Purepur Kolhapur is a restaurant chain spreading across big cities in India, and a very good one restaurant chain it is! Serving only authentic Kolhapuri cuisine, albeit toned down because certain cities can’t handle hot spices, Purepur Kolhapur’s taats (thalis) are to die for.
The place is spic and span, and the service is terrific. Recommendations will come your way with a smile, and you’ll be spoken to in Marathi until you let them know you don’t understand the language. Then they’ll speak to you in Hindi or English, but not without a Marathi twang.
Pulao
You can get their vegetarian/mutton/chicken/fish taat at any time of the week, but on Wednesday-Friday-Sunday they’ll suggest you go for the special fish thali, and you can opt for either pomfret or surmai. The fish comes to you swimming in the curry next to a fried fish and zavla (fish/prawns sukka), and you’ll get delicious sol kadi (one of the best non-alcoholic drinks in the world) and onions dipped in dahi, accompanied by teekhla (inferior fish in thick red gravy). Always go for chappatis with fish curries; bhakris are meant to be had with the chicken and mutton taats. The pulao which comes later is good enough to have without the curry, and it is topped with cooked masaledaar onions. How’s taat!
Kharda
Kharda is smashed green chilly and chopped garlic fried very lightly. Even this is toned down; it seems Mumbai cannot take kharda the way it’s meant to be. The mutton pickle at Purepur Kolhapur is another thing people come for; they buy it by the kilo and sip on the creamy tak (buttermilk) while they wait.
On Sundays and only on Sundays, Purepur Kolhapur serves their Gavran Kombdi taat. Sure, their mutton taat is the most popular thali there, but this country chicken meal is what you must have if you find yourself at Purepur Kolhapur on a Sunday. With a rather fancy looking egg on one side, and the vatis of the tame pandhra rassa and wild tambda rassa being refilled as soon as you drink them, the desi murgha is doomed to be munched on by you. Offensive fowl, I say!
I say you should go to Purepur Kolhapur, and taat is taat.
