In a city that usually eats on the run, Restaurant Week India is a chance for food connoisseurs to sample sumptuous dishes from some of Mumbai's finest restaurants.
Serpentine queues outside restaurants are de rigueur in a city that is always on the move. Mumbai is a city that eats on the run and any free time is a good time to indulge in its greatest passion – food.
But when Restaurant Week India comes to town, Mumbaikars slow down and make reservations. In its third year, this culinary event has become a fixture on the calendars of the city’s food connoisseurs.
Diners can sample dishes from some of the finest restaurants through a three-course prix fixe menu. A steal with lunch for 1,000 rupees and dinner for 1,200 rupees, this year is the biggest yet with 27 restaurants listed for an extended period of 10 days.
With restaurants such as Koh by Ian Kittichai, known for the the chef’s signature Thai cuisine; dimsum mecca Yauatcha; and authentic South Indian restaurant Dakshin Coastal on the list, it’s a gastronomic bonanza. Notable additions include gourmet vegetarian dining bar Tuskers and Jyran’s North West Frontier culinary experience. Italian Two One Two Bar and Grill and pan-Asian restaurant Ocean also make for an interesting curation by Friends of Restaurant Week, a group of bloggers, connoisseurs and sommeliers responsible for selecting the participating restaurants.
The menus balance both signature and innovative dishes, and the choices are exhaustive. Asian cuisine aficionados’ can dig into Hakkasan’s signature San Pei chicken claypot or sample San Qi’s maki rolls. If continental cuisine is more your speed, don’t miss the slow-cooked pork belly “breakfast” at Olive Bar and Kitchen, Blue Frog’s beer-brined rosemary roast chicken and Botticino’s chilli and fennel crusted snapper. For Indian food, head to the traditional nawabi-Muslim inspired Neel at Tote on the Turf for the surprising bamboo shoot and water chestnut patty, Maya’s melt-in-your-mouth nihari gosht, a Hyderabadi speciality of slow-cooked lamb shanks with onion and saffron, and Ziya’s exotic rose petal and gulab jamun cheesecake.
Restaurant Week runs from 1 to 10 April. Tables are being booked faster that they can be added, so you need to be quick; reservations can be made on the website.
Sharon Fernandes is the Mumbai Localite for BBC Travel
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