Went to Pritam last night. had been looking for a dhaba for a while and I was recommended this place. Took us a bit to locate this place, but that is okay, I guess. we arrived at this place to realise that these folk run a hotel as well. Valet parking was really needed there because you get no parking and there are tow trucks doing the rounds even after 11 in the night.
anyways, we went in and were greeted by one of the owners and a manager. we waited for a few minutes and then were ushered into one of the halls. this place has two halls, one of them seems newer and a little more plush. we sat in the older one, where the sofas had gotten a bit worn out. it was interesting to find a restaurant with all their crockery with their insignia on them. One doesnt expect that in restaurants of this type. these people evidently have a dhaba type thing in the back, implying a charpai setting near a tandoor outdoors. but with the weather right now, sitting outside of airconditioning is out of question completely.
the steward sort of person was a semi elderly gentleman, who was really very courteous, nice and ever smiling. anyways, since this is a place owned by a sikh family, the inclination to have the standard dhaba fair was high. between the three of us we ordered a tandoori chicken, a boneless chicken biryani, butter naans, boneless mutton rogan josh and a kaali daal.
the bird was not too large, but very well made, and the meat was succulent. the flavouring was just right and not overpowering at all. of the four pieces, we ate three and there remained the solitary piece which none of us would pick up, out of politeness. this steward gentleman approached us and volunteered to get the piece of chicken chopped to three pieces and bring it back. he did, and also ensured that the chicken was warm. first test passed.
we had ordered some soft drinks, the bottles were opened at our tables and poured into goublet like glasses. test two passed for a dhaba.
the naans were good, the butter however didn’t really smell like butter...say as it does at Gaylord. and the naans were of sort of medium size. But that didnt bother us much.
the daal was excellent. and that was the third test passed. for all these modified dhabas, I consider the daal as one of the benchmarks. if they cant do a good daal, they are not worth their hearth. some places pour a bit of cream on the daal, but these people had not...but thats fine.
the mutton rogan josh was very delicately flavoured, the masalas were not untra fine ground (which is good), the meat was soft and juicy as well. very well made dish...but the amount of meat was a little wanting, I thought.
The biryani was a bit different from what one gets usually. It was not very spicy, but a bit on the sweeter side, perhaps made so by the raisins in it. there were also traces of ’silver wark’ on it and thats really a rare thing these days. the biryani was nice too.
and that ended our meal, and we asked for some gulab jamun, which they were not able to produce. the steward profused his apologies and offered to serve us other stuff, which didnt interest us enough. we asked for the cheque and were surprised to see a bill of just over Rs 700. For a hearty meal, great service, Rs 700 odd is not much to pay in Bombay, I think.
overall a great experience, go visit them if you like north Indian food. they will not dissappoint you. I will visit them again, the only problem is that they are not really close to where I live.