With a menu peppered with tasty American diner-style comfort food, made and presented as close to authentic as possible, Bandra’s New York City Diner is a great, new addition to the city’s casual dining scene.
By Raul Dias
As one of Mumbai’s most well-respected and pioneering restaurateurs, Chef Meldan D’Cunha has always had firm grip on the pulse of the city’s dining habits. The same man who gave us the Mangalorean cuisine-centric Soul Fry (when regional cuisine eateries were still in their embryonic stage!) and then Casa Soul Fry, now brings to Mumbai’s shores an authentic taste of American diner-style comfort food with his latest offering—New York City Diner. Interestingly, this Bandra Reclamation eatery opened just a few days after he shut down his wildly popular restobar, The Local in Fort.
A smallish, cozy space paying homage to all things New York—from the kitschy pop culture posters on the walls to the apple red couch and metallic chairs—this diner exudes a chilled out, relaxed vibe that seems to be attracting the student brigade by the droves. We are told by the manager that the inspiration behind the diner came to Chef Meldan on a recent trip to the US when he went there for his daughter’s wedding and was bowled over by the food truck scene in New York and neighbouring New Jersey.
And so, we take a cue from that and call for an order of the disco fries (Rs 220) that are a New Jersey diner classic. Slathered in a yummy cheese sauce and sprinkled with bits of bacon, olives and BBQ chicken, the generous portion of potato fries makes for a great start. Though described as a single slice on the menu, the jalapeno and basil pizza slice (Rs 150) came to our table cut in three hefty wedges, each one an explosion of molten cheese and herbaceous basil with the piquant-sour hit of pickled jalapeno rounding it off perfectly.
Suitably straightforward, if a tad ho-hum and bland, our cranberry spritzer (Rs 40) was nothing much to talk about, but its buy-one-get-one-free accompanying coconut spritzer (Rs 40) had a unique, creamy coconut-y taste that made it seem more like a milkshake than a carbonated drink. Speaking of milkshakes, the blueberry and jim-jam Manhattan extreme shake (Rs 240) using the insanely delicious berry overload ice cream by Koldplay was worth every paisa…and calorie too!
Perfectly messy, the kind that requires a minimum of five paper napkins to clean up, the lamb sloppy joe (Rs 240) accompanied by a moat of crisp tapioca chips was all the things a great sandwich should be. Gooey, meaty and making for messy satisfaction! Disappointment reared its ugly head with the duo of dry, under-stuffed chicken cafreal buns (Rs 120) that we suspect was a sort of one off ode on the menu to the erstwhile The Local. Totally avoidable.
For mains, we settled for a few diner classics one of which took the form of a plate heaped with biscuits and chicken gravy (Rs 280). A chunky, minced chicken white sauce gravy jazzed up with pepper and nutmeg, slathered over six buttery, crumbly savoury biscuits and topped off with a shredded omelette was one of the best renditions of the southern American dish we’d ever eaten. Another south classic, the shrimps and grits with bacon (Rs 380) was the comforting sum of 7-8 juicy, plump crustaceans cooked with cheese and bacon, sat atop a bed of buttery grits, which is a savoury porridge made from coarsely ground cornmeal, butter and milk, and drizzled with chilli oil to cut through all that richness.
While we’d go back in a heartbeat just for that one single dish, there’s so much more we’d like to try the next time we find ourselves at New York City Diner. Buttermilk fried chicken (Rs 320), we have our eyes on you!
TIME: 11am to 11pm
AT: Shop no. 20, ONGC Colony, Opposite Lilavati Hospital, Reclamation, Bandra West.
CALL: 9820282522
(A shorter, edited version of this review appeared in the 16th October 2018 issue of the Mid-Day newspaper, India on page 19 https://m.mid-day.com/articles/mumbai-food-american-diner-style-eatery-in-bandra-is-a-crowd-pleaser/19895163)
By Raul Dias
As one of Mumbai’s most well-respected and pioneering restaurateurs, Chef Meldan D’Cunha has always had firm grip on the pulse of the city’s dining habits. The same man who gave us the Mangalorean cuisine-centric Soul Fry (when regional cuisine eateries were still in their embryonic stage!) and then Casa Soul Fry, now brings to Mumbai’s shores an authentic taste of American diner-style comfort food with his latest offering—New York City Diner. Interestingly, this Bandra Reclamation eatery opened just a few days after he shut down his wildly popular restobar, The Local in Fort.
A smallish, cozy space paying homage to all things New York—from the kitschy pop culture posters on the walls to the apple red couch and metallic chairs—this diner exudes a chilled out, relaxed vibe that seems to be attracting the student brigade by the droves. We are told by the manager that the inspiration behind the diner came to Chef Meldan on a recent trip to the US when he went there for his daughter’s wedding and was bowled over by the food truck scene in New York and neighbouring New Jersey.
And so, we take a cue from that and call for an order of the disco fries (Rs 220) that are a New Jersey diner classic. Slathered in a yummy cheese sauce and sprinkled with bits of bacon, olives and BBQ chicken, the generous portion of potato fries makes for a great start. Though described as a single slice on the menu, the jalapeno and basil pizza slice (Rs 150) came to our table cut in three hefty wedges, each one an explosion of molten cheese and herbaceous basil with the piquant-sour hit of pickled jalapeno rounding it off perfectly.
Suitably straightforward, if a tad ho-hum and bland, our cranberry spritzer (Rs 40) was nothing much to talk about, but its buy-one-get-one-free accompanying coconut spritzer (Rs 40) had a unique, creamy coconut-y taste that made it seem more like a milkshake than a carbonated drink. Speaking of milkshakes, the blueberry and jim-jam Manhattan extreme shake (Rs 240) using the insanely delicious berry overload ice cream by Koldplay was worth every paisa…and calorie too!
Perfectly messy, the kind that requires a minimum of five paper napkins to clean up, the lamb sloppy joe (Rs 240) accompanied by a moat of crisp tapioca chips was all the things a great sandwich should be. Gooey, meaty and making for messy satisfaction! Disappointment reared its ugly head with the duo of dry, under-stuffed chicken cafreal buns (Rs 120) that we suspect was a sort of one off ode on the menu to the erstwhile The Local. Totally avoidable.
For mains, we settled for a few diner classics one of which took the form of a plate heaped with biscuits and chicken gravy (Rs 280). A chunky, minced chicken white sauce gravy jazzed up with pepper and nutmeg, slathered over six buttery, crumbly savoury biscuits and topped off with a shredded omelette was one of the best renditions of the southern American dish we’d ever eaten. Another south classic, the shrimps and grits with bacon (Rs 380) was the comforting sum of 7-8 juicy, plump crustaceans cooked with cheese and bacon, sat atop a bed of buttery grits, which is a savoury porridge made from coarsely ground cornmeal, butter and milk, and drizzled with chilli oil to cut through all that richness.
While we’d go back in a heartbeat just for that one single dish, there’s so much more we’d like to try the next time we find ourselves at New York City Diner. Buttermilk fried chicken (Rs 320), we have our eyes on you!
TIME: 11am to 11pm
AT: Shop no. 20, ONGC Colony, Opposite Lilavati Hospital, Reclamation, Bandra West.
CALL: 9820282522
(A shorter, edited version of this review appeared in the 16th October 2018 issue of the Mid-Day newspaper, India on page 19 https://m.mid-day.com/articles/mumbai-food-american-diner-style-eatery-in-bandra-is-a-crowd-pleaser/19895163)
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