"Maaslli’s barely adorned dining room in central Mumbai focuses on serving traditional Gaud Saraswat Brahmin classics off beaten metal dishes and flatware sometimes lined with banana leaves. For a city exposed to plenty of Malvani, Goan, and Maharashtrian food, the menu at its first proper GSB eatery feels familiar, yet novel. It helps that there’s a set of framed art prints of the cuisine’s foundational ingredients: triphal, turmeric, kokum, coconut, curry leaves, coriander, chillies, and asafoetida. Informed servers arrive with tasting bowls of a few base curries before guiding diners through the seafood-centric menu. Our favorites: crunchy stuffed bombil fry, spiced clam cutlets, surmai Karwari phanna curry, and unarguably the best ghee roast prawns (and mutton) in the city. Save space for the subtle and satisfying ghee-soaked modaks. photo credit: Vikas Munipalle" - Roshni Bajaj Sanghvi