Maratha Samrat – Undoubtedly, excellent!

Yesterday mum’s CA (Kiran uncle) was in town and mum wanted to take him out to lunch. Kiran uncle loves seafood and he was in Pune for merely a few hours hence I needed to choose a place close by. What better than Maratha Samrat! I made reservations and we landed there at around 13.30 hours.

We began the meal with Sol Kadi. This was chilled coconut milk laced with a faint tang (lent by the kokum used in it) and a slight hint of spice that brushed at the back of our throat without causing irritation; it was spot on in flavour!

For starters we chose Kheema Papad, Rawa Fried Prawns, Rawa Fried Pomfret, and Tawa Fried Surmai (King fish).

The Kheema Papad was excellent, as always. The kheema was deliciously spicy; the papad and onions added the crunch, while the chopped tomatoes gave it the right amount of tanginess. Do eat this as soon as it's set at your table; the papad tends to get a tad soggy (naturally). Usually, with us, the papad never gets soggy. Why? Because we dive in, to eat, as soon as it's given to us. *greedy souls* 

The prawns were scrumptious! Plump, beautifully crisp from outside and perfect in texture from within. Not overcooked in the least bit.

We ordered two whole pomfrets as all three at the table are gluttons for seafood. The pomfrets were fried crisp and yet they had retained their juiciness from within. The chefs hadn’t allowed these babies to dry out. The pomfrets were quite big in size and supreme in quality!

As we had ordered two ‘rawa fry’ dishes, the server suggested we opt for a tawa fry option with the surmai. It turned out to be yum! Once again, the fish was gorgeously ‘tawa’ fried. Absolutely no reason to complain.

For mains we ordered Mutton Varhadi, Indrayani Rice and Pandhara Rassa but by the time we finished the starters we were so full that I had to have the mains parcelled. 

It was my dinner last night and my lunch this afternoon. The mutton was succulent. There were ample amount of mutton pieces in the gravy (8 to be precise) and they were not entirely bone-y. Each piece had a good amount of mutton on it. As for the Varhadi gravy; it was robust and spicy. Not for the weak-hearted. I’m guessing, they may tone down the spice level if requested but I haven’t ever done that, and I don’t plan on doing that in the future either; I love spicy food.

The Indrayani rice with the sajuk tup (fragrant clarified butter) and the Pandhara rassa were also fabulous! Yes, I did request then to pack that tiny vati of sajuk ghee for me. *greedy grin*

I have been to Maratha Samrat quite often and be it food or service, they never disappoint, and this time was no different. We paid INR 3423, inclusive of 5% GST. They levied no SC hence we did the needful with regard to that.

Team Maratha Samrat, thank you for keeping up with the quality of food and service. Just one request, though; please do try and add more seafood to the menu; mandeli, bombil, bangda, crabs and lobsters. We’d love to see these on your menu. 😉

Some more photographs to drool over...