Sarvi

People rarely first encounter Sarvi on their own. It’s on an unchanged corner of Nagpada, and is privileged information you get in on only after a diehard of the dive-y, over 90-year-old restaurant takes you here and orders you the best Irani kainchi seekh kebabs (₹35 apiece) in the city. These are long, spiced mince kebabs, with a head-filling meatiness, not bludgeoned with spice, freshly nudged off double flat skewers to order. They’re grilled over a coal grill by a large window that faces the street. The menu has nearly 100 items, but most people rarely get past the kebab platter with puffy tandoori rotis, onion rings, lemon wedges, mint sprigs, and a fiery green chilli pepper chutney that isn’t messing around. At breakfast, Sarvi serves the city’s most true-to-community, rustic green kheema, tinged with dill leaves, and variations of it like the kheema ghotala or kheema half fry. Any of these should do the job of soaking up the previous night’s rager.