Ling's Pavilion
19/21, Mahakavi Bhushan Marg, Behind Regal Cinema, Colaba, Mumbai Phone: 022 22850023, 022 22850024 Average Price: $ 6 per person Features: Alcohol Available, DinnerAbout
Ling's wonderfully strange decor is part of what makes the restaurant so endearing. The other part is the service. Ever since it opened in 1991, owners and brothers Baba, Nini and Titi Ling have pottered around Ling's tables taking orders for Mandarin chicken, Mongolian beef and steamed pomfret. Occasionally you'll see them wink at parents and then glare at little kids to stop jumping around and finish their sweet corn chicken soup. Upstairs, Johnny the flamboyant waiter flitters about in his silken kimonos, arching his perfectly shaped eyebrows as he makes both men and women blush at his compliments. The fantastic food - the silent groups of Chinese digging into bowls of glistening pork are proof that it's the genuine thing - coupled with its slightly kooky decor and quirky staff makes eating at Ling's quite unlike any other restaurant experience in Mumbai.