I really like Mumbai’s rooftop lounges. I generally prefer open-air dining over indoor dining, and if it’s on an elevated level, that’s even better for me. Besides Candies, I decided to visit two other rooftop restaurants last month: Koyla and Rude Lounge.
Koyla is located in an old building in downtown Mumbai; like many trendy places, it is very well hidden (luckily not hard to find thanks to Google Maps). To get to the rooftop, we had to first take the elevator and then walk two flights of sketchy-looking stairs. Koyla’s decor involves simulating a beach (sand covered the floor) with Indian tents (shamianas):
The bathroom interiors were quite lovely too:
There is an area for smoking hookahs and an area for taking in the view. The Taj Hotel can be seen from a distance (upper left corner of the picture below):
Koyla serves traditional Northwestern Indian food. Service was quite slow, which Koyla probably could get away with because it seemed to be a place where you’d go to chill out. According to Koyla’s website, the slow service is justified because “Koyla…is our way of taking you back in time where royalty would feast on rich delicacies slowly prepared over burning coal embers” (koyla means “coal” in Hindi).
The first appetizer we ordered was murg malai kabab, which consisted of chicken pieces smeared in spices, condiments, and cream, grilled on live tandoor (traditional North Indian charcoal oven):
The cook had hollowed out the center of a tomato to place a candle inside and cut out leaf-like shapes for the light to pass through. The chicken was really creamy, rich, flavorful, and salty.
For our second appetizer, we ordered Nawabi mushroom tikka (fresh mushrooms stuffed with cheese, marinated in Indian mild spices, and grilled in tandoor):
The mushrooms were also creamy, rich, flavorful, and salty.
For our main course, we ordered goshth lazeez (boneless leg pieces of mutton in a perfect blend of cashew nut gravy and onion gravy, mild spice) and garlic butter naan:
The garlic butter naan was delicious, but unfortunately I did not feel the same way toward the goshth lazeez. I can’t say that it’s average because I’ve never tasted a goshth lazeez before; due to the praises it has received in reviews online, I think it may be a matter of personal taste. I’ve just had many other curries in the past with flavors that I preferred over this one.
Since everything was quite heavy, we skipped the dessert. We left the restaurant bloated. The food was generally good, although I think it would be even better with less salt.
————————————————————————————————-
Rude Lounge is located in Powai, which is a suburb of Mumbai. While Koyla’s ambience looks traditional Indian, Rude Lounge’s ambience looks modern Indian:
Initially the Rude Lounge was playing music from the 80’s, including the song played whenever viewers are rickrolled. I found their music selection very amusing and entertaining for the first half of my meal. Sometime after 8 pm, the music’s volume increased to dance club levels, first playing hip hop and then moving on to EDM (which I feel what many Indian young adults prefer). Since no one was dancing, it was the first time I saw people (including myself) eating dinner to booming EDM music.
When I looked at the menu, I initially felt disappointed because the choices were similar to food I can get at a no-frills Indian restaurant but at higher prices. Therefore, I searched for items I could not order elsewhere and ended up choosing “Rude Dude Chicken” and “Rude Special”. Rude Lounge is supposedly known for their variety of drinks, so Priam ordered a cocktail with an interesting name that I won’t repeat here:
Priam thought that the drink tasted good, while I found it a little too syrupy.
We first ordered chicken nachos: 
Although it did not look nor taste like nachos in the US (I’d say that it’s Indianized), it was still tasty overall.
Next came Rude Dude Chicken, which is basically Indian chicken with cheese:
This chicken was pretty good too.
The Rude Special (vegetarian entree) was presented in an interesting manner:
Half of it was paneer (Indian cheese) curry, while the other half was some mystery vegetable curry. I liked the vegetable curry, while I found the paneer curry so-so.
The Chicken Makhani (butter chicken) looked very rich:
This curry tasted good, although not the best I’ve had. We paired the curries with garlic naan. Overall, we didn’t make much of a dent in our curries because they were so rich. We packed up the leftovers and left bloated, and unfortunately both of us got one bout of diarrhea afterwards. If I come back, I’d probably skip the curries because I’m guessing that all the cream in them didn’t agree with my stomach.
American Foodie in Mumbai 