Sandwich Meals

Place: Bembos - The South American Grill

Location: Opp. Indian Bank, S. V. Road, Bandra (W).

Seating: Accommodates 15-20 smoking and non-smoking crowd separately. I strongly suggest sitting in the non-smoking zone, for its air-conditioning and availability of adjustable tables and booths. Smokers can sit in a separate area near the entrance, but again sit there only if the other area is full, or if S.V. Road isn't providing you ample smoke to satisfy your needs.

Ambience:
There is a two part description to this one, with reference to the Seating and a few other constraints:

Non-smoking Area: Certainly the better place to get yourself seated, but strictly from the hygiene P.O.V. But its a confused arrangement otherwise. The attempt to take the metropolitan-coffee-shop-interiors concept, really bothered me. To make things clear, it has different and loud colours(perhaps to point out the South American bit in its name) which I found pointless and confusing at points, circular tables don't quite justify the size and shape of the rectangular food trays, and chairs with narrow seating are not apt for the people who come over there, seriously, if you are a big person, get a booth. There is a radio station on at all times here, and a TV at another end playing music videos with no sound, which again can be a bit comical. Not all the time are the tables clean, have seen flies in the AC section too many times(not an alarming number though), and tables are often sticky because of spilled cola.

Smoking Area: If you thought that the description of the Non-smoking area was not great, then the smoking area is simply a disappointment. The location is not in the cleanest of places, the smoking area is pretty much open except for a collapsable shed. It is adjacent to S.V. Road, near a traffic signal, so pretty much all different types of vehicles are blowing into your food at the same time. This area for the similar reason concludes to be relatively neglected if cleanliness is considered.
Other than all the negatives mentioned, the place is awkwardly comfortable, so it wont be that bad a first visit for one, on the contrary it will be quite pleasant, and there are other things to this place that would make you visit it on multiple occasions and perhaps even recommend it to others. Pretty much ideal for the college crowd flowing out of the institutions in the vicinity.



Food: This place serves a potpourri of burgers, for both vegetarians and otherwise(chicken and lamb) and also chicken and lamb steaks. Non-vegetarian's can rejoice for its almost plethoric amount of chicken and lamb burger varieties and these are available in regular and large sizes. Further, you can jazz your burger up with cheese or a fried egg(charges extra). Having visited this place many times I can safely say that I have tried almost every grilled chicken breast burger variant here, where the hawaiian version with pineapple discs in it remains one of my favourites till today, maybe i'm a sucker for the chicken and pineapple combination. They also have the relatively economical chicken burgers(crispy chicken patty they say) which are good, but I personally find them equivalent to those pre-breaded you get out a deep-freezer. My advice, go for the grilled chicken breast burgers, they are exceptional. Now, describing the lamb burgers gets me salivating. People loving red meat should, no must try the “Argentina”(burger name). I honestly don't know if such burgers are indigenous to its namesake country, but certainly one should not care about such trivia when the burgers are that good. I was happy that it really was lamb and not mutton, that is a general obfuscation. The cut of the lamb is pretty lean and well done, and very tender and juicy. At least the food here is hygienic, preparation-wise too. Thankfully all the burgers here have a distinctly independent tastes, textures and flavour, and they are sufficiently large in size, so for any normal appetite a regular burger and fries can be a meal. But for people with monstrous gastroesophageal/gastroduodenal capacity, try different burgers and make them large!
Another thing, they provide not just unlimited ketchup, but also mayonnaise, so those cribbing about your favourite burger joint not providing you enough condiments, Bembos doesn't let you complain about that and a lot more.
I don't know which is the best place for such sandwiches in the city, but for now, i'd like to keep that fanciful title held for Bembos.

Presentation: Not much to talk about here. Most of us have been to places standardised like McDonald's, and this one is not too different. Only difference is that whatever you order is made after you place your order. Its all served in paper wraps on food trays we are all familiar with.


Accompaniments: Accompaniments served include fries, cola(and the soda variants) and a soft-serve sundaes. The fries are in different sizes, so are the sodas. Sundaes can be found in different flavours there, but they don't update this section so much. They might have taken a few items off the list. All of these plus the extra cheese and/or the fried egg are charged separately.

Service: Self-service. You are informed when your order is ready via intercom, or otherwise err..shouting out(not professional).The people working there certainly seem like they would desperately need something that would cheer them. As I had mentioned in one of my previous posts, “A smile goes a long way”.


Cost: The last time I went there was with three other people, we ordered 3 large and one regular burger(all non-vegetarian), one serving of fries and three colas and all this was for not more than Rs.530, maybe lesser than that .

"Worth" factor: Certainly worth the visit. The place is deserted mostly, so there is virtually no queue. If u can put up with the staff, get a spot in one of the booth, and not careless about the music and the muted television, then this place is certainly worth it.(Word of Advice: Visit with a group of friends, otherwise this place can give you the gloomy vibes.)


Verdict:

Pros:
1.> Good food, with bang on flavours.
2.>Generous portions with free unlimited condiments.
3.> Good quality of meat cuts.
4.> Very reasonable rates and decent accompaniments.

Cons:
1.>Utterly bored staff, can be hostile at times. Get your anger management done before coming here.
2.>As hygienic as any other popular fast-food joint in the non-smoking section. The smoking section can just be avoided.
3.>People who bother themselves with ambience will be left confused by how the place is done.

-Gabo(Gaurang).

A reason worth going to matunga for....

Thats what Gulshan is. This place has been there for i don't know how long, but it has made a very nice reputation for itself, especially among the college crowd of Welingkars and Ruia. A very down to earth place with reasonable prices and great food. What more could one ask for? Its located right besides Welingkars college and is at a walking distance from both dadar and matunga(central) stations.
There is nothing special about the ambiance of this place, but theres nothing bad about it either. If anything i would say it feels a bit cramped up. They've tried to fit in more seats than they can accommodate, and although in the end they've been able to fit the 10 extra people, it all feels a bit squeezed up and uncomfortable. The waiters are generally helpful but some of them might(and at least one of them will) turn hostile every once in a while. And some of them do have attention deficiency. The last time i visited this place, there were times that i had to place my order twice or the waiter got something totally different than what i had ordered. In general the food doesn't take much time to arrive, but if you're ordering chinese it might take a while. So be wary of that if you go there after fasting for a month ;)
As far as food goes, i don't have many complaints about this place. Not that i don't have any complaints, they're just not that many compared to the other aspects of this place. Most of the stuff that you get here can range from decent to very good, and only if you order something really weird(like the chicken stew rice gabo ordered), then you might be disappointed. The chinese that you get at this place is really good. Try the gulshan special, or any of the triple rice varieties. In particular try the triple rice with roasted chicken. Its delectable. Don't try the crispy chicken, and if you've had this before, then this goes out specially to you. Don't try it. They've turned a good dish into a very bad one. Its less chicken and more about the crispy coating. Maybe they took the wrong leaf out of KFC's book(of wrong leaves. That place cannot get anything right). The real hero of this place is the kheema pav. Every place has that one special dish which is the main selling factor for that place. For Gulshan, its their kheema pav. You can get much better chinese elsewhere, but the kheema pav doesn't have that many rivals. For 120 bucks, You get a handi full of kheema and 4 pavs and you're set for the day. The only bad thing about it is that its really oily. But given the awesome taste, thats excusable. Other dishes include biryanis, sandwiches, moghlai dishes and desserts. All of them are pretty decent and except for a few disappointing ones, non of then will leave you dissatisfied.
Overall i would say its one of my favorite joints to hang out with friends. The ambiance is decent. The prices are reasonable. And the food is great. If you're in a college, then theres no better place to have right besides the college building. And i really envy the welingkar and ruia crowd for that. If you ever happen to be in matunga for any reason, and if you're stomach isn't packed to the brim with food, then i would highly recommend going to this place. If nothing, parcel a handi of kheema pav and feast on it whenever you're hungry. Its totally worth it.

-Mambo