Andheri & Versova

Andheri is two completely different places joined by a station. West is film and residential; east is industrial, and the airport.

The oldest thing here is older than any of it: the Mahakali Caves at Andheri East, nineteen Buddhist rock-cut caves dating from roughly the first century BCE to the sixth century CE, cut when this was forest and the trade route to the Konkan ran past. The suburb around them is modern. Juhu aerodrome opened in 1928 as Bombay’s first airport; Santacruz replaced it in the 1940s, and the whole eastern belt filled with what an airport brings — hotels, cargo, freight forwarders.

Then came industry and film. The MIDC estate and SEEPZ, the export processing zone set up in 1973, gave Andheri East its factories and later its IT and gems-and-jewellery export trade. West of the station, the film business settled: studios, post-production houses, dubbing theatres, and the actors and technicians who work in them, concentrated around Lokhandwala and Versova. Lokhandwala Complex was built on reclaimed land in the 1980s and is now the television industry’s address.

At the far western end is Versova Koliwada, a working Koli fishing village, and the beach beside it — which became internationally known after a volunteer clean-up that ran from 2015 and removed thousands of tonnes of waste.

Name	Where	What it is known for
Andhericha Raja 1966	Azad Nagar, Veera Desai Road, Andheri East	Founded by workers of the Tata Special Steel and Excel Industries units; the best-known suburban mandal.
Lokhandwala Durga Puja	Andheri West	Serving the film industry’s Bengali population.
Parsi caterers	Andheri, Santacruz, Bandra	Much of the best Parsi food in the suburbs is catered rather than sold in restaurants.

Name	Where	What it is known for
SEEPZ 1973	Andheri East	The Santacruz Electronics Export Processing Zone, set up in 1973. More than 400 units making electronics, software and above all jewellery — over 40 per cent of India’s jewellery exports have come out of this one compound. It is the largest single concentration of export manufacturing in the city.
MIDC Andheri	Andheri East	The industrial estate around SEEPZ; engineering, packaging, printing and the small workshops that feed them.
Mahakali Caves	Andheri East	Buddhist rock-cut caves, roughly first century BCE to sixth century CE. They were here two thousand years before anything else in this locality.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport	Andheri East / Sahar	The airport belt is the reason Andheri East is hotels and offices rather than housing.
Andheri station	Andheri	Western Line, Metro Line 1 and the Harbour Line terminus meet here; one of the busiest interchanges in the city.
Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital 2009	Four Bungalows, Andheri West	The large private hospital on the western side.
Lokhandwala Complex 1980s	Andheri West	Reclaimed and built out in the 1980s; now the address most associated with television and the audition circuit.

Name	Where	What it is known for
Versova Koliwada	Versova	A working Koli fishing village and fish market at the north end of the beach.
Versova Beach	Versova	The suburban immersion beach, and the site of a long-running volunteer clean-up.
Versova Cha Raja 1970s	Versova	The fishing community’s own Ganpati mandal.
Madh and Manori	north-west coast, across the creek	The outer fishing villages; reached by ferry from Versova.

Name	Where	What it is known for
Oshiwara furniture market	Oshiwara, Andheri West	The furniture manufacturing and made-to-order belt; where interior designers actually source.
Lokhandwala beauty market	Andheri West	Cosmetics, wigs and the supply trade behind television and film.
Infiniti Mall 2011	Andheri West	The Andheri branch, close to Lokhandwala.
Lifestyle	Andheri West, Bandra	Fashion and home.
Shoppers Stop 1991	Andheri, Bandra, Juhu	The suburban outlets.
Airport-belt import stockists	Andheri East, Sahar	Serving hotels and airline catering; some sell retail.
Andheri and Juhu licensed retail	Andheri West, Juhu	Serving the hotel and film trade.
Jain counters	Khar, Santacruz, Andheri	Jain menus across cuisines, marked on the board.

Name	Where	What it is known for
Peshawri	ITC Maratha, Andheri East	Frontier cooking — dal bukhara, sikandari raan, tandoori prawns.
Gung The Palace 2007	Andheri West	The best-known Korean restaurant in the city; run for the Korean community and open to everyone.
Korean grocery counters	Andheri West, Lokhandwala	Small shops carrying Korean staples, near the restaurants.
Great World	Andheri West	Dim sum, noodles and stir-fries; a long-running Andheri address.
China Gate	Link Road, opposite Infinity Mall, Andheri West	Large-format Indian-Chinese with a buffet.
5 Spice	Bandra West and Andheri	Late-night Indian-Chinese in large portions.
Mamagoto	Bandra West and Andheri	Casual Southeast Asian and Chinese.
Urban Tadka	Andheri West and Lokhandwala	Punjabi dhaba format, suburban prices.
Persian Darbar	Bandra West, Andheri, Lokhandwala	Kebabs, biryani and Irani-style grills.
Jaffer Bhai’s Delhi Darbar 1970s	Andheri and Santacruz	Biryani in volume.
Andheri and Jogeshwari biryani houses	Andheri East, Jogeshwari	Late-night kitchens serving the film and airport trades.
Little Italy 1997	Juhu, Andheri, Lokhandwala	Pure-vegetarian Italian — a Mumbai format with a following of its own.
Hard Rock Cafe 2006	Andheri West	The suburban outlet; ribs, burgers, live music.
Kerala kitchens	Andheri East, Sahar, Marol	Serving the Malayali population around the airport belt.
Bengali kitchens	Andheri West, Lokhandwala, Versova	Serving the film industry’s large Bengali contingent.
Hotel Japanese rooms	Andheri East, Juhu	Serving the airport belt and the Japanese corporate population.
Hotel Thai kitchens	Juhu, Andheri East	The airport-belt hotels carry the suburbs’ better Thai cooking.
Hotel European rooms	Juhu, Andheri East	Continental dining inside the airport-belt hotels.
Lokhandwala khau galli	Andheri West	An evening lane serving the television trade.
Hakka counters	Linking Road, Lokhandwala, Versova	Manchurian, triple rice, chowmein — the everyday version, eaten standing.

Worth knowing

• Andheri West and Andheri East are separated by the station and are different worlds; the subway is the only quick crossing.
• Oshiwara is where furniture is made to order, not a showroom street.
• Versova Koliwada is a working village. The fish market is at its best early.
• The Mahakali Caves at Andheri East are free to enter and almost always empty.
• Lokhandwala is the television industry’s address; the restaurants there run late because the shoots do.
• SEEPZ at Andheri East is a bonded zone — the gems and jewellery export trade inside it is not open to visitors.

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