road in Dadar(W). If you are coming from Plaza turn left at the first junction and Gokul Nivas is the first building on the left else ask any local and they would direct you to it.