Like a Rajkumar Hirani film; has something for everybody
On a very busy Link road in Santacruz West, Mayur is like that awkward stranger you chance upon, who suddenly earns the status of being your best friend. Yeah, screw your real best friend!
The moment you step inside Mayur, you may get tricked into thinking that you’ve landed up in the wrong place. “Hello! I came here to drink, not to have idli-dosa and Punjabi tadka”, your mind may assert.
Since we genuinely believed that we landed in Andhra instead of Goa, we politely asked the waiter if they indeed served liquor with the fear that he may say “NO”, have us even more embarrassed, and boot the fuck out of us there. Liquor is a touchy topic, at the end of the day.
Yes, life is bloody unfair, but this time, life was kind. Our hesitant question was met with undeniable glee, as he responded – “Sir drinks toh yahaan, andar milega”.
He opened his door to his restaurant’s “andar”, and led us into the stuff that “Now you’re talking!” is made up of – A mini bar to greet you, a vibrant air conditioned space, neat and clean tables, and most importantly, quick and friendly waiters who “get” you. This bro earned his tip long before we began drinking.
Their interiors are white, the kind that your teeth aspires to be but never becomes, and for some inexplicable reason, they have frames of peacocks posing in different directions perched on their walls. Hey, who are we to complain? And why should we?
It was month end, we were broke as fuck, but daaru is a constant, no? So the idea was to drink in a cheap, and dare I say “shady” bar. Mayur is a cheap drinking place alright, but it will make us rethink before we use the term “shady” in the future.
This was also the first time we tried idli-sambhar to go with our daaru (judge us all you want), and it was an arrange marriage made in heaven. The boiled chana and peanuts took a back seat in this movie, playing supporting cast to their truest potential.
Might we just take a moment to fill you in that this drinking area was adjacent to, and sharing a common wall with a nice family dining area, all part of the same place called ‘Mayur Veg Restaurant’.
It was a month-end dream, that rare thing which brings happiness in broke-dom!
Where? Juhu Road, Near Police Station, Santacruz West, Mumbai
