Keep it simple

Juhu's new coastal eatery offers quiet decor and large portions. But consistency in quality of taste is sorely missing. Advice: Steer clear of fancy dishes

When it comes to Mumbai's seafood restaurants, there's no dearth of options. There are cheap eateries offering regional Konkan fare for the working class, and Konkani restaurants that, after becoming gentrified, have begun including sub-par Chinese and Punjabi in their repertoire.



Pebbles, however, falls into neither category. It is instead representative of a new school of fine-dining seafood restaurants that are opening in the city. The clientele here is not swish, but it's certainly upmarket, so the ambience is naturally quiet and classy, and the multi-cuisine menu is priced accordingly.

Located on the fourth floor of the recently renovated Juhu Residency Hotel, Pebbles is a chic restaurant with attentive and well-informed staff, wholesome portions, and a wealth of seafood to choose from. It's the kind of place you'd like to take your phirang guests to. It seems to have all the ingredients to become a piscivores paradise. What it's missing is one key element: consistency. The food oscillates between fantastic to humdrum to plain wrong.

The Calamari Egg Drop Soup (Rs 175) was thick and deliciously peppery with plump chunks of calamari. The goodness continued with the Chilli and Coriander Clams (Rs 295); whole clams stir-fried in a spicy coriander-chilli chutney till they were coated and the chutney had spread to every crevice. Expensive, but divine. The meal started to go downhill with the steamed Vietnamese Spring Rolls (Rs 325). Instead of being finger-length and translucent, they were the size of regular Chinese Spring Rolls and opaque (they had used regular spring roll wrappers). Instead of an aromatic, delicate filling, the rolls had a shredded purple and white cabbage filling with plenty of prawn and glass noodles.

For the main course, we tried to do a mix 'n' match by ordering a Rawas Green Thai Curry (Rs 495) and Seafood Dum Biryani (Rs 495). The Green Curry was the usual combination of curry paste and tinned coconut milk that has become fairly standard at most multi-cuisine restaurants. At this price, it should have been better. The Seafood Biryani was robust and tasty but the spicing was closer to the coastal-style Biryani rather than the dum-style it was supposed to be.

Stick to the coastal and simpler Chinese options, ignore the fancier parts of the menu, and you'll come away having had a good meal.