Loving your Mumbai reports @Saregama - I’ll be using them to plan for my upcoming trip to Mumbai. So little time, so many good things to eat!
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Went for lunch to Soul Fry in Bandra today which had a special for the Mount Mary feast in Bandra
Thats the thali special menu. You needed a reservation (at least for the weekend) and the place was packed. The food was quite good, especially the dakshin prawns and the vindaloo. Very similar to the thali from Chaitanya, but the amount of food was the right amount for 1 person, and this was more a twist towards the goan/manglorean style than the malvan style
They do have a regular thali at other times which I suspect is quite good also
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Nice to know it’s still going strong. We used to get the rechado (pomfret or bangda / mackerel), ambotik, and something in a green masala.
Have been avoiding Bandra during the fair because of traffic.
Chicken Farcha from a Parsi home caterer.
This is the iconic Parsi Fried Chicken — marinated in a spice paste, then fried in a coating of flour and eggs that (should) result in a lacy / frilly coating.
This was a nice version, but I love the ones with excessively frilly coatings 
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can you share the name / link of the Parsi caterer if possible 
(for my next trip, @ mumbai airport heading back home)
On a different note, another of my regular options for South Indian is Dakshninaya in Malabar Hill (there is also one in Juhu). In specific, I do think their chutneys are quite nice (they give u 3 different chutneys with their dosa). And if you goto the one in Malabar Hill, you can also do the tree top nature walk (reservations typically needed) which is quite close by
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DUET
Kwality used to make a vanilla popsicle coated in mango or raspberry sorbet when I was a kid; they discontinued it many years ago, and while there are plenty of copycats, they all fall short.
I tried this version from a kulfi shop yesterday, and it came closer than anything in a while.
Raspberry is my jam, but of course mango is the crowd favorite given the general mango obsession 
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DM me when you’re in town next, there are a few with rotating menus. And RTI is always a safe bet.
Dakshinayan is fine, but benefits from its location more than anything.
If you haven’t tried Sukh Sagar at Chowpatty, you should. They have three storefronts – the juice center does juice and bombay stuff like pav bhaji and udipi-style pizza (mountain of amul cheese), the idli place does great idlis (no sambhar, two kinds of chutney), and the restaurant does the usual full udipi menu with south indian, punjabi, and chinese, plus some “continental” stuff these days too. (Plus Kulfi center is next door, to cap it off.)
A frequent home order is the idlis from Sukh Sagar’s idli front (chutney only), and a minimal order of meduvada from Dakshinayan in order to obtain sambhar for those who want it 
(Or you can go to Matunga, and eat at 3 or 4 different places because they each have their specialties.)
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Kati Roll Company’s mangsho (saucy mutton/goat) roll was similar to the mutton frankie, but I just noticed they’ve taken it off the menu.
(Anyone else claiming a frankie or kathi roll in nyc has either never eaten one, or isn’t from Mumbai or Kolkata where they mean something specific.)
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It was a dangerous moment for me when the Kati Roll Company opened just half a block from our office. Still, I suppose it was healthier than my Fidi lunch which consisted of splitting a biryani and three kati rolls with one of my partners at the biryani cart across from Liberty Square
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Hi @Saregama - when I search for Gajalee, 2 options come up,
Gajalee
Kadamgiri Complex, Hanuman Rd, next to Icici Bank
and
Gajalee Hotel
Sadan Udyog #2, E/3, off ESIC MODEL HOSPITAL
Which one is THE ONE?
Hanuman road
I wouldn’t trek there just for that though
Once you have the rest of your plan sorted, there will also be very good seafood closer to where you’ll be
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I’m going to be based in Colaba - near the Gateway of India…
What would be your recommendation for seafood near there?
Mahesh and Trishna are closest, but unless you want to tick the box, I’d sooner go to Maasli at Worli or the newer one at Nana Chowk (both will be quick on the coastal road).
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I have Mahesh on my Google Map - there was a branch right near the airport hotel I will be staying at before the wedding but I am going to follow your advice of eschewing seafood before the wedding to try and avoid a potential dodgy tummy.
Will put the Maasli branches into my map and see how they fit in with our plans.
Wow, is it wedding season in Mumbai? I have some Penang friends flying to Mumbai for a wedding, too, next week. It’ll be a grand 3-day affair, and their hosts are actually providing the wedding guests with matching outfits to wear (!!!).
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Is there some such?
Not sure about India, but we do in Singapore - the Chinese Eighth Lunar Month (coincided with 20 Sep to 21 Oct on the Gregorian calendar this year) is especially auspicious. Dozens of wedding parties all over the city. Hotel banquet rooms are usually booked a year or two in advance.
But no weddings take place during the Chinese Seventh Lunar Month. That is the Hungry Ghosts month, dedicated to the dead.
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Interesting.
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I got also curious and found articles like this -
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For Hindu weddings, yes.
Nov-Feb is peak wedding season, largely due to “auspicious” days but also favorable weather.
Before that, there are various festivals and/or blackout periods from August through late October / early November depending on the lunar calendar, and late Feb/March is the start of hot season (there’s also a window there until the monsoon, but who wants to get all decked out in the sweltering heat vs when it’s cooler).
For non-Hindu weddings, it’s still the popular period because of the weather.
(All the popular venues get booked up way in advance, sometimes up to two years, but definitely a year.)
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