Chow Bella!

Bandra Locals, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. On the maddeningly crammed stretch that is the station road, you’ll now find Mangiamo, a day-old Italian eatery where walls are painted in hushed hues of beige and blanche plates are prettied with delicate salmon pin-wheels. Next stop, Milan subway?

This restaurant and bar that comes from the guys behind Juhu’s Mangii Ferra (you can guess by the moniker and the orange-brown colour scheme), houses a leafy outside area, as well as a formal indoor bar and seating, and a few more tables in the basement. In all their endeavours to make you forget the proximity to the station, though – illuminated coconut trees by the gate, cheery signage,  shady foliage - your mind continues to stay on track so we suggest you visit post 10 pm when the rush dies down. We did the same, settling on an inside table, browsing the extensive menu and ordering despite our New Year resolutions. Must not eat bread. Bread it is!

Roma with a View

Considering our seats afforded a view of the oven, wood fired pizza was an obvious choice. Our pie appeared thin and crispy, tomato sauce sharing space with cloudy mushroom paste, made slightly sour with sundried tomatoes and salty with Kalamata olive toppings. A yum starter if you want to skip the usual bruschetta routine. Also, the glistening prawns, plump with sea, tossed in tomato, cream and chilli, was particularly good. There are also a few soups and salads you can begin with. Having maxed out our alcohol limit this past weekend, we decided that these would be washed down not by martinis, but just water. Remember that see-through liquid that’s not vodka? Worked out well, considering the cocktails here are quite pricey.

For mains we got the Italian hunter style tenderloin and the chicken risotto. The former came with pieces of expertly pan-fried tenderloin tossed in a robust herb-dotted tomato sauce and arranged prettily around a mound of rice. The risotto with pesto-basil flavouring also featured what seems to be Mangiamo’s favourite ingredient – sun dried tomatoes. No complaints! There’s also a large selection of pastas and sea food mains. End with the predictable but alcohol-soaked Tiramisu or on a nippy night, the Toddy.

Platform No 1?

In short, do what we did: don’t drink here (get a cheaper pre-drink), make your own decisions (the staff is efficient but not great at recommending dishes), try to ignore the location and concentrate instead on the tasty food, a feature that we hope remains consistent. Somewhere during this routine, we hadn’t realised when the ambient music had switched to Jennifer Lopez's Get On the Floor and other noisy club tracks. Chaos ensued. And suddenly, the 10 pm Bandra Locals felt at home.

Getting there: Mangiamo, 11/1, Kalpak Corner Building, off Linking Road, on the same stretch as Bandra station, Bandra (W), call 26510077/44, Rs 2,200 for a meal for two without alcohol.

bpb reviews anonymously and pays for its own meals.