Kolhapuri Thali, Bangda Fry and Prawns Sukka At Suryawanshi

Generous thalis, fiery Kolhapuri dishes, and a host of delicious Maharashtrian quick eats make up the menu at Suryawanshi.

Egg Bhurji Pao, Fish thali, Prawns Sukka

Sol Kadi

There is no ambience to speak of at both branches of Suryawanshi. While the Whitefield one is generous in space, there is regular seating on offer and some brightly coloured walls. That’s all. The Indiranagar one is really tiny and can’t seat more than ten people at one time. We’d say here you just eat your food and then carry on.

Depending on the time of the day, you will get snacks or mains at Suryawanshi, while weekends are reserved for Kande Pohe {poha spiked with onions and green chillies}. Among snacks, there is chicken or mutton kheema cooked with a lot of tomatoes {the dish is very tangy} and spice, and the texture is more gravy than dry, to be mopped up with paos. Our regular order here includes Egg Bhurji and pao. You can’t go wrong with eggs, and the restaurant does a nice, spicy bhurji with fresh coriander, usually served with pickle, a green chilli chutney and a red chilli one.

Mains here include thalis {veg, egg, fish, chicken and mutton versions} with catch-of-the-day {seer, mackerel, pomfret, prawns and crabs} that is marinated in plenty of masalas and then deep fried. We have tried their Mutton and Chicken thalis on occasion and found them to be really, really spicy and full of masalas. But these thalis would be worth ordering only for their sublime pandhra rasa and tambda rasa, two meaty broths. The former is a fiery red mutton stock flavoured with a host of spices, while the latter is again stock flavoured with coconut milk, poppy seeds and more.

We recommend the fish thali, which comes with chapatis, rice, a vegetable of the day, a fish curry {with seer} and a side of sol kadhi, which you need to wash down all that heat. The Bangda or mackerel fry {dressed up with plenty of masala} is the star of the thali. A squeeze of lime is all you need to enjoy the fish fry. The Prawn Sukka here is pretty awesome, and if you spot it on the day’s menu, just order it with a round of chapatis. The dry style prawns are tangy, spicy and are all kinds of good.

We are going back to try their crabs soon. And, rather than meat or chicken dishes, we’d recommend the seafood here. It is pretty fresh and is best eaten fried. The thalis are good value-for-money and so are the snacks {priced at a reasonable INR 70}.