You know you live in a city with a strange sense of humour when you go to a street-food-themed restaurant to eat street food
New Restaurant
Khau Galli
Near Versova Telephone Exchange, Four Bungalows Andheri West
Telephone: 26334352
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You know you live in a city with a strange sense of humour when you go to a street-food-themed restaurant to eat street food. We'd rather eat it on the street, right? But as a friend wisely pointed out, Andheri doesn't really have a full street dedicated to food. Hence, Khau Galli. The outside resembles a double decker bus with photos of a man, the tricolour painted on his face.
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Inside, Khau Galli is confusion central but there's nothing 'Mumbai' about it. The street-lamps have an old Delhi feel to them, the floor doesn't quite resemble a street, and the chaat section has a fluff and cardboard 'sky'!
There are several stalls though like the typical street hand-carts made super kitschy with antique jewellery.
That's a nice touch. You pay at one stall, pick up coupons and then eat your way through.
We start off with Bhutta, Egg Half Fry and a Khau Galli Special Chicken Frankie. The restaurant is already teeming with people, though you get your order pretty soon. The Bhutta is yum though how wrong can you go with burnt buttered corn with lemon? The eggs are delicious and authentic. The Frankie floors us. It's classic and extremely generous with its chicken chunks and uneven bits of cheese. It's tangy with masala, succulent with meat, and the egg-coated roll is perfectly thin.
We're in need of liquid refreshment, so back to the cash counter. We pick a Sweet Lime Juice, Chhaas and a Thanda Pani Puri as well. The Sweet Lime, like everything else here, gets made in front of us, fresh, non-sweetened and non-iced, like we asked. The Chhaas, cold, thick and with a huge helping of chopped chillies and curry leaves, is refreshing. The Pani Puri stuffing isn't salted enough. It isn't as mouthwatering as the chaat dished out by theu00a0 guy outside Elco.
So far, we've been walking around the faux street as we stuff our faces, but for the main course, we decide to take a trip downstairs, though it seems crowded. Armed with a Sada Dosa and a Veg Sandwich, we make our way to the seating area and are pleasantly surprised.
It's made to look like the interior of a train (long distance, we are guessing). The seat cushions have a polished metallic gleam to them. Every table faces a window which is actually an LCD screen that runs scenery in loop. As we tuck into the Sada Dosa and Sandwich, the fake train makes its way into some part of Punjab, stops at a signal and enters a tiny station in West Bengal.
This part of the meal is great fun, despite the Sada Dosa not living up to expectations. While the coconut chutney is mild and tasty, the dosa is bland and the sambhar, watery. The Sandwich is stuffed to bursting with potatoes, beetroot, onions and cheese as most street sandwiches are. Only, it doesn't have the complimentary dab of butter.
There are Jalebis and Rabdi and Gulab Jamun on offer but we can't eat another bite.
In terms of du00c3u00a9cor, we prefer the seating area downstairs to the confused interiors on top. Tastewise, Khau Galli gets its street flavour perfect except for the Pani Puri and Dosa. It's a good attempt at bringing together all of the city's flavours under one roof. At least, go for the Frankie.
All reviews are done anonymously and paid for by Sunday MiD DAYu00a0u00a0
Dinner for 2
Rs 590
Worth it?
Yup!
