Hotel & Restaurants in Ghatkopar

Beginning to get slower as the summer has begun, the winter is gone and summers can be real problem here in India , specially with the mushrooming of buildings all around Ghatkopar and Garodia Nagar , it makes this place look like a jungle of Concrete.

But some good news went on the terrace for a walk and saw a beautiful site, the entire road stretch was covered with tall green tress and the branches spreading all over the road, making it look like a dense forest/jungle somewhat like Amazonian.

Well so to continue the Hotel stuff,

Hotel Bharat Cafe

Opposite the railway station on west is also an old but most famous and frequented places for travellers for a quick hot Tea/coffee snakcs and meals. This was a run down building and the hotel was small albeit the area now occupied by the Cake & confectionary shop was a family room where there used to be 3/ 4 tables. The paint on the walls was not so great and wherenever I used tyo go with my family back in the 70s and 80s it was somewhat small for all to sit.

This hotel had a great samosa and idli/dosa chutney that we used to love. The meals was also good after a movie at the Odeon or Shreyas theater. Time and money has made a lot of difference to this place its huge with seating capscity on the graound floor more than 150/200 the first floor for Airconditoned comfort and family area. The cake shop, the outside where used to be a small area for seating is removed for road wideing work.

The place is bustling with people all through the day & night, good food and value for money.

Hotel Sandeep:

The hotel run by the other brother of Bharat cafe is a bar and restaurant. one of the only place after hotel Meghadoot that was serving liqour back in the 80s. Nice place to spend an evening for drinks and family meals speacially for non-vegetarain food.

The terrace area is mostly used for birthday and other functions and mostly the Mangalorean families organise their functions here. I have had attented to many of my freinds here.

Hotel Vishwakarma:

This again is a hotel run by a Shetty family. Presently run by a good friend whom i met through a common friend. Nitin has been taking keen interest of running this hotel and has done fantastically well for the business. Presently the road to this place is a real mess with the Metro rail project work being carried out and pillars all but have taken the entire road, the area is like a mega construction project. There is hardly a place to walk by this road. So one has to be careful entering into this stretch.

Nice hotel with great food and lots of cold beer to have, it was an evening place for us professionals to have a cold beer and talk about days works and ideas.


Tags : Hotel Bharat Cafe, Hotel Vishwakarma, Hotel Sandeep Ghatkopar west Garodia

Garodia Nagar

Hotels & Restaurants in Ghatkopar

I know many who might have reas this blog would wonder where are the hotels that we had good dinner or a south indian snacks. I will come to those Hotels in this post.

Okay hotles were not so a big thing in Ghatkopar, sadly very few though they catered a very tatsy delicous food to one and all. To begin with I will start with ..

Hotel Popular
This Udipi hotel started in a small corner shop of a residential building near the old L N Mehta Typing Classes. It was very small just a few tables and the owner had a great way to welcome his guest then known by names. The tea / coffee with the usaul hot Idli / Vada served in plantain leave which still continues is a great delight to the eye as you are served. The Mukgapudi (masala mix with oil) and the coconut chutney with the tasty hot spicy sambhar was such a speacial way to start your mornings.

Though the regulars swear by the cutting chai and the special that is served. As the clientel grew the expansion began with tables and chairs being put to the right side of the building compound , starting a small 2 tables it grew to more than eight and as time went by they had the area covered and very soon they had enclosed on all sides and now in its present form is a big extentionn which has more than 10 tables enough to accomodate 25 people. As time went by this hotel gained popularity most of the nearby shops had thier tea and coffee ordered from here and as Home delivery started the orders began to roll in. Its a good place for South Indian Dishers with the not so recent introduction to the menu the Rasam Vada has the Guests wanting for more.

They have the Pav Bhajji counter also and my personal feeling is that this is better than the Achija Pav Bhajji on Tilak road. But don't take my word you have to eat and decide , also the reuglars have a good night out Friday nights and weekends its just the palce you have to rush in ealry to avoid waiting to get a table. All in all great place for South Indian Dishes, neat, clean, well served with the waiters very freindly and also the fast home deliveries make it a good hotel.

Hotel Samrat:
This hotel bang opposite of the railway station on the east side is also a good Udipi hotel, though now they serve Punjabi and Chinese dishes also. Great begining to this hotel some 20 years ago, their Batata Vada is special ona way that the batter after being fried comes up so crispy and tasty that makes you go for more and more, A good deal to start with the mornihn chai. Though i have found this hotles dishes a bit too spicy , whether it is the Dal or the Subzi or other dishes they tend to make it a bit to spicy and that makes it little difficult for someone who prefers non spicy stuff.

They have have recently done thier interiors and this makes it look more airy and bright and also more space for tables. Clean kitchen to look from the outside, quick service , they also have home deliveries but they tend to avoid places Like Garodia Nagar / Natn Pai nagar if the order is less than Rs 150/- . Here again Weekends is a palce to be early like by 7 Pm to avoid being on the waiting list . The Airconditioned Section on the First floor is a place to have dinner with family. Very freindly the owner always on the move , wishing and making people comfortable. This hotel ahs a good practise of having 20 galsses of water filled round the clock adn kept on the side table outside for thirsty commuters , travelers who walk ina have thier thrist quenced and thank the owners for proiding them. If you are on the a look out for dinner or lunch this a good place to be.

Hotel Prakash:
Again one of the oldest of Udipi hotels in Ghatkopar, this is on the right section of the Odeon Building the Odeon Shopping Complex, a big and most visited area n Ghatkopar East this place did have some buzz till the late 1990s , after the owner passed away the 2 sons started to manage and over a period of time with the coming of food stalls opposite the building and also the decline in the taste of the food made here it lost out a lot of guests. The only people making it to the hotel were the Couple who could spend time in the AC secton which was nice and cosy and dark to spend some quality time of coochy cooing. Having lost on lot of business the Younger son who now manages did the next best thing of doing up the Interior and now the Hotel has a nice big bright and spacious look. This is good as the soon to beign PVR Multiplex in place of the old Odeon Theater will bring lot of guests who would either perfer to avoid the Costly multiplex counters. Though it has stiff competeition from the stalls outside it has its own mix of customers who prefer this to the roadside stalls.

Hotel Pooja:
This hotel again a Udip joint - gosh al this Udipi natives really made a lot of money here in Mumbai my catering Idlis and dosas. Though it was a really good hotel for sometime it lost out with not making changes to menu. Like may Udipi they also started the Pav Bhajji Counter with Chinese dishes and all and also the the standard Punjabi mix , this led to the guest moving away to try nd find more delicacies and different taste. I must admit with the growing of the the new age generations and the TV channels dishing out the varied countires delicaies peoples taste buds also needed more than the Idlis and dosa and the Navratan kurma. But time and again this will change and so did Pooja Hotel they also redid the place up and have a nice and cosy feeling to it, This again is a great place for love birds to spend quality time on the 1st floor section , just tip the waiter good and does not bother you.

Hotel Meghdoot :
Time for some change so we move to Ghatkopar west, this hotel was the first non verg ctaering hotel in Ghatkopar, great menu and good quality food, speacilay the Butter Chicken and American Chop Suey, I really a lot fo quailty meal with my family back in the Seventies and Eighties and also some with my friends spending huge amounts of money (Rs 300) for birthday dinners and all. Though it was a big burden to have parties on birthdays it did good to have change with non veg food. The owner was a great guy and the interiors was good. Chilled beer and good food was always a big draw. Time have changed though personally I have not visted this place in years. Nice way yo have your dinner if you perfer Non Veg in this mostly vegetarian dominated hotels area.

Hotel Neo Welcome:
How can we miss this place bang opposite the Ghatkopar Station west near the Jhunjunwalla College, as they say the Master yes this place is comsidered the Guru of Udipi Hotels. One of the oldest it still gives you gerat value for money. Real tasty food and all the more at a very reasonable price as it tries to cater to all the sections of the society so they try to avoid increasing the prices. The rsult being that though it is the oldest and one of the most visited hotels they have not rally taken to the idea of doing up the place and this makes a little too akward to see that many a new hotels have sprung up and having a bright , airy , clean eating place always makes the guests comfortable.

Hotel Guru
Just as the name Guru of Udipi hotels the owners of Neo Welcome who own this hotel as well named it Guru. This hotel was the king of Gujurathi Thali. They served the concept of unlimited eating with puris and dishes rolling in as you could muster to gobble up as much as you could, Though the idea was to cater to large families who would love to spend an evening eating outside and also not miss out on thier favouirte home food they made it look so homely and tasted good food that people loved eating here. The Aam Ras and the Hot Puris was the best dish , also the dal and rice with different veggies would make you wonder what is to be had first and what last , Nice a clean place , great eveings with family and friends were spent here on various occaions.
Though with price rise the food quantity also started to diminish and what with the use of Soda use one would just blow with just a handful of food , Sadly the use of Soda (as it is called) to make you feels fluffled up really did not helo and it doesnt, this place lost its glory over time. Have not been to this place for a over a long time so don't really know how it is today.


Gee thinking of more to wirte but guess what its Holi - day and holiday and need to take a quick nap and refresh up on more to wirte of the hotels,................Still to wirte about Bharat Cafe, Hotel Sundeep, Vishwakarma and more , Come to think of it there are good number of hotels so to speak. So folks time for a break will wirte next post more ...also do comment of\r write in if you know more about nice places you have eaten in Ghatkopar (east + west) ...

Gardens in Ghatkopar

Sorry again for not writing in for long, had a computer problem and tried fixing it and then all when haywire. Ok so where to go next on the map of Ghatkopar.

GARDENS IN GHATKOPAR
Fine the gardens of this area is something that i can write somethign about. Surprisingly you would say why is Ghatkopar west area not mentionted or written about in details. Yes its true I do have this tendency to move eastward. Seriouly i live in th East so know more about this side of the railway track and moreover am familiar with its surrondings not that West of Ghatkoapr is not know but will do wirte. Readers of this blog who know more please to write in and will have the thing put up.

So back to garden and yes there were none in good old days , yes there were open (Maidan) grounds brownish mud, or swamps which were over a period of time fileld with the debris . This helped the kids use the maidans for playing cricket (ah the only thing that is often writeen about) and all sorts of other games, used for morchas, dharnas, and sarvajanic (community) gatherings. Indeed all those who grew here are either good cricket commentators or verbal coach to all and sundry who paly actively now.

The biggest ground being the Pantnagar hall grounds that is the ground opposite the now Ration card office. This is close to the Shivaji technical school anymore hints. It is still clean , brown mud, lots of matches being played here and more so kids have a good open ground to enjoy themselves. This ground is mostly used by the old pantnagar residents. Then there is more ground which were developed due to pressure form Khairnar the then Municpal Commisionar who warned that if the said open area given the plans of development were not used then he would take over and make something on it.

Lions Community ground - Garodia Nagar , Ghatkoapr East
So we had the Lions community ground in Garodia Nagar, which was our only place where we would have matches , this used to be a muddy , dirty , garbage dump in the corner , and the Lions community centre was using it to their benefit to make lots and lots of money by renting it out as marraige functions. SO this became a wastland in the night with all sorts of rubbish and foul smelly rotten left over food dumped after the funtions and for days on the neighboruing societies suffereing all the this. To end this all there was morcha and appeal filed in the courts and finally the residents won adn this is now converted into a very very beautiful , walking park cum ground. There good landscaping done, nice trees, good water fountain, and most of all people use it for walking and being happy and healthy and meeting freinds and having a good time after all the hard work they do in home/ office/ school and so on a so forth.

Then there is a garden near the Police Chowky or to say the lane that comes from walking behind the garages on the 90 feet road, the juciewala , this is the lane that has some 14 building s and societies like Chandini, Kailash Dhara, and more manage this garden. Beautiful garden now , but ofr years this was a garbage dump, smelly as usal and not of much use. But come toghter few like minded people and lot of hard work and paitence and this had developed into a good garden.

Varsha Ground
Then there is Varsha Ground, the small yet beautiful ground where Bhaskar and Navin and all the other guys from buildings surrounding them making use of this for cricket. The ground was all half garbage dump half swamp, converted into cricket grounds by the hard work by the guys who loved what the always did- cricket and made most of it. We had a great time playing most of the afternoon matches here with the Bhaskar team, as mornings we had to paly teams from Garodia Nagar viz, Shivgeet, then Jyothi bldg, Chaaya Nirmal, and some more. Great way to spend your holidays and sundays . After a few years this ground too was converted into a nice beautiful garden.

There is the Nath Pai nagar ground near behind the Pancholi Hospital, this was mostly swamp and can't remeber how long this was a wasteland then slowly and for good land shark started dumping debris to use it to illeaglly occupy the area, Sadly and for good it never materialsied and the ground was convereted for playing cricket, very dangerous to paly here as lot glass and broken tiles were there and taking a catch or playing barefoot was really risky. Now taken over by the Skih community and managed by them and has a good green centre and a huge walking area, sitting benches and a area where Ducks are kept. Just behind it the traffic police depatment has created Childrens Traffic Signal and trainng ground.


Rajawadi Garden
Well then there is the good old Rajawadi Garden , still nicely matainted and used by all and sundry for walking, and expressing their love to their loved ones and at night ina dark corner someone enjouing his share of the Local arrack.


Lions Garden 60 feet Road
Anymore hmmm. well yes how could if forget the Lions Garden near the Arshiwad Hospital, the garden we all used to call the helicopter garden as there was a big stone helicopter in there, and a Bofor type shell launcher. This was the best garden for kids and is still used and is good for all the people for al the residents around.

Well folks need some break and will do some more psot about the area.