Hidden behind one of the many Mumbai Metro blockades on Mahim’s busy Lady Jamshedji Road is where you can find Mumbai’s best Mutton Fry. If you don’t know what Mutton Fry is, first off, poor you! Jokes aside, Mutton Fry is one of South India’s most coveted non-vegetarian dishes. The simmering union of ginger, chilli, ulavacharu paste, a boatload of onions, and turmeric powder make up the gravy that covers juicy mutton cubes. Many assume all people eat down South are dosas and idlis, little do they know South Indians churn out some of India’s best non-vegetarian dishes. Mutton Fry, in particular, is like South India giving the meat eaters of the world a warm hug.
Sneha Restaurant’s stark, white interior is the only thing plain about this joint. Five minutes after ordering the waiter slides a steaming plate of mutton fry and two crisp parathas across my table. The smell of the mutton puppeteered my hunger pangs cruelly and I could not resist tearing off a piece of tender mutton before I even took a photograph.
Not to turn this review into food porn, but if it gets weird blame the Mutton Fry, not me. The marrow was so succulent and soft I sucked the bone with such vehemence my actions strongly resembled someone desperately trying to remove the poison out of an unfortunate soul’s snake bite. A strange sentiment, but a true one. It’s hard to hold back when the meat’s so tender, I pulled it off the bone as easily as one plucks a flower; the chef made sure to steep the mutton in the gravy so the marrow was pure, heartwarming richness.
In fact the chef was so good I had to meet him. The shy Chef Ashok showed me around his kitchen to the amusement of Sneha’s waiters, but I could tell this guy was the real deal from how the other patrons in the restaurant revered him. After chatting with a few regulars and the manager I found out that the other hot tickets on the menu were the King Mackerel (surmai), Prawn Fry, and Keralan Tapioca. Truth be told, I bet everything in this hole-in-the-wall restaurant is a bloody revelation.
If you enjoyed this article we suggest you read: