Seekh Kebaba

Place: Babubhai’s Seekh and Paratha’s

Location: Tardeo area, near Rusy Mehta Chowk, Arabgulli.

Seating: On a busy night can seat maximum 35-40 people.

Ambience:
A: There is nothing as what you would like to call ‘Ambience’ at this place. It is an epitome of ’Shady’ for a food joint. A rusty old place, with chipped paint who seems past its glory days at the turn of the century. Their motto is to just serve you the cheapest and the best (at that price) seekh and paratha. For a shady place they seem quite hygienic, as I have never fallen sick after eating there. The sigdi (barbecue) is located outside joint, but is covered, they serve the food in stainless steel plates which are clean (I checked).

R: The ambience is a mess. The place is outright dirty, to the point that anyone who expects even a very basic level of cleanliness from a place will refrain from eating here. The tables are dirty, the place is dirty and no one bothers to clean it every once in a while. Also the waiters serve chatni in a mug one would use to take a bath, which is frankly a bit disgusting and a huge turn off.

G: I have been to some really nasty places to eat, for never has the look of a place attracted me, rather I depend on word of mouth, or where my nose takes me. But even for the ones who are tolerant enough, I would not recommend this place for its location, crowd, seating, hygiene and well almost everything, but take-away.

Food:

A: It once served a variety of grilled and barbecued preparations but those days are history now. Since the last 10 years they have been what we would call, a specialty restaurant, as they serve only seekh and paratha’s now.
The first thing I want to inform you all is, they ONLY serve beef seekhs. The mince they use is awesome, it has a proper amount of fat and grind to a level that it just disintegrates in your mouth. The flavor is very simple and consistent like a basic kheema (minced beef preparation). The seekhs are al dente which bodes well for the lack of hygiene. In our last visit though, the beef was pretty lean and hence resulted in drier seekhs than usual.
The seekhs are served with the paratha, a deep fried roti made of maida (flour). Don’t get turned off by the ‘deep fried’, the parathas are not at all oily or too much fatty. They are rich and very crisp.

R: All you get at this place is seekh kebabs with paratha, and its well worth it. I've been to this place around 4 times, and barring the last time, my experience at this place has been simply sublime. The seekh kebabs are well marinated, well cooked, and go very well with the paratha. The paratha by itself it nice and crispy.Although i must say i was a bit disappointed with the kebabs the last time i went there. Not that this hampered the experience though.

G:This is a speciality place, they serve beef seekh-kebabs and parathas, and nothing more. Out of my many visits here, the last one was the first time I got kebabs which were dry. The flavors were spot-on, it used to be one of my favorite joints for seekh-paratha, but I guess we'll have to stick to “you are as good as your last performance” policy. Maybe, a little more fat would have given the seekh a different dimension all together, overly lean mince meat is not all that good, or perhaps all the fat got wasted on the charcoal . The paratha is typically a white-flour paratha, deep-fried in dalda(weight watchers, stay away). The combo used to be a winner, but its a pity that the quality of the seekh kebab refrains me from complimenting its past glory. Despite the criticism, we ended up having a quick snack of two parathas and two plates of seekh each with a half liter bottle of cola in the middle.

Presentation: The place is made so as to cater to people who find eating meat luxurious, hence its cheap, and works little on how the plate, or even how the food is to look to the consumer once presented. The guy attending to your table will provide you 3 quarter plates, one for the paratha, one for seekh kebabs, and one for the relish. Also if you want to avoid getting turned off about the food, even before it is served, avoid looking at the way you are served the mint chutney, and from where.

Accompaniments:

A: This is served at side of sliced onions with a watery green chutney and bunch of mint. The way they serve that mint though might make u feel like cattle(made me feel that way). None the less it compliments the dish very well.


R: Along with the kebabs and paratha, they also give you a very generous serving of chatni and pudina leaves which complement the kebabs perfectly.

G: Every visitor is provided with a plate of relish, which is a generous quantity of sliced onions with a runny mint chutney poured on top of the heap. Also we are provided with chillies, lemon wedges, and a bunch of mint leaves.

Service:

A:The service is quick, since there are no other items on the menu. Once you sit on the table, a plate of onions and the watery chutney (in a mug) are served to you. The order takes somewhere between 5 – 10 minutes to reach your table. The only issue anyone would face is the hygiene.

R:The service is pretty good. When the food ordered by you arrives at your table within five minutes, you know the service is upto the task. They should really clean the place once in a while though. The tables are never clean, and the place is always dirty. Its understood that you're in a bad area and your target crowd is different, but that does not justify not trying to keep your restaurant clean.

G:Its rapid, even before you place your order, the waiter knows exactly what you want, so we just have to do our part of getting ourselves seated, everything else works like a machine.

Cost:
2 pieces of seekhs in a plate and paratha cost you 21 bucks.


"Worth" factor:
A:The worth factor is the value for money and the taste of the seekhs. 2 pieces of seekhs in a plate and paratha cost you 21 bucks. Yes, it will cost you just that.

R:Totally worth it, that is, if you're ready to completely overlook the lack of cleanliness and absence of any kind of ambience. One the money side, its very light on the wallet and is worth every penny you spend and then some.

G: For the money spent, I felt it was well worth it, the food was tasteful, and service was fast, only thing is that this one visit was a little disappointing for me, for I have had much better seekh kebabs at the same place.

Verdict:

Pros:

A:
1.>Value for money.

2.>Delicious seekhs.

R:
1.>Great food

2.>value for moneyR:

G:
1.> Cheap, ultra-affordable food.

2.> The food is good, just that this had been one bad experience, but I have been here too many times to strike this off my places to visit, clinging on to a thread of hope that it will be much better, the kebabs, will have the same texture, same melt in mouth quality that they always had.


Cons:

A:
1.>Cleanliness and basic hygiene.

2.>The first timers may have a hard time finding the joint.

R:
1.>dirty as hell

2.>no ambience whatsoever

G:
1.> A big NO!! for the people who are even slightly conscious about appearance, presentation and hygiene.(emphasis on this point)

2.> This place is best enjoyed with an open mind, but the issue is the magnitude of open-mindedness needed to digest this experience might be collosal.


P.S.:
A: I will really suggest take out to people with weak stomachs. But overall it is really worth a visit. You wont find that good a seekh at that price anywhere in the town.