Hit Up Dewar’s Marine For Its Fresh Seafood And Mutton Chops

All you need at this slightly dingy spot is a big appetite, the desire to drink and friends who have hours to spend. This one is all about nostalgia and fresh catch of the day, folks!

The Seer Fish Fry and Mutton Chops

Thums Up

A meal at Dewar’s Marine will make you long for those endless drinking sessions spent at the erstwhile Dewar’s Bar, because the pantry staff, menu and quality remain identical.

Sandwiched between a bunch of tyre shops and paper marts, you are likely to miss this tiny eatery on Assaye Road. The arrangement here is basic with four tables and can serve up to six people comfortably at a time (ten is definitely a crowd). The service is efficient, so the turnover is quick. You might have to wait a little while for a table.

When the legendary Dewar’s Bar shut shop in 2011 after being in business for 78 years, the city went into collective mourning. Apart from the dive’s fame as a watering hole since the British era, the bar’s menu comprising fish fries, mutton chops and offal offerings were equally popular. The staff who originally managed the bar and kitchen in Dewar’s, then decided to start their own eatery. Enter Dewar’s Marine, a hole-in-the-wall joint that serves some of the best seer fish fry and mutton chops this side of the sub continent.

The crunchy, crisp and fresh slice of deep fried Seer Fish Fry {in a red masala} is what you need to start with from the limited but tasty menu at this family-run eatery. The Prawn Chilly, Crab Masala, Mutton Chops and the Brain Fry here are equally formidable and all you need is a bowl of plain or khuska rice (biryani rice minus meat). The proteins – seafood, chicken and mutton – come in the options of fry, a peppery curry, masala, kabab and pepper.

For the adventurous, there is also the Head Curry, a spicy curry of soft meat from a goat’s head. The Prawn Chilli comprises plump fresh prawns flash-fried with chopped chillies, onions and pepper. The mutton chops here are peppery, well-cooked and the sweet soft shelled crabs are cooked in a fiery green chilli paste with onions. By the end of this meal, you might end up with a case of heavy perspiration due to the alarmingly high levels of spice in the food. But nothing that a bottle of Thums Up or two can’t douse.

Ignore the ambience and concentrate on the fresh seafood that will have you coming back for seconds sooner than you can anticipate.