Ramanayak in Matunga – The Best Udupi Food in Mumbai

Ramanayak is on the first floor in an obscure building near Matunga station (central line of the Bombay local train network). Normally Udupi restaurants in Bombay prefer high visibility ground floor locations, but Ramanayak is different. Their offerings are also different from the normal idli, vada, dosa, sheera that the regular Udupi restaurants have on their menus. What one normally gets in regular Udupis is a drastically Bombay-fied / Gujarati-fied versions of Udupi food. The sambar is thicker and sweeter than most sambar in South India. Like a darker and more flavourful version of the Gujarati dal. But Ramanayak is different. They serve meals and the best Udupi food in Mumbai. It’s somewhat of a mission to find the restaurant as it’s on the first floor and the entry is from the backside of an obscure building and has limited visibility from the main road.

The Food at Ramanayak – The Best Udupi Food in Mumbai

They have two offerings, unlimited meals served on a banana leaf and a limited portion thali served on a plate. The dishes change everyday and the food is cooked fresh everyday. The unlimited meals served on a banana leaf has three types of vegetables. On the day I’d gone, they were serving an aloo (potato) vatana (white peas), Madras cucumber curry, a dry preparation of Gawar (cluster beans), steamed rice, puri, sambar, rasam, dal, yoghurt (homemade, set in a small steel bowl) and pickle. The dessert was a choice of three – gulab jamun, shrikhand and the seasonal aamras (homemade mango pulp). You’re allowed only one dessert, but one does wish for more. There’s always space for an extra dessert.

The three curries were delicious. Homestyle Udupi food with no extra frills. Just pure flavour. The aloo vatana was a simple preparation, mildly spiced yet delicious. I’m not the biggest fan of the Madras Cucumber, but Ramanayak aces the preparation with this vegetable. Gawar is a difficult vegetable to cook as it’s a very hard bean, but the version here was superb. The sambar was unlike the regular sweet-thickish Udupi sambar that one finds everywhere in Bombay. Simple yet tasty. Ramanayak also serves a chase (butter milk) drink as part of the meal. A much needed drink to counter the Bombay heat and humidity in summers.

All in all, a simple yet superb meal and I think this’s the best Udupi food in Mumbai. The unlimited meal served on banana leaf is priced at ₹250.

Happy hunting and chowder on!