Gughan Supreme South Indian, Marine Lines, Mumbai Restaurant

Restaurant Name: Gughan Supreme South Indian, Marine Lines Restaurant
Phone: 022 22880036, 022 22880037
Address: 91, Ground Floor, Shalimar Building, Near Registrar of Companies, G Road, Marine Lines, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Time: 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM
Meals for two: Rs. 500
Cuisines: South Indian, Beverages
Facilities: Breakfast, Home Delivery, Vegetarian Only, Group Meal, Free Parking, Indoor Seating

We are in the midst of a hushed evaluation of Gughan, the fairly new market player located in Marine Lines. I’m lunching with my brilliant foodie friends from a leading global private bank, and getting influenced by their terminology. They help me taste multiple dishes and evaluate each dish against similar offerings by other market players. I was fascinated to watch Mehul Marfatia, Neha Shah and Abhishek Gumashta carry out an in-depth analysis. Much like their job of developing investment strategies and managing portfolio for their clients, they finally gave their unbiased opinions to identify the blue chips.

Gughan Supreme South Indian, Marine Lines, Mumbai Restaurant: Decor

Tucked into the corner of the street, Gughan has a simple table and chair decor. There are splashes of bright colors with hangings and murals of deities. An aura of neatness and orderliness.

Gughan Supreme South Indian, Marine Lines, Mumbai Restaurant: Food

Gughan serves up the predictable idli dosa fare, but more interestingly, it aces the curries from Chettinadu and Tamil Nadu, and their unlimited thali served on a large glistening banana leaf is worth trying. Bursting with layers of complex flavors and hand pounded spices, there are several curries from the poondu kuzhambu (garlic curry, the more kuzhambu buttermilk curry) to the yennai kattikai kuzhambu brinjal curry. On my second visit, it was the sunda vatha kuzhambu turkey berry curry that came up tops. Do check the menu carefully as these are served only on fixed days of the week. Rice lovers in for a treat — ask for the curry leaf rice and gooseberry rice. Fluffy, steamed to perfection and sparkled with milgapodi idli. Golden crisp meduvada, flavorsome kottu roti, authentic spicy sambhar, (not sweetened for the Gujarati palate). Comforting curd rice. Ask for the well made Sweet Pongal and Paniyaran.

Minus Points:

Gughan falters on the popular staples, and serves soggy dosas and uttapams. Their attempt at innovation with mushroom dosa and cheese dosa falls into the cracks.While the milgapodi idli is worth trying, strangely enough the plain idliis stodgy. Pepper idli is too spicy. Slow and confused, but friendly service.

My Point:

South Mumbai needs more South Indian eateries. Nariman Point’s Arya Bhawan and Teen Batti’s Dakshinayan top the sparse list (mainly of multi-cuisine restaurants serving idli dosas). Go to the open through-the-day Gughan for Tamil Nadu and Chettinadu curries and the range of rice sadham that they serve up. The unlimited thali on a banana leaf is a must try. Harshad Dhamankar, who was lunching at Gughan, pointed out that the traditional meal added new flavors to his taste. Their service needs improvement. Idli-dosas avoidable.