Monday 10 July 2017

The Ganga Cafe @ Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur

I have heard about Ganga Cafe from many of my expatriate friends. Lot's of positive reviews shared and it's one of those rare places where you get Maharashtrian cuisine in Kuala Lumpur. It has always been on my list of must visit restaurants and only today I got the opportunity to visit this restaurant. 

Ganga Cafe In Taman Bukit Pantai

Located Amidst A Green Residential Area

Simple And Nice
This cafe is located in Taman Bukit Pantai. right between Bangsar and Pantai. Finding the place should not be a problem if you use any of the GPS systems. One of the big challenges here is parking, especially late evenings since there are many high end restaurants along this same row and with very minimal parking bays. One option would be to use the jockey services available. Otherwise, you would end up going in circles just to find a place to park. 




As you can see in their menu, they mainly concentrate on Maharashtrian food and most street food that you commonly get in the streets of Mumbai. Kindly do note that this is a vegetarian restaurant as well. I would not say that their prices are very cheap but these are food items that we do not commonly get in Malaysia and that slight premium is acceptable. Waiting time can be long since most of their dishes are cooked to order. Do expect a wait time of 40 minutes on average. 

Ganga Standard Thali Set @ RM 9.90

Comes With A Choice Of Rice Or Chapati
They do have two types of Thali Meals, 'Light' and 'Standard'. This is their standard one, comes with four vegetables, two gravies and Rasam. Also, you have a choice of going for Rice or Chapati and I opted for the latter. The curries were good and so were the gravies. Definitely different to the ones that we get in South Indian restaurants. If I were to rate them, I would give them 8/10. Their Chapathi's were good as well. The right thickness and served hot. I would rate these at 8/10 as well.

Hyderabad Dum Briyani @ RM 18.00

Raita
Their Hyderabad Dum Briyani was nothing much to be honest. Or, perhaps I am so used to having meat based Briyanis, this seemed like it lacked flavours. But I have eaten Vegetarian Briyani in South India and the flavours were good. Based on this, I can only conclude that this was not up to the mark. It was a little dry as well and lacked gravy. The Raita on the other hand was good but sadly, the rice slacked. My rating for this dish would be 6/10 only. 

Pav Bhaji @ RM 8.90
Their Pav Bhaji was awesome! It tasted exactly like the ones that I had had in Mumbai. The buns were soft and the vegetarian gravy mixed with diced onions and lime was awesome. I would give this 10/10 for sure. 

Vegetarian Mutton @ RM 5.00
Unlike the other dishes that we have tasted thus far, their Vegetarian Mutton was a let down. Firstly, the mock mutton itself wasn't great. Secondly, the portion was probably half the size of my palm and for RM 5.00, that's just not justified. And most importantly, it didn't taste that great either. Considering all these, I would only give this 4/10. 

Sev Potato Poori @ RM 6.00
Their Sev Potato Poori was excellent. Loved the mixture of ingredients inside the Poori's and the taste was very pleasant and authentic. Without a doubt, this is another dish that deserves 10/10. 

Vada Pav @ RM 6.90 each
Their Vada Pav's were just brilliant. Each bite brought scenes of my previous Mumbai visits to my mind. The taste was so authentic and I just fell in love with it. 10/10 is what this heavenly Pav deserves. 

Masala Tea @ RM 3.90
Their Masala Tea was exactly what you would get in Mumbai which isn't like any of those that we would get in South India. Very bold bodied, very rich in spices and a subdued tea taste is what I would say this was. Though it wasn't one that I thoroughly enjoyed since my taste buds are more tuned in to the South Indian version, for it's authenticity I would give it a 10/10. 

The Bill
If you're looking for a place to have authentic Maharashtrian Vegetarian food in Kuala Lumpur, I would suggest Ganga Cafe. Located in Taman Bukit Pantai, they do offer some amazing dishes at very decent prices. A good place for vegetarians who are looking for variety. 

Address: No.19, Lorong Kurau, Taman Bukit Pantai, Bangsar, 59100 Kuala Lumpur.

Opening Hours: Monday - Saturday 0900 - 2300
                             Sunday 1000 - 1500

3 comments:

  1. I do not know if it was a bad day or what. This place has been getting really good review. We went there, they did not have anything. They bought noodles from the next door. Their thosai was so sour.

    The place was stinky and dirty. It is the worst place I visited in Malaysia. I was so raged as they literally did not have anything and went to buy from the next door shops. and made really yucky food. I wanted to start a blog only for them. That bad it was.

    -E-

    ReplyDelete
  2. We have been informed and told everyone to everyone. YIP KUM FOOK (lawyer, president of SAMNAK SAMBODHI BUDDHIST TEMPLE) was embarrassed by Buddhism, as a shame of the Buddhist world

    In addition, do dirty with monks. He thinks this temple is his, when we read the articles on the internet, our mind is sadder because of many posts and comments on the internet.

    But he still doesn't know anything. Maybe he is close to the six senses feelings. This is very low knowledge. Some old man groups at Taman Desa Jaya, Kepong are also very embarrassing when they speak about SAMNAK SAMBODHI BUDDHIST TEMPLE

    On the contrary, if this Yip Kum Fook has learned the law, he needs to understand some laws, other lawyers do not make problems and deceive people, only this Yip Kum Fook in the world…..

    In Buddhist also same, if he understands Buddhist knowledge, why does he need to do badly, insult Buddhist monks (rejected monks out from Temple), we know about SAMNAK SAMBODHI BUDDHIST TEMPLE because we are groups opened this Temple at Taman Ehsan on 1987
    We don't say much because of his karma (YIP)

    By Mr Lim, Desa Jaya, Kepong

    ReplyDelete
  3. been hunting down on the nice bangsar cafe to try, gonna keep add this to my list!

    ReplyDelete