Category: Food

Can’t deny a saying from my cousin, “Delhi dil hai, toh Bombay meri Jaan”. You not only get to say this, but feel the junoon of Mumbai as well. The sea in Bombay acts as its fabric. From Portuguese and European dwellers forming the churchgate locale to Bollywood superstars catching moments, big industrialists to slum dwellers and tribes of fishermen, the city is full of stories from all walks of human existence.

Mumbai’s glimpse of creativity lies in its culture, art, theater, dance & music, all driven by the invincible spirit of Mumbaikars. When it comes to the food of Bombay Pav Bhaji, Vada Pav, Bhajias, Pani Puri, Sev Puri, Dahi Puri, Kala Khatta, just writing about these delicacies gave a mouth watering sense among the readers. But going beyond authentic turned out very well, especially in Mumbai, and that’s when we discovered some worth exploring cafes and restaurants of Bombay.

There is something very peaceful and welcoming about these eateries – that they are for everyone. Whether you are looking for a quiet corner to read a book alone or looking for a relaxing place to catch up with your friends, these places are the best to hang out. Not only do these delis offer a great range of coffees and impressive menus, but the ambience is so unusual that you’d want to spend hours there.

Starting our food journey with:

1. Banyan Tree Café - Set within the 10,000-sq.ft, an experimental architecture and art venue (Ice Factory Ballard Estate) space. The designers of the café have worked honestly on retaining the authenticity of the structure. The centerpiece of the courtyard is the ancient Banyan Tree. The ambience is rustic, raw with exposed brick walls and glass facades.

The cafe’s menu reads like a love letter to wholesome goodness. The café is known for its salads, each bowl is a canvas of colors and textures. From the crunch of fresh greens to the burst of flavor from vibrant toppings, every forkful is a journey through a garden of taste.

The smoothies are a blend of nutrient-rich ingredients with bursts of tropical fruits. The true stars of the show, however, are the sandwiches. Crafted with culinary finesse, these are a fusion of artisanal breads with an array of protein-rich fillings.

Here is what we had from their menu:

Pesto, Please! – Smoked chicken, Pesto Mayo, Jalapeno, processed cheese, cheddar, in a multigrain bread. The pesto mayo makes the sandwich a cheery on top.

Juice – The Melon-aire. Watermelon, Orange and Mint flavored.

Pesto Please Sandwich and complimentary fries, Picture credit-Zomato

Address - 7, 9, Calicut Rd, Ballard Estate, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001

Timings - 8:00 am – 10:00 pm

 2. August Café - In the lanes of Andheri, is a café called August, serving Italian and Continental dishes, along with an in-house bakery. Dessert at August Café is a revelation. Cheesecakes are a study in indulgence, with textures that range from silky to crumbly and that’s what we were there for. Macarons and pastries are dissolved into sheer delight. August Café has much more to offer, starting from breakfast offerings like pancakes, avocado toasts, to lunch and dinner with Mediterranean platters.

Here is what we had from their menu:

Baked Cheesecake – Classic New York Style Vanilla Cheesecake

Baked Cheesecake blended with a hot Latte is a win-win.

New York style Vanilla Cheesecake

Address -  Shop No 3 & 4, Sterling Apartment, Lokhandwala Complex-andheri West, Mumbai – 400053 (Sundervan , Off Link Road)

Timings - 9:00 am – 12:00 am

3. Oh Dough - Oh Dough, an Ice Cream Shop in the charming neighborhood of Kala Ghoda, offers combination of ice cream flavours with baked and hot cookies. The contrast of the cold, velvety ice cream and the gooey warm cookie dough is truly impressive. The ice cream flavours at Oh Dough are genuinely rich and creamy. Hence, the perfectly soft dough with a little crisp offers a delightful texture complementing the ice cream wonderfully.

Here is what we had from their menu:

A Lotus Biscoff Strawberry Ice Cream paired with Red Velvet Cookie, and

Smoked Vanilla Ice Cream paired with Smores Cookie

Smoked Vanilla Ice Cream paired with Smores Cookie

Address -  Hind Rajasthan Chambers,, 6, JA Allana Marg, Apollo Bandar, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001

Timings - 1:00 pm – 11:30 pm

4. Pizza by the Bay - Pizza by the Bay is situated right by the bay, the restaurant offers panoramic views of the Arabian Sea. The outdoor seating gives a cold sea breeze dining experience. Pizza by the Bay specializes in pizzas and are known for thin crust, crispy edged and perfectly cooked aromatic pizzas. Beyond pizzas, they offer a variety of Italian and continental dishes. It’s an extremely cool place for breakfast. They have an altogether different breakfast section for the city dwellers.

Here is what we had from their breakfast menu:

A Veggie Cheese Melt – Broccoli, Bell Peppers, Chilli and Cheese baked on fresh Homemade Bread, sided with Cranberry Juice

Veggie Cheese Melt

Address - Soona Mahal, 143, Marine Dr, Churchgate, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400020

Timings - 7:00 am – 12:30 am

 5. Tanjore Tiffin Room - A charming and lively place to have lunch or dinner, Tanjore Tiffin Room is an upbeat place to wine and dine in the evening. The menu at Tanjore Tiffin Room is a treasure trove of South Indian classics. The best thing about the place is that they will introduce you to all the curries that they offer, on a glorious platter in mini bowls. Those curries have lip-smacking flavors, ranging from the sourest tamarind to rich coconut based curries. Once you finalize a curry, you get to decide your choice of protein from fish, prawns, chicken, mutton or veggies for your curry. Also, to work up your diet, there are veg and non veg appetizers.

Since we didn’t have any lunch, this order was meant to be big.

Here is what we had from their menu:

Veg Starters - Mushroom Pepper Fry (Mushrooms tossed in freshly ground pepper, coriander, and fennel powder), and a tinch of kadhi patta. It is Yumm!

Non Veg Starters - Karaikudi Fried Prawns (Crunchy batter fried prawns tossed with curry leaves and spices), served with a side dhaniya and pudina chutney.

Veg Main Course:

Mushroom with Veg Khorma Curry – Milk, thick curry in a ground coconut, cashew nut and ginger-garlic base, with chunks of Mushroom.

Non Veg Main Course:

Fiery Chettinad Chicken Curry – Thick onion and black pepper curry with freshly ground spices, with chunks of Chicken.

Breads – The fluffy Appam, and a Malabar Parotta.

Mocktail – Green Apple Lemonade

Tanjore Tiffin Room will actually explain, why South Indian non-vegetarian has this deep rooted and flavorful effect.

Tanjore Tiffin Room curry tasting palate, Picture credit-Zomato

Address - Jewel Mahal, Jewel Mahal Shopping Centre, Bungalow Rd, Ratan Kunj, Aram Nagar, Versova, Andheri West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400058

Timings - 12:00 pm – 1:30 am

Ending with a sweet note, Hurrem’s Turkish Baklava Confectionary at the Jio World Drive Mall truly captures the essence of authentic Turkish flavors. Their signature sweet varying in flavors is the Baklava, thin crispy, and crunchy in every bite with a sweet balanced filling of honey and rich pistachios. It is a must visit for dessert enthusiasts.

Hurrem’s flavored Baklava, Picture credit – Hurremsbaklava

Image Courtesy: Google Images

Kolkata is known for its sultry summers, and more so for the unbeatable heat waves in the afternoon. However, the same city does offer us something just as enlivening: doodh cola. Now who would have ever thought of a fizzy glass of milk? Like ever? But apparently, somebody did. In the early 1980’s, dhaba owner n out of the box invention by dhaba owner Balwant Singh, near the Elgin Road Gurudwara in Bhawanipore.

It is a mixture of Milk and Thumbs Up. Its taste very very unique but they should put less ice and more of milk and cola. ‘Doodh Cola’s price is 120/- per liter enough for two people. Ambience is very ordinary and staffs are okay also parking is a big difficulty here. Kolkata, the culture capital already tops the chart for its famous mistidahi and other products made from milk but this after meal freshener is in different demands.Served in kullads makes it even more eye catching and already cools down your thirst on a hot sultry day in the city.

Location: 10/B, Harish Mukherjee Road, Near Elgin Road Gurdwara, Bhawanipur, Kolkata
Opening Hours: 7:00 am – 12:00 noon

RECIPE:

What you need:
One glass chilled milk, one glass chilled cola and 1⁄2 a tablespoon sugar.

HOW TO MAKE IT:
Put sugar in a glass. Add milk and mix really really well. Top it off with the cola and there you go!

Ker Sangri is an extremely popular dish from Rajasthan, which is quintessentially sour and spicy, much like pickle. Ker, or dried dessert berries and Sangri, or dried dessert beans are found in the more barren parts of Rajasthan. Cleaning the Ker and Sangri are quite the task, otherwise it is a relatively easy dish to make. It is traditionally eaten with bajra roti.

Photo Courtesy: WikiMedia

INGREDIENTS
• 0.5 Cup Ker
• 1 Cup Sangri
• 8 Dry Red Chillies
• 2 Tsp Cumin Seeds
• 2.5 Tsp Ginger Paste
• 2.5 Tsp Garlic Paste
• 0.5 Tsp Turmeric Powder
• 1 Tsp Coriander Powder
• 1 Tsp Fennel Seeds Powder
• 1.5 Tsp Red Chilli Powder
• 5 Tsp Dry Mango Powder
• 6 Tbsp Yogurt
• Salt
• 2 Tbsp Mustard Oil

METHOD
1. Thoroughly wash and ker and sangri with water, then soak them overnight.
2. Next day, drain the water and wash ker sangri once again.
3. Boil 2.5 cups of water in a big pot. Put the ker sangri in it and add salt.
4. Cook for 5-7 minutes and turn off the heat.
5. Heat oil in a deep pan and add cumin seeds and dry red chillies.
6. Add ginger and garlic paste when the cumin seeds begin to crackle.
7. Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, fennel seeds powder, red chilli
powder and mix.
8. Add 3-4 tablespoons of water and cook the spices for a minute.
9. Now, add ker and sangri along with 3-4 tablespoons of water in which they
have been boiled along with dry mango powder. Cook for 2 minutes.
10. Beat yogurt and transfer to kadai. Also adjust quantity of salt at this stage.
12. Cook for another 5-7 minutes and turn off the heat.
13. Serve with hot rotis or parathas.

A traditional Assamese dish always starts with Khar and rice. Khar has tremendous health benefits as it cleanses the stomach.

Khar is mainly prepared by drying and burning a banana (especially bhim banana is used for making khar) to render the ashes. Later, water is added to filter the ashes, known as Kola Khar, which is the main ingredient of this preparation, and can be used for making different types of khar.

INGREDIENTS:

1) Spinach
2) Kola khar
3) Garlic
4) Green chillis
5) Salt (1tbsp)
6) Mustard oil

PREPARATION:

* First heat the oil in a frying pan.
* Then put the minced garlic cloves and chillies in it. Stir and fry for at least 1 – 2 minutes.
* Shred the spinach into it and add 1tbsp salt for an enhanced flavor.
* Finally added the kola khar and then cover it with a lid. Adjust the flame to low so that the spinach gets cooked.
* As soon as the entire things get mushy turn off the heat.

Here is a simple dish with a unique taste…