Madras Cafe

If you have stayed in Mumbai/Navi Mumbai long enough, in all probability you must have at least heard about, if not visited ,‘Madras Café’ (officially Café Madras), a popular restaurant serving authentic South-Indian food for the last 75 long years, located at Matunga’s King’s Circle. If not, you can add it in your bucket list.

Looks can be deceptive. This commonly used phrase is quite appropriate about Madras Café. If you passing by the street where it’s located, you might miss it, except for on Saturdays & Sundays, when there is a large enough crowd waiting outside for their turn, so as to catch anybody’s attention. It’s a small one-and-a-half storied food joint, with laid back looks and surprisingly modest ambience, a striking contrast to its immense popularity.   

If I have to share an ideal example for the value for money, I would mention Madras Café to be on the top of my list without much hesitation. The meals are extremely reasonably priced, especially given the authentic taste and the variety served. ‘Butter Idli Podi’, ‘Set Dosa with White Butter’, ‘Raagi Dosa’, ‘Appam with Stew’ and ‘Pineapple Sheera’ are some of delicacies which are highly recommended. Also, no meal is complete without the ‘filter coffee’. The overall atmosphere is very homely kinds and sharing of tables adds to the overall upbeat mood. Another interesting aspect is the mixed gentry which creates a wholesome experience.

Finally, if I have to pick-up one area for improvement, then I would urge the owners to be little more welcoming to the customers. I will not be surprised if a new customer may take them on the edge of being rude, especially when they are handling a large number of people over the weekend, each eagerly wanting to get inside to savour the mouth-watering and finger-licking meal.