The food at Mamagoto is full of surprises

Our ears pop. No, scratch that out. It's our eyes, when we see crouching tigers and hidden dragons have made Mamagoto at R City mall, Ghatkopar, their home. Bandraiites fret not, Delhi's popular Pan Asian eatery has also opened a second home on Hill Road in Bandra.

Mamagoto has long been rather dear to Delhi, and we now know why Delhiites rave about the decor - there are walls covered with bicycle tyre-like simulations between tables, vintage white fans (they have dents, too), lamps made of what we are sure were once paper coasters somewhere (unused. What did you think?) and quirky pop art on the walls and cushion covers.

Quirky pop art covers the walls at Mamagoto's Bandra outlet. Pic/Abhinav Kocharekar

How wild can their Wasabi Mary get? Will the Apple whisky be potent enough to make us starry-eyed in the middle of a workday? Well, we never found out because Mamagoto will receive its liquor licence only mid-May.

We open the menu and there it is again, on the left hand side pages - an Asian rendition of The Last Supper. We make a mental note to ask our server about it and order the virgin Wasabi Mary (Rs 190) and the Green Apple and Basil Remix (Rs 190), Fried Spinach and Tofu with Miso Sauce (Rs 315) and Spicy Fried Calamari (Rs 375).

As we skim through the generous menu, we notice that most gape-worthy things at Mamagoto are for sale - the cushion covers (Rs 400 upwards), mugs (Rs 190) and posters (depending on the size), but not the bicycle wheels, of course.

We turn our attention to the menu - Mamagoto offers a large selection of appetisers, soups and salads, grilled dishes, noodles, rice, woks and curries. What they call their signature dishes are large meals by themselves.

Prawn Udon Noodles

Our drinks and appetisers arrive and the portions are liberal. The tofu sits gingerly on a bed of grilled spinach and topped with miso sauce. It is silken, no doubt, but doesn't quite match up to the simplicity and perfection of the Spicy Fried Calamari. Try their spicy mayo sauce with it, and you'll not know when the bowl stares back vacantly at you.

Next, we try the vegetarian Street Vendor's Penang Curry Bowl (Rs 420), a curry loaded with peanuts, mushrooms, broccoli, eggplant, babycorn and sticky rice. As proclaimed, this dish certainly is a meal in itself and a great one at that; the vegetables are perfectly cooked, the peanut curry is creamy and is not as heavy as it looks. The Stir Fried Prawn Udon Noodles (Rs 525) are what we would call your good ol' safe dish - it comes with rather large prawns, tastes good and you could rarely go wrong with it.

We are curious: does the Bandra branch cook up even better stuff? No honestly, we are plain greedy. So a day later, we check in for dinner at the Hill Road outlet. The calamari is identical and just as great (but of course). The Thai Chicken and Water Chestnut salad (Rs 315) is awesome and the Chiang Mai Train Station Noodles with shrimp (Rs 485) perfectly cooked and blended (it's Mamagoto's version of the Khao Suey).

The only difference is in the Caramel Sponge Cake with Toffee Sauce ( Rs 285). While the one at the Bandra outlet was divine, the version at the Ghatkopar branch leaves us disappointed. We have never been served a cake as dry as this, and though we swear by their toffee sauce, it isn't something we want to eat for a price that high.

Overall though, this is a place we would recommend. It gets a two thumbs up.

Mamagoto
At: T-34, Third Floor, R City mall, Ghatkopar (W)
Food: Delicious
Service: Good
Ambiance: Spunky
Call: 022-30932030, ext:611
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