South Indian in Mumbai

Matunga is the reason this page exists. When Tamil and Udupi families settled around Matunga and King’s Circle from the 1920s, they brought their restaurants with them, and several are still run by the founding families. The coffee is filter coffee, the idli is steamed to order, and the menus have barely moved in eighty years.

Kerala, Mangalorean and Chettinad cooking sit separately — Kerala around Fort and the airport belt, Mangalorean seafood in Fort and the western suburbs. These are different cuisines and it is worth not treating them as one.

Name	Where	What it is known for
Cafe Madras1940	King’s Circle, Matunga East	Filter coffee, rava dosa, upma. Still run by the founding family; the Sunday queue is part of it.
Ram Ashraya1939	Bhandarkar Road, Matunga East	Idli, upma, sheera. The chutney changes through the week and regulars know the rota.
A. Rama Nayak’s Udipi Shri Krishna Boarding1942	Matunga East	Unlimited banana-leaf meals in the boarding-house tradition.
Mani’s Lunch Home1938	Matunga	An old Udupi room; unlimited meals, plain and generous.
Cafe Mysore1936	King’s Circle, Matunga	Long-running Udupi cafe on the circle; the filter coffee rivals Cafe Madras.
Arya Bhavan	Matunga	Vegetarian South Indian, the everyday kind.
Madras Cafe	Matunga	Another of the King’s Circle Udupi rooms.
Sharda Bhuvan	Matunga	Idli, dosa and filter coffee, unhurried.

Name	Where	What it is known for
Trishna1965	Sai Baba Marg, Kala Ghoda	Coastal and Mangalorean seafood. The butter garlic crab is what the restaurant is known for worldwide.
Apoorva	Vasta House, Fort	Mangalorean seafood in a plain upstairs room; crab, prawn gassi, neer dosa.
Mahesh Lunch Home1977	Cowasji Patel Street, Fort	Mangalorean coastal; crab, Bombay duck, prawn koliwada.
Hotel Deluxe	Fort	Malabar and Kerala cooking; parotta, fish curry, biryani.
Fort Kerala canteens	Fort and Ballard Estate	Lunch canteens feeding the office crowd, unlisted and cheap.
Anand Bhavan	Fort	South Indian vegetarian near the offices.

Name	Where	What it is known for
Mahesh Lunch Home	Juhu Tara Road, Juhu	The suburban outlet of the Mangalorean room.
Dakshinayan	Juhu and Malad	South Indian meals; unlimited thali.
Gajalee	Vile Parle West	Malvani and coastal seafood; a suburban institution.
Kerala kitchens	Andheri East, Sahar, Marol	Serving the Malayali population around the airport belt; parotta, Malabar curries, fish.
Udupi rooms	Bandra, Khar, Santacruz	Everyday idli, dosa and meals across the suburb.

Name	Where	What it is known for
Chembur Udupi rooms	Chembur	South Indian breakfast and meals, family-run for decades.
Powai Kerala and Chettinad kitchens	Powai, Chandivali	Following the IIT and the office population.
Ghatkopar and Mulund dosa counters	Ghatkopar, Mulund	Serving a largely Gujarati suburb.

Name	Where	What it is known for
Dakshinayan	Malad West	South Indian meals in the north.
Udupi and dosa counters	Borivali, Kandivali, Goregaon	Everyday South Indian, pure vegetarian.

What to order

• Filter coffee at Cafe Madras, King’s Circle — and expect a queue on Sunday
• Idli and the chutney of the day at Ram Ashraya, which changes through the week
• A banana-leaf unlimited meal at A. Rama Nayak’s at Matunga
• Butter garlic crab at Trishna, Kala Ghoda
• Neer dosa and ghee roast at the Mangalorean rooms in Fort
• Malabar parotta and fish curry at Hotel Deluxe, Fort

Other cuisines

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