As an online publication whose Editor-in-Chief is a one year old puppy, we’ve been granted significant editorial liberty. Many in our position would misuse this platform by unfairly lashing out at the perceived competition by saying blatantly untrue things like “Curly Tales makes me want to cut myself” or “LBB is the world’s finest catalogue of PR garbage.” But we’d never do that. We’d much rather talk about our journey as a company, that began in small restaurant in Sion, not too long ago.
We’ve loved Modern Lunch Home, ever since our first tryst in 2015. It’s the whole reason we even got into journalism. The food was better than anything we’d ever tasted up to that point in our lives, and nobody we knew had ever heard about it. So we thought to ourselves, “surely there needs to be a platform where young men can find cheap beer and great seafood”. And that’s how the Bombay Report came to be.
Modern is quite small actually, there no more than eight tables in total and place smells a little like fish, and only slightly in a good way. It’s is dimly lit, almost comparable to a dive bar, but they don’t serve alcohol, which isn’t much of a problem anymore because we’ve started to carry our own.
Prawns Koliwada
Rs.230
The Prawns Koliwada was a lot blander than we’re used to, but in a likable way. They took the liberty of adding rava, which isn’t generally an ingredient found in Koliwada and which contributed very little to anything. It definitely made for a great dish, but some inexplicable reason, the Prawns Koliwada just wasn’t as exemplary as we remember.
Bombil Fry
Rs.190
Modern’s Bombil Fry was oily enough to permanently ruin our t-shirts. It tasted like a fish market, and we mean that in the nicest way possible. The bombil they used was extremely fresh, and the batter was wafer thin and seemingly unseasoned apart from a hint of haldi. As much as we liked the Bombil Fry at Modern, we’ve had better.
Crab Chilli Fry
Rs.240
Although we were puzzled by its name, the Crab Chilli Fry was something we really enjoyed, the bright orange masala was slightly sour, and it looked almost too brightly colored. But at least the meat was reasonably fresh and the gravy, spicy and delicious. Was it the best crab we’ve had? Probably not. But did it show us a good time? Absolutely.
The Decree: Modern Lunch Home is an amazing place, we could never deny that. But after years of scouring for restaurants with best seafood in the city, we can definitely say that it’s high on the list, but just not quite on top. Over the years, with a lot of help from you, our readers, we’ve discovered places in Mumbai that are every bit as great, and dare we say, maybe even a little greater; but Modern will always be our first, and you should definitely try it out.
