Mahesh Lunch Home

Mahesh Lunch Home Review

One of the first Mumbai restaurants to popularize Konkan coast seafood, the formerly humble Mahesh, its two levels tucked away on a narrow street, has gone upmarket with marble walls and floors, giant fish tanks, and smartly clad waiters. (The diners have gone upmarket, too—no more leaving fish bones on the side of the table.) You'll get what may be Mumbai's freshest and best seafood, personally selected at the nearby Fort fish market every morning for the past few decades by the owner, Mr. S. C. Karkera, who lunches here himself. Local office workers, bankers, five-star hotel owners, and cricket and film stars come here for giant portions of exquisite crab, rawas (Indian salmon), prawn gassi (in a thick, tangy, spicy coconut gravy), fried kane (a bony Mangalorean fish), and pomfret dishes, all succulently tender and light and seasoned with tangy tandoori or Mangalorean spices. The seafood dishes prepared with butter, garlic, and pepper are also popular, but it's best to stick to the specials and to the authentic traditional Mangalorean dishes.