Khyber is a restaurant in the financial heart of southern Bombay, and was full of business people on the lunch-time when we visited. It has a large 250 seat restaurant set over a couple of floors, with numerous rooms. Its décor tries to give a frontier feel, with mock stonework and murals. There were vast numbers of smartly-dressed waiters.
Achari tikka, which involves pieces of chicken in a mustard marinade then cooked in a tandoor, was perhaps the best dish, fairly tender and with the spices working nicely (13/20). Prawn tikka in itself had fairly tender prawns, but was lukewarm in temperature, which detracted from the dish (12/20). A mushroom and pea curry worked quite well, the vegetables properly cooked and the spice mix enjoyable (12/20). Aloo gobi featured potatoes that were fine but cauliflower that was significantly undercooked (11/20). A naan was quite good, the texture just a fraction harder than ideal (13/20) and a romali roti very good, freshly made and enjoyable (14/20).
The bill was quite fair, at just GBP 18 per person for a substantial lunch and beer. Yet overall I thought the cooking was rather careless in places for a place that has good reviews in many guides; it was a least priced quite fairly, not going for the same high pricing level that seems common in restaurants in Bombay hotels.
Nic Moga
Very average. My guide book: "Highlights of the meat-centric menu include the Reshmi Kebab Masala, a transcendent dish of cream and yoghurt-marinated chicken drowning in the restaurant's intricate red masala." Andy Hayler: 2/10. I'd go with the latter. Not a bad meal by any means and I agree the price is right after being gouged at the Taj Palace for a couple days. Overall, there was scant evidence either on the plate (nothing transcendent there) or in the room (filled with tourists) that I was in India let alone Mumbai.