Matunga

Matunga Review

About 30 minutes west of Mumbai's business district, this suburb near King's Circle is home to a sizable chunk of the city's South Indian population. It's a little bit of Chennai up north—it even has a few South Indian temples complete with distinctive gopurams, or entrance towers (the Asthika Samaj Temple on Bhandarkar Road is a good example). Bazaars and shops sell banana leaves, Kanchipuram saris, and typical South Indian vegetables, flowers, 10-pound flower garlands, and pickles (bottled relishes); nearby eating houses serve clean, simple South Indian thali lunches on banana leaves or hot crispy dosas. Shree Sunders (22/2416-9216) is known for having a large variety of excellent dosas, better and more authentic than anything you can find almost anywhere else in town. The legendary banana-leaf-lunch provider A Ramanayak Udipi Shri Krishna Boarding (22/2414-2422. Tues.-Sun. lunch 10:30-3, dinner 7-10) is near the train station. Café Madras (22/2401-4419), one of the oldest South Indian restaurants in King's Circle, serves great dosas, vadas, bise bele bath (a spicy rice porridge), and fluffy idlis. Matunga's shops and restaurants are closed on Monday.