ITP Indian Travel Places: Food, Travel, Tourism Business Events and Trade Shows
Phone: +918600490003, +918007778433
Address: 11A Sai Ganesh Complex, Opp TJSB bank Near Corporation Bank, Karve Nagar, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Time: 11 AM – 4 PM, 7 PM – 11 PM
Meals for two: Rs. 500
Cuisines: Malwani
Facilities: Home Delivery
After a successful run with their seafood takeaway, the Sawant family has now opened Guru Sawant Malwan Katta in Karve Nagar which specialists in Malwani cuisine.
Sawants’s Malwan Katta, Karve Nagar, Pune: Decor
The restaurant has only four tables but the seating is comfortable. The decor is reminiscent of a ‘khanawal’ (family-run mess for quick, homely meals) common in parts of Maharashtra, particularly the Konkan region. The kitchen is spotless clean and completely managed by the ladies of the Sawant family.
Sawants’s Malwan Katta, Karve Nagar, Pune: Food
Once seated, Guru Sawant, the owner, will let you know about the different fish available on that day depending on the freshness. They believe in serving only the freshest catch to their customers. The cooking is done by the ladies of the Sawant family.
Their thalis are probably the best thing to have. A thali comes with a large piece of fried fish, fish curry, solkadhi, sukkat chutney (chutney made from dried fish), chapati or tandalachi bhakri (rice-flour bhakri) and rice. The surmai (King fish) and pomfret thalis are highly recommended. My personal favorite was the surmai thali. Marinated with homemade spices, coated well with the rawa and fried to perfection, the fried surmai was probably one of the best fried fish I’ve tasted. The addition of turmeric leaves and tirphal (a spice closely related szechuan pepper) to the fish curry and the use of home-made masala, made it as authentic Malwani as it gets. It took me back to the curries I’ve had in homes in Malwan. The curry is unlimited and the family kept refilling the curry bowls in our plates. Though the chapatis were soft and tasty, we recommend the tandalachi bhakri to accompany the fish curry. The sol-kadhi was fresh and tangy from the kokam. The sukkat chutney was the perfect accompaniment in the thali and we ended up ordering an extra portion of it. The rice served could be replaced by a more fragrant rice variety of either ambe mohor or indrayani, which would definitely elevate the taste and experience of the thali.
We couldn’t get enough of the fried fish so we had the bangda (mackerel) Fry. Getting a fresh mackerel is almost a rarity in Pune, but the fish was extremely fresh and was cooked very well. The fried prawns were cooked well and crispy, but lacked the punch of flavor which the other fried items had. Currently they also have chicken and vegetarian thalis, which they plan to discontinue and make this an exclusive seafood restaurant.
Sawants’s Malwan Katta, Karve Nagar, Pune: Plus & Minus
The Sawant family who run Guru Sawant Malwan Katta serve authentic Malwani cuisine complete with home-made spices and ingredients local to the Malwan region. For the quality and quantity they serve, this place offers great value for money. Expect some delay in getting a table, but the food is worth the wait.
