5 Best Restaurants in Fort and Marine Drive, Mumbai

In a somewhat dilapidated-looking store whose homemade ice creams hark all the way back to 1953, the pick of the menu is the ice-cream sandwich (slabs of ice cream slapped between two gossamer-thin wafer biscuits). A huge chunk of the menu is available year-round, but be sure to sample the seasonal flavors (such as mango and guava).

The charming former owner of this old, dingy, and terribly atmospheric Irani restaurant had an obsession with the British royal family and thus pictures of royalty grace the restaurant's peeling walls. Unfortunately, the old gentleman has since passed away, but the restaurant has retained its charm as well as its fantastic chicken or mutton berry pulao, with rice, gravy, and dried fruit.

Inexpensive, shabby, and frankly a bit of a hole-in-the-wall, Hotel Deluxe (neither a hotel nor deluxe) has long been the default choice of eatery for homesick Keralites. The menu is vast, but tunnel your vision towards the special section; anything on there is bound to be excellent.

Serving the best fruit-flavored ice-cream in town, Natural—milky, creamy—seems to be everywhere. All of the ice cream is made with fresh fruit or nuts, and contains no preservatives; highly recommended are the tender coconut, roasted almond, or seasonal Indian fruit flavors like cinnamon-tinged chikoo (a caramel-flavored fruit also known as sapodilla), custard apple, or mango.

Under the same ownership as Woodside Inn, this restaurant dispenses with the pubby atmosphere to focus on simple, rustic cuisine using local ingredients. The food is excellent and reasonably priced considering how refined it is, and although it'd be nice if it had a wine license—the white interiors, open kitchen, and general atmosphere all scream "wine bar"—the excellent baked goods and mains more than make up for the lack of booze.