Much variety, little precision: Review of Butters gastropub, Mumbai

When a menu offers everything from chaat to brekker, burgers and desserts, you know the details are going to be a bit fuzzy. It doesn’t help that the servers don’t seem to know their dishes.

Here’s what Butters offers across its seven-page food menu: all-day breakfasts (from mushroom-swathed eggs Kejriwal to crepes); soups and salads; munchies (from sev puri tart to tartare); a paos and baos section; small plates (of course); pizzas, pasta, sandwiches, burgers; plates to share; a ‘Desi Corner’; and desserts ranging from ‘pizookie’ to panna cotta.

About a dozen of these dishes are a legacy from its predecessor, Global Chaos, as is the flatware, and the striking wooden lattice by the stairway.

With Butters it should be clear that in the Mumbai of today, whether we like it or not, ‘best of’ is a cuisine in its own right. It’s the millennial upgrade of the justly maligned ‘multi-cuisine’ menu. It’s a sign that, no matter how large and diverse the group, everyone will find enough that pleases them, and some things that disappoint. Butters also has an affordable cocktail line-up.

The Drunken Bhel starter is a pleaser, served in thin taco-like sev puri shells, with lightly rum-spiked chutneys. We visited thrice and at every meal we considered seconds.

The signature Drunken Bhel starter is a pleaser. It’s regular bhel, with lightly rum-spiked chutneys, served in thin taco-like sev puri shells. We visited thrice and at every meal we considered seconds.

Some of the other starters didn’t fare as well. The machhi pao isn’t quite a machhi pao – the fish is buried so deep in bread and rawa batter, that you taste the lachha onions and chutney more than the sea bass.

The Machhi Pao is fish buried so deep in bread and rawa batter, that you taste the lachha onions and chutney more than you do the sea bass.

The mysteriously named Chicken Kim Jong-Un was good - a platter of nuggets coated in a sticky-hot-tart glaze.

We’re not sure if North Korea’s supreme leader likes Butters’ fried chicken, Kim Jong-Un, but we did. The fried nuggets are coated in a sticky-hot-tart glaze that would even work with ribs. The signature pork sliders, on the other hand, were way too twee: bitty domes of bread in deep pink and black, encasing sugary pulled pork dulled by coleslaw.

Here’s what’s even duller: the service. It’s erratic in pace, and the staff seem to make up dish descriptions (“What do you put in your Old Fashioned?” “Bourbon.” “Which one?” Blender’s Pride.” “Okay, what’s in your Mexican burger?” “Chicken.” “And?” “It’s spicy.” “How’s it Mexican?” “It’s got capsicum.”).

If you are in the neighbourhood, there is enough to go back for, (like the bhel). But when a menu has something for everyone, precision must be sacrificed.

The pork sliders are just bitty domes of bread in deep pink and black, encasing sugary pulled pork dulled by coleslaw.

(HT Reviews anonymously and pays for all meals)