The 8-1/2 hour Journey of Taste
The scene: A lazy weekend afternoon slogging in our respective workplaces at IITB
The desire: Let's get the rock out of here
The decision: A long random restaurant hop
The people: Nitin, Yug, CV, and me
The rules: Random places, random food, one dish and one bevarage *only* at every place
The transport: The Ratmobile after the requisite permission
The regret(? not really ;) ): Not informing the usual suspects at short notice
The trip report:
4:15pm - Leave IIT - get stuck in a major traffic jam at Sion
5:15 - Koolar - Matunga - Double Cheese Masala Omlette and Iranian Black Tea - as expected of Koolar - excellent food and talk
6:30 - Cafe Mocambo - in Fort off Citibank big branch - Lamb Diane i.e. Pot roast Lamb and a crappy energy drink by CV - excellently spiced continental fare - This came across as an excellent place for future outings - Basically Churchill with four times the seating space
(Nitin bought a new Nokia 6610 in a small lane nearby now)
7:30 - 5 Spice - near Horniman Circle and RBI bldg. - Sea Treasure rice and Prawns in red wine sauce - Finally went here after hearing so much about it - Excellent VFM and moderately priced - cramped seating and they actually encourage you to take-away or get it delivered by giving 10% off
8:30 - Joss - Kala Ghoda - Maki Zushi delicate Sushi with Norwegian Salmon, Eel, Smoked Salmon, Tuna with a miniscule cup of good warm sake - Excellent first Sushi experience in Mumbai with amazing tastes of the raw seafood - Had been meaning to go here for a long time too after having met the owner, but, I must say it is 20 leagues out of the reach of students - must target this for a rich man's treat - has seafood flown in weekly and is just excuisite - even the presentation of other dishes looked great
(By now we are running short on money - and have had enough food for appetizers and starters as in a normal restaurant outing - the goal now is to fill our stomachs with money in mind)
9:30 - Girgaum Chowpatty - Pavbhaji at one stall - Golgappe at another - Ice gola at the third - excellent cheap food and we realized that we had stuck to the hopping idea
(After this there were lying-on-the-beach maalishes for CV and me - absolutely rejuvenating)
11:00 - Kulfi Center - Malai Kulfi (what else) - smashing
11:15 - Juice center - Watermelon juice :)
11:30 - Banaganga - generally just roaming around this surreal place at night
12:15am - Mucchhad paanwala - near amriikan  consulate - huge great masala paan as usual - but I hated his saada paan yesterday
12:45 - Back in IIT

The final word: All in all - an excellent trip. While the others were initally apprehensive about random unplanned cuisine and budget places, I managed to egg them on based on ample prior experience. Finally everyone agreed that the evening was absolutely smashing and superb. The best part for me was sampling Mocambo, 5Spice and Joss which have now been targetted for further exploration.
The missed: Martin's, Ming's, Churchill, Alps, Leo, Gokul - but one has a limited sotmach.
The damage: About 450 per head including all transport - not bad at all I say
The call: Evil plans of a budgetless restaurant hop are forming in my mind <evil grin>. Am also looking to resurrect the old pub/bar hopping <another evil grin>
The opinion: Bombay rocks! It can support such hops for any wallet - just great
The pictures: Taken with CV's camera