r/MumbaiFoodTalk

Khotachiwadi has become famous for its Instagram aesthetics and the whole romantic idea of nostalgia around it now. I grew up 15 minutes away from Khotachiwadi and I have no nostalgic or romantic memories attached to it. The only thing I really carry from there is one visit with my father sometime around 2005 or 2006, when he took me to Anant Ashram for a thali. He told me, with full drama, that rich businessmen from all over Mumbai came here to eat and the owner did not give a f**k. That detail really stayed with me.

Last week I happened to be in Girgaum for some work. Someone had recently told me that Anant Ashram was back. So I thought, why not go meet this mythical Malvani Karl Marx . When I actually looked it up online, my excitement dropped a bit. Anant Ashram has not come back. One of the old cooks has teamed up with a friend of the founder and they now run a small home style place in Kandawadi near Khotachiwadi, called Naik’s.

I am a big fan of gomantak style eateries and those small Malvani joints you usually discover by accident. Naik’s was already all over the web, so I was not expecting some unheard of secret.

We went for an early dinner and met the owner(Rajesh) and the chef (Vijay) who has been cooking since the Anant Ashram days in the early 80's, right up till it shut in 2007. The place is run by the three of them, Vijay, the owner and his wife (Darshana). All through the meal the owner kept calling out, “Vahini he ghya, Vahini te ghya,”. I did not hear him use her actual name even once.

Since running a restaurant with three people takes its own sweet time, we started off with sol kadhi. This pink Malvani lemonade, made with kokum and coconut milk, was very simple and tasted like it had come straight out of a village in coastal Maharashtra.

For food, we began with crab masala and prawns masala. He only had one small vaati of prawns left, which made me a little sad, but whatever we got was good. The masala itself was quite spicy and had a lot of garam masala going on. If they tone that part down a bit, this could easily be one of the best coconut based gravies in Mumbai. The crab and the prawns were both very fresh.

After that our thalis started arriving. We had ordered one surmai thali and one bombil thali. The surmai quality was outstanding, easily one of the best I have had in a while. You can tell the man really knows his fish. That comes only from years of buying it yourself and knowing what to pick. The thali came with rawa fried fish, a fish gravy made with pomfret or surmai head, a little chutney and onions, rice and roti. What really made it stand out from other places was the jawla, the dried shrimp preparation. It had a slightly sweet taste with the onions and peanuts in it, like Malvan’s own version of a Sri Lankan sambol.

The fish gravy was excellent. Very light, not loaded with coconut milk, just mildly spicy and nicely tangy from the kokum. We took refills of that rassa at least 3 times. I would happily give up my omega fish oil pills for that rassa any day.

The only real disappointment was the rice bhakri. It was not baked properly and felt a bit average compared to everything else on the table.

I honestly do not know if this compares to the old Anant Ashram. It has been more than 20 years and I barely remember the food there, only my father’s version of the Malvani Karl Marx.

Naik’s definitely stands on its own feet though. Is this the best Malvani or gomantak food in Mumbai. Probably not. But if you are anywhere near Girgaum and suddenly craving fresh, homely seafood, then yes, it is absolutely worth walking into this little place.

Was driving through sobo and saw this place and I tell you'all the cheesecake didn't disappoint one bit it was freshly not too sweet and the quality felt great. Also has their salami pizza which was the non-vegetarian version of a juice center pizza not bad but not authentic. Their tiramisu was amazing as well