The Food Watch Blog

Expensive tastes

2009-04-24T09:39:00.002+05:30

Indigo is the champion stand alone phenomenon in Mumbai, with its quaint eateries (Indigo Cafe, Indigo Deli) and the ultimate fine dining experience (THE Indigo) topping the charts of most good food book guides.

The Restaurant is limited in scope: it's great for a fine dining experience but most of us don't have the inclination (read as money) for regular extravagance. When my boyfriend took me out to Indigo for my birthday, though I consider myself to be above gimmicks and the 'personal touch', I gurgled happily to find a menu headlined with "Dinner with ###" followed by the day's specials. Melt in your mouth gnocchi, perky scallops (though in my opinion, slightly overdone), the risotto, the fettucini... divine. It was fine dining at its best. But the finest hour was the dessert, a Chocolate Fondant with Jalepeno Ice Cream. The name speaks for itself. The bill was also mindblowing, just so you know.

The true charm of Indigo cuisine and what sets it apart is the array of flavours they pack into every bite. Sharply contradictory flavours literally blow your mind. Watch out for the spicy aftertaste of the ice cream.

The "pret" Indigo options are just as great, if not more. Having visited all of them, honestly, if you had to make me choose between the three (in the sense that I shall never eat at the other two ever again) I'd take Indigo Cafe without blinking, even if it means dealing with the Lokhandwala Link Road traffic. The must have is the pesto pizza. You're advised by smiling waiters to crunch it down as soon as it gets in, it's wafer thin (this is not a exaggeration) and topped with dollops of pesto, sundried tomatoes and mozarella. Also not to forget the souffle of the day. If there's ever the blue cheese and broccoli one available, don't think twice. It's sin in a ceramic cup.

Indigo Deli, opposite Tendulkar's, is a little too noisy for my liking. The set up is like a Deli in that you can buy cold cuts and cheese and other foodstuff, even, which is an overdone concept (Good Earth, Salt Water Cafe, Basillico) - what, have we run out of stores? The menus of the Deli and the Cafe are substantially similar, which include their desserts. The Chocolate Mud Cake is served after a pop in the MV with a generous swirl of blueberry sauce. Molten chocolate sneaks out upon contact with your trembling spoon. The creamy dark chocolate with the burst of sour berry is exactly what you think it is. Last night, we decided to move from the standard Mud Cake Order to the baked blueberry cheesecake. We mulled over the wiseness of our decision and wondered if anything could match up to the mudcake. Moral of the story: Don't doubt when Indigoing.

I stick to the daily specials as a confirmed fish lover and the catch is always fresh and indulgently cooked. The Ravas marinated in Cilantro, served with Ratatouille did not disappoint. The staff is well aware of the menu (which is rarer than you think) and are happy to customize your order.

The Cafe (and the Deli) are good with the drinks. The Cafe's outside seating is particularly pleasant to sip on some CnC (Curry and Cucumber, a Vodka cocktail with a marathi koshimbir aftertaste) or a Sangria or even a Indigo Mary (an Indian spin on the Bloody Mary). It also has a massive colelction of wines and spirits.

Indigo can't do much wrong, in my eyes, and it has a pretty awesome strike rate in that sense. Yes, the prices are high (375 onwards for mains) as are the expectations but they don't take their reputation lightly. A friend informs me that post 26/11 and recession the Indigo Restaurant is taking a serious beating, with expats and tourists shying away. Sigh.

I shall shut up for now, or at least until I make it to the Indigo Sunday Brunch...

Minor Diners

2008-11-27T05:43:00.003+05:30

San Francisco is a curious American city- that sports a long-standing queer comfort zone (now sitting up at the recent referendum banning gay marriage), old left-bastion-cafes, uphill-n-downhill-ever-twirling roads. Comfortably temperate, this city has a culture of diners to articulate the San Francisco mood. These are little spaces (some big ones) around the bustling part of town, that serve chitter-chattering old maids and their boyfriends. Hash browns and pancakes and maple syrup. And french toast, mushroom-n-cheese omelette, cranberry juice. The food settles in slowly. Making way for more coffee chatter. They are abuzz with pancake-hungry children and Uncle Bobs in the morning. At twelve in the night, they are still talking Obama to Mrs. Mayfair. The odd gold-chained hispanic couple drop by for butter on their pancakes. The lone bespectacled out-of-town woman in a corner digs into an omelette and mulls over hermeneutics of subjectivity. Hip balding journalists discuss credit crises.

The diner looks like an informal club. Of hats and scarves and chitter and chatter. Bacon eggs and pancake batter.One of them had a rather stern lady chef feverishly tossing out quiche and omelette, to pen down her impatience with our giggly indecision.

Politics, and Piyush

2008-11-13T10:44:00.004+05:30

I was in Shivaji Park for a meeting when my friend Jal, a pucca Parsi, surprised me by asking me if I would have lunch at Prakash,which he explained was a spartan vegetarian eatery in the heart of Shivaji Park. He wasn't sure if I'd like the food or not, but I was always eager to experiement.

His partner, Kishore, who grew up in Shivaji Park, rattled off a history of Prakash while we looked for parking in the bye lanes of the vicinity. Prakash actually has quite a controversial history, it was rumoured that the proprietors, hardcore Maharashtrian Chitpavan Brahmins, distributed pedas upon the assasination of Mahatma Gandhi at the hands of one of their caste brethren. The restaurant was torched in the ensuing riots. Quite like the pheonix, it rose from the ashes, the food compensating for the radical ideology of the patrons. As we entered the joint, I noticed that it was much like the typical Marathi "Khanaval" or eatery - sunmica benches and tables where you sat where you could and relaxing after lunch wasn't an option.

We started off with what he recommended - the sabudana wada. Sabudana is a typical "fast food" item in Maharashtra - not competing with burgers and fries, but one of the few permissible food items during a fast. Sabudana is the vernacular for the starch extracted from the Sago Palm which and made into the commercial product of sago pearls. There are two popular ways of making Sabudana during fasts - one is the khichadi, which is steaming the pearls after tempering them with mustard, curry leaves, groundnut powder and chillies. The other, is the wada, which like all wadas are deep fried. Mashed potato acts as the binding agent. Unlike the usual sabudana wada, which is flat and brown and crisp, this wada was round, almost white, not very oily and soft on the inside. Served with a lightly spiced coconut based chutney, it was good enough to make me want to fast more often.

It didn't take us long to debate over the main course - the menu is short and we were squished between enough patrons to peek at what they were eating and decide what looked good. One of our companions, Kishore, immediately said that he was having the "usal" which is any preparation made out of sprouts. He was referring to the "dalimbichi usal" which was a gravy, again coconut milk based, made out of sprouted field beans. They are also called "vaal". They have a slightly bitter taste, which is what makes them stand apart rather than jar on the senses. The gravy was creamy and the beans were just cooked right, just like home. I half expected them to be soggy from having been made many many hours ago. Though the beans were bitter, the gravy was sweet and eating it was pure fantasy for those with the acquired taste. We also ordered a batata bhaji which is a potato preparation without a gravy - tempering chopped potatoes with mustard, cumin, green chillies, curry leaves and garnishing it with freshly grated coconut and corriander, with a lemon wedge to suit your tastebuds. Enjoyable, but standard.

(Below: clockwise from top: dalimbi usal, batatachi bhaji and pooris made of 100% whole wheat flour)

To wash it down, we didn't have the option of cold drinks, but Kishore insisted that I try the Piyush, which he told me was a kind of Maharashtrian Lassi. Piyush is yoghurt based, like a lot of Indian drinks. The yellow tinge comes from the use of saffron, and the drink was cold and its sweetness and the flavours of jaiphal (nutmeg) and elaichi (cardamom) were a brilliant end to this meal. For dessert I had actually opted for Dudhi Halva which was slightly disappointing.

In conclusion - if you are in Mumbai and if you want to do the whole foodie binge, write Prakash in bold and make sure you get to Gokhale Road and have a meal there.

Don't let ideology stand in the way of fine cuisine!

She's a Mall Wonder

2008-08-10T21:36:00.006+05:30

I'm not the biggest fan of the new food phenomenon of "food courts" in Malls, particularly because you get sub standard food at high altitude prices which you are forced to eat in the most cramped up and loud circumstances. Hunger and boredom, however, led me and few friends to the food court at the Orchid City Centre Mall, Bombay Central. Besides the usual food court suspects, Madras Cafe, some Shady Chinese etc. I had a pleasant surprise in store for me - Hakim's, which sells unabashedly non vegetarian mughlai food had a delectable menu as well as reasonable prices. As I was scanning the menu, I was shocked to find Chicken Sanju Baba as a starring member on the cast of the gravy items.

The Noor Mohammadi Hotel has been known for decades for its quality of food, though many a prospective patron would find the ambiance slightly lacking, especially when compared to its extravagant neighbour, Shalimar. Nevertheless, the Noor Mohammadi Hotel has its loyalists who make sure the highly divine Nalli Nihari (a rich gravy dish featuring tender mutton and loads of bone marrow) disappears by 9am every day. Celebrities including most of the Khan boys order from here with a vengeance and Sanjay Dutt struck up such a rapport with the owners that one of their signature dishes, Chicken Sanju Baba, is a result of some recipe sharing from the superstar's home cauldron.

(Courtesy the Noor Mohammadi Website)

What does this have to do with a mall food court? Well, if you want the good stuff but don't want to deal with the Bhendi Bazaar/LJ Road traffic, have no fear. Hakim's is "Haute Moghlai Cuisine" (oh yeah, baby) from the house of Noor Mohammedi, as I found out when I confronted the cashier.

"We get the food from there only, madam. We don't cook anything here except the kababs."

He obviously knew what I needed to hear.

So I packed up a Chicken Sanju Baba and a Roomali Roti for dinner. Bombay Foodies are obliged to have Chicken Sanju Baba on their "to do" list, and I needed to score a tick off.

Chicken Sanju Baba has earned its share of hype and prominence, particularly when the owners of Noor Mohammedi cooked and distributed vats of the dish to the poor every day during the pendency of Sanju Baba's bail application before the Supreme Court. However, it doesn't make for a mindblowing food experience, something which even the owners silently acknowledge by not mentioning the dish on their website. I excitedly unpacked the plastic container to find a gravy of a slightly waxy consistency. Puzzled, I popped it in the microwave, and one minute later I discovered why - there was a layer of pure desi ghee, now liquefied, on top of the gravy. Tough pieces of chicken swim in a thin gravy populated by sliced onion and a large number of red chillies, which is highly misleading, as the product is pretty bland. It does have an interesting tartness, but in the end it's a rather amateur piece of cookery which does no justice to the legend that is Hotel Noor Mohammadi.

One day, however, I am going to wake up early and take the Harbour Line to Dockyard Road and trudge over to Noor Mohammadi, and get me the grub that has tantalized patrons for 110 years. The description is on their website which I have no reason to disbelieve (except for the part about the Pepsi):

You can eat anywhere but for authentic "nalli-nahari"you have to visit Noor Mohammedi.It is very tender and just melts in your mouth.You'll have to go early, the nalli nihari finishes by 9 a.m., even earlier. Cooked on slow coal fire for 12 hours, till it becomes so tender that a toothless customer can eat it. That is the boast of Mr. Khalid Hakim, proprietor of the restaurant, and it is not an empty boast. It is just meat, boneless, one nice chunk of it. And it comes with a spicy gravy, quite sharp with garam masala and pepper. In the gravy, somewhat thick, you will spot bits of nalli, eat it fast, before it melts. Order a fresh roti, a tandoori, or a softer chapatti, 100 gms., weigh it in your hand, feel the weight. Dip the roti in the gravy, break the meat with a spoon, and eat. Yes, it is spicy, for your Bombay palate, that is. But if you are from Northern part of India, you will eat it with a sort of a pickle. A combination of thin strips of ginger and chopped green chillis. They call it nihari ka masala, and it is put on the table in front of you. Help yourself to it. One warning, if you find it too spicy, don't drink the water. Order a Pepsi instead. Who drinks Pepsi at breakfast? Those who eat nalli nihari and kheema roti at breakfast.Most of the food is available throughout the day, but for nalli nihari and paya it is early morning and late evening.

Ambiance may be one thing, but wolfing down a dish which celebrates the delicious bone marrow of mutton, is quite another. My sister and I still fight over who gets the 'soo soo bone', as it is refered to in my family, coined on account of the sound one is forced to make while extracting the tantalizing mass from the back of a highly unco-operative marrow bone.

While Noor Mohammadi is at Mahim and Bhendi Bazaar, Hakim's Haute Moghlai Cuisine can be found at the City Centre Mall, Bombay Central, and the Inorbit Mall, Malad.

Of Meats and Mugs

2008-07-21T18:51:00.000+05:30

The nice things about non-vegetarian menus in Bangalore is the variety of dead animal on offer. Unlike Delhi where the odd prawn dish acquires the status of a delicacy. I was satudying the Mojo menu while waiting for a friend the other day and the thought struck me. For the uninitiated, Mojo is the slightly more snazzy cousin-beerbar of Pecos (which is a historic ruin off Brigade Road today) near the Brigade Road and Residency Road crossing. It attracts mostly yuppy rock type youngsters in Guevara T-shirts, peeping Boxers and goaties and appropriately hot arm-princesses. There is a grey-haired, poytailed gentleman planted there all the time, I think by the owner, so as to be able to lay claim on some anti-establishment type authenticity. On my recent nightout there, a group of old-left or staunch-right looking men in white dhoti kurtas appeared suddenly. Coming back to the menu though, it boasts the Mallu-Mangalorean-influenced beef curry, prawn curry which are accompanied by crisp dosas. The chilly beef and chilly prawn are commendable too. The menu displays various other concoctions based on squid and crab, once you get bored of beef and prawn. I would think no meat-eater will order chicken here, once they have they have gone through this resplendent list of dead animal. The Sunday English breakfast (of Pecos fame)comprising bacon eggs and mashed potatoes is highly overrated, I have concluded after digging it for years. But appams and stew are definitely worth a try for Sunday brunch.

The other dead animal menu that corroborated my thoughts on Bangalore meat-eating cultures is at the Windsor Pub. An excellent brain and onion fry. And a beef fry (which is sort of lie alu bhruji in beef, super) and the fish fry and the keema something.The liver preparation with too much curry patta was a disappointment but can be washed down with beer. Like Mojo, Windsor (potted in a deceptively un-pub building next to some Bank, near Cantonment Station, off Miller's Road)is home to the boxer-peeping, headswingingtotheDoors, ponytailed boys as well as some Kannadiga moustached macho men.

Meat-eating in Bangalore is definitely recommended to indiscriminate meat-eaters.

Koshy's fits all

2008-07-19T11:30:00.004+05:30

Koshy's in Bangalore (the non-AC section) is a quaint picture containing groups of check-shirted-moustached men drinking rum, balding man-in-the-corner reading Mallu newspaper over coffee and yuppy-alternative-twenty-somethings engineering sexual chemistry over beer.

What is interesting other than the fact that it serves chai-coffee and alcohol under the same roof is its food menu. You get a a most gratifying prawn-curry-rice and beef-curry-rice here. And an interesting mushroom toast (saute'd mushroom and onion on bread). And the typical alcohol accompaniments like french fries and gobi machurian. With a distinctly Mallu fragrance, it also carries the stamp of the old lackadaisical Bangalore of endless ups of coffee.

It is a rare one-size-fits-all place. You could have breakfast here, and lunch, and tea and finish with rounds of beer. You could go for a date, a work-meeting, an old-friends-catchup, a quiet solitary read. Bang opposite the new Hard Rock Cafe, Koshy's stands at one end of St. Mark's Road in solemn fortitude.

Eating down the menu

2008-06-20T18:51:00.010+05:30

Zalgirious is not only the name of a popular basketball club or the street where I lived, but was also the name given to the restaurant where I earned a few frequent eater kilos - simply called the Zalgirious Kavine. With indoor and outdoor seating options, pretty waitresses, nice drinks and great food, I have no shame in admitting that close to the end of my Baltic sojourn, I had consumed - patiently and with stealth, every single item on that five page menu. Most often I did not know what I was getting into, with English translations and bilingual waitresses hard to come by. Most often, the results were simple, surprising and pleasant.

One of the simplest, the "Mother-in-law dinner", a meat and potato preparation, was simply excellent.

Quite naturally, I was very excited to know there was a carp grill (L) on the menu, but the experience of eating it did not match up to the anticipation. Not that it was bad - it was more than decent, but served with rice and fancy salad, it seemed tame in comparison to everything else they had to offer. The chicken kiew (R), for instance. Avery juicy cutletish thing, served with fries and salad, it is a a very popular meal throughout Vilnius, and Zalgiriuos Kavine clearly makes one of the best.

But it wasn't all good all the time. I was looking for a pleasant breakfast when I ordered the harmless sounding ham pancake. Little did I know that these pancakes would come swimming in, and be filled with butter. I felt giddy in a not so good way after I ate this.

I could go on about Zalgirious, but I'll restrict myself to the pictures I have. And I will leave you with some nice dessert. This wheat thingie with a creamy filling is called the Napolean snack.

Paella at Barcelona (not the city)

2008-05-26T08:44:00.004+05:30

Paella, a Valenican rice dish, seems a distant cousin of the biriyani, and I enjoyed a fantastic meal of it at Barcelona, a restaurant tucked away among the maze of unmetalled roads between Zalgirous Avenue and the Europa mall.

Flavoured with saffron and what else, and embellished with all manner of seafood including prawn and mussel, I was told that that the bit of ever-so-slightly burnt rice sticking to the metallic pan in which it is cooked (and served) is considered a delicacy.

The meal started with some nice ham served on melon, but it paled into insignificance as soon as the paella appeared and invaded the senses with its colour and aroma.

Foodies!!

2008-05-24T13:55:00.002+05:30

Read this rant from Manuel over at Well done fillet.

...Foodie. Oh sweet Jebus and all the other super best friends can anyone save us from foodies? There are people who go out for dinner who can tell if the meal is good or bad. Then there are people who appreciate good food and can tell the difference between sea bass and sea bream and can pronounce everything on the menu properly. Then there are the foodies. They can name the farm the meat came from. They know the captain of the boat that caught the fish. They know which fucking field the kale was grown in. Fuck they know what kale is! They talk about the scene in Tokyo or New York right now and drop names, first names, of celebrity chefs like they were personal friends. The foodie is always middle class. They have a vegetable patch in their garden that they never shut the fuck up about and no meal would be complete without them telling you about the simply gorgeous salad they made the day before. They are bores. Talk about sucking the very life out of something that should be enjoyed not made into a chemistry class. I love my food, hell given the chance I would love yours too but lets keep things in perspective. I'm sure Gordon would agree.

Creamy mushroom soup served in a loaf of bread.

2008-05-14T03:44:00.006+05:30

Yes, you read that correct - served in a loaf of bread. What you are supposed to do is - understand the piece of bread that serves for a lid as a spoon, and proceed to use that to have the soup. And once the soup is over, you can eat the loaf of bread as well. If you are very hungry. At this point, I must stress the quality of the Baltic bread - excellent at every restaurant I have stepped into.

For someone like me with limited entries on the passport, it was shocking how much the humble bread can augment your meal. But even the better heeled companions insist it has something to do with the Baltic weather and agriculture.

I had the soup at the Cili Kaimas on Pilies, part of the Cili empire one sees all over Vilnius. Watch out for twin stewardesses Aliona and Margarita.

C R Park holes-in-the-wall

2008-05-06T14:16:00.003+05:30

I had only heard the popular folk tales about holes in the wall in CR Park, which serve Authentic Bong Food. Since I am packing up from Delhi soon, the Delhi Nostalgia trips had to include a visit t one such how-in-the-wall. This one is opposite CR Park Market No. 2 and is called Ma Taara.

Maa Taara is a large canteenesque hall in a basement. With Mashimas, Boudis, Poltus,Tutukis, Dilli arty kids looking for subaltern food, Cal artsies looking to simulate Ghar ka Khana. The specials on the day are mapped in bold bengali letters at the back. It is presumed you know the script when you walk in. The menu shows up names of myriad fresh-water fish other than rui, ilish (hilsa), chingri (prawn). You will be familiar with the full range only if you have been brought up in a predominantly fish-eating family. Which I am. So I knew the jargon. And felt very jingo and in-the-loop, especially in the company of my Cosmopolitan Bong friend, who knew nothing.

We went there once last week, and had tried Tangra Maach and Muri ghonto. With alu bhaja (potato chips basically). The main courses were greasy and spicy. Ghar ki yaad aane wali types.
We returned to prove our loyalties, last night. And ate prawn malaikaari.

The food evoked a particularly Bong relaxed afterburp sensation. Like the cares of the world became more trivial.

It's also easy on the pocket. If a no-frills eating place is your thing, and you yearn for fish sometimes, go there. Preferably, take a Bong along. I am wondering if I should go tonight as well.

Svyturys beer and smoked salmon snacks

2008-05-05T03:53:00.007+05:30

Having hardly spent two days in Vilnius, it is difficult to proclaim with any confidence that Torres is the best place in the city for an afternoon beer. What I can say is this: if there is another place in the city that can do this and more, I will be a very happy man.

It is not about the quality of the food or the excellence of their beer. Good, no doubt, but what gets Torres my certificate, is simply their real estate and the extreme relaxation one feels in sitting under the sun with a beer, contamplating the wonderful view of the parks and woods and streams and what not. I needed constant reminding that I was still in the middle of a capital city.

I had never had fish in any non-cooked state previously, but any apprehension that I had vanished soon after I placed the first morsel in my mouth. Forget the smell, forget the lack of spicy embellishment, it is all about the fresh taste and smooth texture - served with cheese and olives. Someone like me would find it difficult to appreciate any culinary dexterity in it, because the dish never appeared to be more than the sum of its parts. But I guess it was a leap I was not adventurous enough to make. Perhaps my continuing love-hate affair with European cuisine also played a role. Best enjoyed with Svyturys. Of course.

China Garden, again

2008-04-22T11:02:00.003+05:30

One of Bombay's newest hotspots, C.G. 83, is Nelson Wang's resurrection of his own famed China Garden of yesteryears, the hub of celebrities who loved their Chinese. Unfortuntely Chin Garden faced the wrath of illegal constructions. In its new avtaar, C.G. 83, located at Om Chambers on Kemp's Corner, is the new "in" place for Chinese.

At our quaint table for two, we get off to a bad start with an Ivy Zinfandel which tasted more like Vinegar. Once we were reassured with two glasses of Sula Chenin Blanc, we asked for a starter of Red Pepper Chicken. The delicately moist chicken was fiery and well marinated, but our head waiter was not amused. He admonished the steward attending to us: "Why have you got them full portions?"

To our surprise, the "half plate" concept was not limited only to oily biriyanis. C.G. 83 have recognized the importance of not inflicting singles or couples with the arduous task of getting through entire portions of meals. Being a single or even two diners means that your ability to sample different dishes goes down drastically, and any attempt to order a vast array often leads to a very big doggy bag accompanying you out of the restaurant. Yahoo!

Enthused, we ordered a "half portion" of ginger fried squid (thick slices of squid batter fried and lightly spiced) and some prawn wafers (which were very different than the white puffs with pink rims that you usually find in restaurants and/or big bazaar). The Kimchi on the table (we had eaten two plates in just-got-outta-office hunger) and the Chicken had stuffed us up (it was so good that we really didn't mind) and so we moved straight to a dessert of honey fried noodles with vanilla ice cream, which was perfect in every way, especially the size (the full portion is absolutely huge).

Reasonably priced by Mumbai (and Malabar Hill) standards and especially for the outstanding food, C.G. 83 is a must visit on the Mumbai foodie itinerary. Reservations are recommended.

PS: Sorry for the lack of photographs. My N72 has met an untimely end at the hands of opportunistic pickpocketers. :(

The Delhiwallah shares a secret

2008-04-08T11:05:00.005+05:30

Visit the Delhiwallah to read about a city secret - where do you find good ground coffee in Delhi?

Product Watch: Parampara Starter 2

2008-04-07T17:39:00.005+05:30

The food watch blog hasn't gotten on the product placement bandwagon yet, but I felt the need to endorse a product that has changed my views on 'instant' food. Parampara has introduced a line of instant starters - just add a few basic ingredients and chicken/paneer, and you're all set. I decided to give it a try:

The packets of masala are readily available at most supermarkets and cost about Rs. 30. There's Chutney Chicken and Chicken Achari, I decided to take the spicier option.
You need 500gm boneless chicken according to the packet, we took about 250 gms boneless Godrej Real Good Chicken, cut into small pieces. Tip: Take 'mixed boneless' over the breast boneless - its much more flavourful.
Add the packet masala, which looks like a dry paste, to the chicken. It's best done with an hour of time for marination. Remember that the masala has all the required spices and salt so be a little circumspect in adding ingredients.
It may be instant, but you need a few helping hands - one being 100gm of fresh curd. Make sure it isn't very sour.

Now that the masala and curd have been added, use your hands and knead the chicken and its masalas to make a good marinade. Remember to break up the lumps of Masala.

Use lemon juice or about a tsp vinegar for some tang. As a improvisation, I threw a tablespoon of my mom's mango pickle in the mixie and added it to the paste.

The mix should look like this and be allowed to marinade before you start cooking, for best results.

Heat up a Kadai and add a tablespoon of butter. The mix contains oil so you just need the butter for the flavour. For the health conscious, a buuter substitute or plain vegetable oil works fine.

When the butter begins to sizzle (don't let it burn) add the chicken mix and give it a good stir. Make sure it doesn't stick to the Kadai surface. Take a little water to clean up the residual masala in the bowl and pour that along with the chicken.

After that, turn the heat to medium and let the chicken simmer. You'll soon see the fat leaving the sides of the pan (the oil will be seen floating to the top and bubbling along the sides of the pot), which is the cue to cover the chicken, turn the heat to very low and let it cook. Boneless chicken takes about 10-12 minutes to cook thoroughly. The cooked paste and chicken will take this colour, turn the heat up, stir around the chicken until the gravy comes to the consistency that you need. Dry the water off completely for a starter, else leaving a slight gravy like in the pic will serve as a great main course.

The verdict : great, easy recipie and makes a great change from ordering in, without the headache of obtaining complicated ingredients and complex procedures. A must try for the budding cook.

Wok and Roll

2008-04-06T17:01:00.000+05:30

As far as VFM Food experiences go, All Stir Fry at the Gordon House Hotel, Colaba, takes the wok. Literally.

For under 400 rupees, you can eat to your heart's content at Colaba - and if the food's bad, you only have yourself to blame. Simple concept - choose your veggies, your meats, your sauces, your seasonings and let the Chefs work their magic. An arresting array of exotic oriental veggies awaits you
Along with some fresh beef, chicken, squid, and apologies to the purists - but even pork salami and sausages!

Never to miss an opportunity, I load my bowl with prawns and get going

Topped with some fresh veggies:

My bowl is ready to be wok-ed!

The Chefs listen patiently while you explain to them your choice of sauce, ranging from mild, spicy to extra spicy. You can ask for a dash of lemon juice, extra garlic, chili oil and crushed peanut for a special touch. And you can watch eagerly as your raw material gets transformed into an absolute delight.

And voila! I opted for a mix of Korean BBQ sauce and some peanut and fresh corriander. Its unlimited helpings, and so a friendly piece of advice is to take small helpings, dabble with the range of sauces and avoid the noodles/rice to keep more room for experimentation (and the carbs off!).

Besides the VFM factor, the location and the thrill of the whole process, ASF also has separate utensils and bowls for its vegetarian patrons, a highly recommended a la carte menu for the lazy ones, great drinks and cheekily worded fortune cookies to end your meal.

Puneites - there's a branch at E Square too! Rejoice!

How parathas can save your life

2008-03-31T19:31:00.008+05:30

It's that time of your monthly financial cycle again, or it could be a perpetual state of being, when you are drinking at a bar and feel that the food is too expensive. Problem is that since the realization of hunger was a bit late in coming, and since Delhi is a city that is quite unfriendly to the light wallet once it is eleven pm, there are very few options. Of course you could drive to the Comesum at Nizamuddin Railway Station and have their quite alright food from their vast menu, but then you might as well have eaten the food at the bar because it is just as expensive. Aap Ki Khatir begins to wind up operations at eleven, and so does Al Bake in NFC - and thus cheaper options to the south of the city are scarce.

Now don't get me wrong. The following can apply just as easily to those that do not drink, but are still hungry at midnight, and don't feel like McD's or the strange hot dogs at the 24X7s.

At least in the souther regions of the city, the enterprise known only as the Moolchand Parathawallah is one of the better known domestic food brands. If you are approaching the Moolchand flyover from Central Delhi, do not take it, but move parallel to it. If you are coming from Okhla or Ashram, do not take the underpass at Moolchand, but take the left and move parallel to the flyover. Before the flyover ends, there is a prominent left turn. Take it and look for the crowd. It is unlikely that there is ever more than one crowd around there, but if there is, look for the one with thick black smoke coming out. The parathawallah does not have a permanent spot around here, and the location on a particular day will depend on the vagaries of ongoing Metro construction.

From chaps in BMWs and Mercs, to people who can never dream of private transport, the business has a vast and varied clientele.

They are clear that their strength is the humble paratha, and they don't deviate too far. Regardless of the extremely limited menu of aloo-pyaaz, mooli and egg parathas, satisfaction is guaranteed for the hungry - and not just because you may be light on funds. Within thirty minutes, a friend and I had not only devoured two each of the most delicious aloo-pyaaz (potato-onion) parathas, but had even been able to get more than ten egg parathas packed - a quietly efficient, albeit polluting, food service. And the accompanying chilli pickle and raita taste excellent as well.

At least six people are employed in the business, stationed at various points of the delivery chain for different parathas. All parathas go through the standard "burn" routine which comprises of a quick dip in oil followed by the fire treatment.

For the egg paratha, a single egg is broken on to a pre-burnt paratha and then heated again.

Visit the Moolchand parathawallah - at least once if you're careful about what you put into your mouth, if you're not you will certainly end up going there several times, fitting comfortably on your financial cycle.

Best shawarmas in Delhi

2008-03-10T19:54:00.011+05:30

They are quite unlike the shawarmas you may have eaten elsewhere. To begin with, they are much smaller than the ones you will see in most other places. Also, there is a tendency to favour dollops of a mayonnaise-type-thing (just makhan for those that run the place). But the basic tenets are all there - soft, minced lamb, hacked off a skewer and served in a roll.

Welcome to Al-Bake, most certainly the makers of the most popular shawarmas in the capital, and for my money, the best.

New Friends Colony is not without its share of meaty and Muslim cuisine, but Al Bake stands out, and so does its shawarma - demand is so high that there is a brand new Al Bake, barely twenty metres from the old one. Bowing to the demand, Al Bake also sells shawarmas to go in a packet containing four hot ones, selling for hundred rupees. Very often, that is the prudent idea as seating is hard to find once the sun begins its slow descent.

College goers are proud of their shawarma records. I've heard someone brag about seventeen of them at one go. With the lightly spiced chutney to go along, that record cannot have lasted too long.

Very quick with their knives, Al Bake is also a textbook on efficiency. There are two highly skilled knivesmen who hack away at those hunks of meat, and then chop them much finer. In combination with the men who roll the shawarmas and the woman who does the accounts, it is a beautifully oiled machine.

But this efficiency does not come at the cost of taste, or friendly service.

Al Bake's not all about shawarmas. But please, the shawarmas first.

A Shark Tale: Or Mahesh Lunch Home Part II

2008-03-09T15:05:00.007+05:30

After the sol Kadi, I placed me order for lunch. Gassi, or the Manglori style curry, is thick pasted coconut, with turmeric, red chilies and tamarind, onion and ginger. You can order your gassi with the fish of your choice. My waiter was taken aback with my choice of fish - shark.

I'm not aware of which shark breed is used in Indian cooking. I've seen the shark in the market, and its small and nothing like the Steven Spielberg movies. Shark is a fish with a very strong flavour and almost a meat like quality about it. In Goa, we don't use shark in our everyday fish curry, but rather, we make a xacuti like preparation from it. Interestingly, its referred to as "Morieche mutton" (shark mutton). Shark is also dried and used in dried fish curries, which is what is popular in the monsoon months when fresh fish are hard to come by.

The Shark is fresh, and is soft and slides off the bone easily to melt in my mouth. The Gravy was alive with spices. Unfortunately, the two of them didn't really match. The Shark had been cooked separately and dunked into the standard gassi, which did not have anything fishy about it.

I focused on the shark and occasionally dabbed my appam in the curry. The Appam arrived at my table soft and a little deflated. In case Appams aren't your scene, you can have your gassi with rice, or a neer dosa.

Soul Kadi

2008-03-08T00:04:00.006+05:30

Though I prefer my fish the Goan way, practical constraints (the only sources of Goan food which do not involve me cooking are pesky relatives who just want me married off) force me to make friends with similar tastes - malvani and manglori. Manglori curries are spicy and thick, like a chutney, unlike the milky consistency of the Goan "Humon". In Mumbai, though sparsely dotted with Manglori "lunch homes", the Page 3 choice is Mahesh Lunch Home. I am given a few curious glances and even have an argument with a waiter who tried to convince me that I was not a single diner (seriously), but my order and apetite got a smile to the waiter's face.

Sol Kadi is on the beverages menu, and sol kadi it is. Interestingly I never grew up with the concept of sol kadi as a beverage. Ending a meal of hot, spicy fish curry rice with some sheeth-kadi (rice and solkadi) was a Goan Staple. It is kind of like our curd. One coconut is opened up in my house every day - half goes for the curry, 1/4th for sprinkling over vegetables and salad, and 1/4th would be scraped, ground with a little water, and its thick milk would be extracted for sol kadi. Sometimes, a few garlic cloves would be thrown into the mixie along with the coconut for a garlic flavour. Sometimes Ajwain would spice things up. Sometimes a hot green chili would be roasted on an open flame and thrown in for its rather unique taste. The milk would be emptied into a bowl where a few "solas", the fruit of the kokum tree, would soak in a few teaspoons of hot water, salt and sugar. If served as a leftover, the sol kadi would be tempered with mustard seeds and curry leaves. The Sol Kadi would be ladled out on the rice kept neatly aside for the purpose. As the Kadi was runny, as children we were taught to pile up our rice into a small mound and make a hole down the middle, kind of like a volcano, and pour the kadi down there. Then quickly, we were told to mix our rice in the kadi so that the kadi would be absorbed by the rice. Kadi should always be in excess though - good GSB women are taught to chastize guests for eating "sukhe sheeth" or dry rice i.e. rice with very little solkadi in it.

Sol kadi is meant to relax the digestive system, but in its new avtaar as an appetizer, it seeks to do the opposite. I sip the beer glass of Sol Kadi which is given to me - the Kadi is thick and creamy and at the outset I note that it has been made using freshly grated coconut. There's most certainly a garlicky presence and as I swallow my sip I note a spicy aftertaste. The Solas played their part well and more importantly made an early exit, ensuring just the right colour .

Shady Chinese

2008-03-01T19:35:00.003+05:30

Shady Chinese is a term that some of us use disparagingly to refer to Indian corruptions of Chinese food. Pretend Chinese and Chindian are also terms used to refer to the genre. Spices and oils which the self-respecting Chinese cook (from South, North, Central, wherever) would never use, find their way into our plates and palates.

In Bangalore, the gobi manchurian is highly popular and you find it in all the darsinis that are otherwise restricted to pure South Indian specialties of the idli-vada-dosa-sambar variety. In Delhi too, in most nooks and just about every cranny, there is a man (usually) selling Singaporean noodles and hawking Hakka noodles. I have devoured these oily delights by the kilo, and are excellent with your evening poison.

Little Dragon is a small red-coloured stall/vehicle in Defence Colony. A range of soups that take their taste positions between the two extremes of sweet corn chicken and hot and sour chicken, and a similar array of oily noodles and rice. It is very cheap for a Defence Colony gaddi and offers you the options of half-plates and half-soups. They have a regular lunch crowd that congregates around it by one from offices located around Defence Colony.

Do you know of any Shady Chinese delights? Feel free to share your experiences.

Bhajiyas!

2008-02-26T00:08:00.000+05:30

Bhajiyas, or Pakodas, are every one's favourite tea time snack. It consists of vegetables which are dipped in a batter of chana dal flour (besan), turmeric, cumin, red chili and coriander powder and deep fried. The choice of vegetables are varied - potatoes, green chilies, cauliflower florets, capsicum slices, whole leaves of spinach and sometimes a combination of two - like potato and spinach, cabbage and potato, and so on.

Onion Pakodas, or Kanda Bhajiyas, are certainly one of the more popular varieties. Onions are sliced finely, and sprinkled generously with besan, salt, red chili powder, roughly pounded coriander seeds and cumin seeds, and just enough water to make the batter cling to the slices of onion. When batches of the batter are dropped into the hot oil, the slices of onion 'blossom', and each layer separates while still remaining joined by the stem portion and the batter. The Bhajiyas are popularly known as 'Khekhda' or Crab Bhajiyas on account of their uncanny resemblance to the crustacean.

With Mumbai temperatures dropping to 6 degrees last month, on a nippy Monday morning I warmed up with a plate of Khekhda Bhajiyas and Special Chai at Madhavashram, located right behind the Girgaum Court, Opposite Harkishandas Hospital. The spartan eatery serves up some of Mumbai's best hot crisy pakodas along with other Mumbai tea time favourites, all day long.

An ode to the Artisans of Meat

2008-02-19T10:09:00.003+05:30

To add a personal anecdote to John's propaganda below.

A friend from Bombay (you forgot to give him credit John) introduced John and me to Aap ki Khatir. He was stopping by in Delhi on work, and had only a night left for fun and frolic before he boarded his flight back to Bombay.

And he said Let me show you a good time. And we scoffed inwardly, and smiled outwardly. To humour him.

We drove around the Dargah area and stopped a little before the Oberoi flyover. And a rare Delhi downpour greeted us. It may have been a farishtah for most of the despondent populace, but it spelt doom for the promise of street food adventure.

Aap ki Khatir- a hole in the wall and a tandoor on the sidewalk was wrapping itself up in tarpauline. When they spotted us. The ones in cars, who had already ordered, had salvaged their meal, but not sidewalkers like us.

In our Khatir, an English-speaking man in crotch-hugging jeans stepped up and offered us shelter in the Aap ki Khatir hole, that was crammed with furniture. He took our order and egged on his tarpauline artisans of meat. Our Bombay friend squared his shoulders in arrogance and ordered more Kakori. And Mal and Oriya gluttony embarked on a grand song-n-dance. My bong palate, content to play twelfth-man, watched this meat-in-the-rain ritual in sheer disbelief.

Sweet-talking the English-speaking lad helped squeeze last plates of kabab and paratha from the Artisans of Meat. The rains had held off by then. The gluttons burped in euphoria over Coke. We packed some and headed home. The Mumbaiyya had won this round.

Aap Ki Kathir, you beauty.

2008-02-18T15:27:00.008+05:30

I realized yesterday, while gnawing on a bone, that I had not done justice to the outstanding food experience that is Aap Ki Kathir. Previously, I had referred to that softest of kababs, the kakori kabab, that is the Aap Ki Kathir specialty. But that is not to say that nothing else is outstanding.

The place looks like this, but that does not mean they have prices to match. A plate of two kakoris will set you back eighty rupees and a fantastic plate of mutton burra costs hundred rupees. These are not standard 'stand up' rate. They know they are on to something special, and they charge accordingly.

The place gets surrounded by cars at seven, and gaps open up between them intermittently as satisfied regulars come and go.

Someone will come to your car and collect your order, but for a better experience, I suggest you
stand near the grill and eat. Surround yourself with the aromas of this place and you will find it impossible to stop eating. Also, to watch the kakori take shape is also a gastronomic exercise without parallel. There is a tray that is packed with moist, minced, spiced meat, which is almost like a paste. How they mince it so fine, is a question that is often asked of them, but seldom divulged, except in the vaguest of terms. Anyway, one of them assured me that papayas and curd are involved. The 'paste' is then spread over the skewers, grilled and served with good green mint chutney.

But as I mentioned when I started this post, Aap Ki Kathir is not just about the kakori. The burra for instance, is almost as good an experience as Karim. They don't even mind taking your plate back after you've eaten a morsel and softening 'em up a bit more. It is as fulfilling an experience as you can buy with a hundred rupees.

Hell, even the rumali rotis are of a grade that is rare. I find it absurd to go on about the humble rumali when the meat and everything else is of such high quality, but it does show genuine attention to the complete satisfaction of a customer.

There are other items as well, that are extremely tasty, but cannot be mentioned in the same sentence as the kakori. The lachha paratha is extremely oily and very tasty, to have with the extremely oily and tasty chicken korma. The biriyani is not great as far as biriyanis go, but the experience can be significantly improved with some spicy gravy. The dal makhni is not to bad either, but then, of all the places in Delhi, why go to Aap Ki Kathir to have dal?

Burger Battles

2008-02-14T00:36:00.003+05:30

Quick reviews and comments on eating out experiences in the last fortnight:

1. McDonalds: Is the only place that can satisfy lunch pangs at 4PM near the Esplanade Court. I confess to eating a Chicken McBurger Meal. The Burgers are shrinking, in case regular eaters there haven't noticed. And when I'm talking about the Burger I mean the Chicken Patty. Personally I dislike McD's but you gotta love the fries there. Unfortunately for my efforts I was given a "Chak De India" Olympic Card, whereby if I subject myself to two more 4PM lunch attempts I will get a fourth meal free. All my loved ones are under strict instructions to not allow me to fall into the trap.

2. Mela (Worli): Was once upon a time a nice restaurant with a fantastic location. Now it just has a fantastic location. We sat in a newly painted room - the smell of the paint wasn't strong enough to mask the quality of the food, though.

3. Bembo's: More burgers, this time, South American. If you find yourself spoilt for choice between Bembo's and McD's, here's an easy comparison:

- At Bembo's, you get an option of cheese and a fried egg on your burger.

- At Bembo's, the bread bun has a yellow tinge. (At least I hope so)

- At Bembo's, there's unlimited mayo.

- At Bembo's, you have the option of a mutton burger.

- At Bembo's, the Veg Burger is made of Rajma, not Potato and friends like at McD.

- At Bembo's, there's no Olympic Card Collection.

- Most importantly, at Bembo's, there's life beyond the burger.

Bembo's is better than McDs in my final analysis, but the McD fries still win. Don't take the Bembo's cashier too seriously when he tells you that something is "spicy", though.

4. Hard Rock Cafe: I'm the sorriest that this wasn't even worth a seperate blog post. I don't care how much Aerosmith loves those Quesadillas, they have to change their menu. Especially since even the good items on the menu, like the Spicy Calamari, have suddenly deteriorated in quality. What's the point of playing great music in the fantastic ambience of a converted mill when everyone leaves of hunger pangs? Also, the watering down of the drinks is not going unnoticed. We are watching. And complaining.

5. Smokin Lee's: Freaked me out when they identified my name and address merely by giving them my phone number. That's when they told me that they got the register from the "Smokin' Joe's" franchise office. You see, they are affiliated. Smokin Lee's gives chinese food in boxes, like what you see on Seinfeld or Friends. The quality of the food is just about average, nothing exceptional and the usual suspects on the menu. What is extraordinary is the pricing - a meal for two is about 300 plus taxes, for a vegetarian starter, rice/noodles and main course. It's not "cheap chinese take out". Get stuff from your local udupi which dabbles in Chinese instead.

When it's Chinese, stick to the Mainland

2008-02-13T21:44:00.007+05:30

"Are you SURE you don't mind going for Chinese?" I meekly asked.

"Yes sweetie, I'm sure..." he put his arm around my shoulder.

After a pause, he continued: "I must admit I don't like Chinese food as much as YOU like Chinese food..."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Mainland China time!"

I kept avoiding Mainland China because Saki Naka is one of the worst traffic holes in Mumbai, but there was no excuse once it opened its Lokhandwala branch. And so my long suffering beau and I hopped over.

Mainland China, coming from the same makers as Oh! Calcutta (deserves a seperate blog post for sure) is big and beautiful, and packed. After a half hour wait, we settle in to tuck in.We sampled the dim sum menu, and in the spirit of the blog I later accosted the smiling Chef behind the live steaming counter - Chef Beeru. Chef Beeru indulges me by overcoming his shyness and giving me a step by step demonstration of the making of the Veg Hargow:

The dough of the "hargow" dumpling is made of a mix of rice and potato, rolled thin and stuffed - in our case, a vegetarian mix of corn, carrot and other vegetables.

Each dumpling is shaped by delicate hand movements.

The dumplings in their various forms

Ready to rock:

Steamy :)

Once emerged from the steamer:

The shy Chef with his delicious creations:

And finally, on our plates and ready to be devoured. It is served with a spicy mustard sauce, and a spring onion greens paste. We also had a glass of Sula Chenin Blanc to keep us company which went very well with the dumplings.

We were a little disappointed to be informed by our steward that each of the dumpling varieties had the same stuffing. So we moved on to some other appetizers - Crispy Vegetables in a chili and plum sauce - with batter fried carrots, aubergine, potato and brocolli in a tangy sauce. I was happy to note that the dish did not suffer the major problems involved in a dish like this - no use of "not so fresh" vegetables, and no overdose of batter. The vegetables were fresh, crispy and full of the robust flavours of the spice, the plum sauce and garlic. Very well done and highly recommended. We then had a soup interlude - veg noodle clear soup for the boy, who was taking a risque step by venturing away from his time and tested tomato soup, and he was disappointed with the bland taste of the very diluted stock. I chose the crab, to compensate for the vegetarian meal. It was very good and very full of crab.

After much deliberation we decided to go in for the "main course", which usually winds up being the biggest mistake in a chinese meal - some not so great sauce and not so great vegetables with some not so great rice. I spied something innovative on the Chef's Special - Braised okra in a mango sauce. Something on the rice list looked equally special - fried rice with chinese olives. So there it was.

Who ever thought the humble bhindi, okra, ladyfinger, whatever - could be this good? The Okra was tender, cooked just till done, and the thick orange gravy which the vegetables lay in was sweet, sour and a little spicy - nothing conventional - no cornflour, no soya sauce, no spring onion garnish - just a wonderful creation from a wonderful chinese restaurant. Kudos to Chef Ram on that one. It went perfectly with the rice which was flavoursome but not overwhelmingly so.

We would have avoided dessert but the smell of chocolate from the open counter was too tempting, and so the boy ordered the Hot Chocolate Rolls - small spring rolls, of sorts, with a gooey hot chocolate filling, served with a honey sauce and vanilla ice cream. I'm usually more of a date pancake/darsan dessert person in a chinese restaurant, but this was heavenly.

Verdict: Mainland China has to be applauded on many counts - one, serving excellent chinese food in an excellent ambience with excellent service without the five star price tag. Two, fantastic innovations. Read the Chef's Special section of the menu to get my drift. And three, giving a great food experience to a confirmed non vegetarian. Veggie Chinese food is usually all about Gobi Manchurian and Schezwan vegetables. Mainland China makes me at least consider the possibility that good food doesn't need meat. I'd love to see more dim sum varieties, more stuffings and certainly many more innovations.

Note: Mainland China offers a luxurious and varied buffet lunch - complete with soups, dim sums, stir frys, desserts - you name it. Priced at 295 (taxes extra) on weekdays and 395 (taxes extra) on weekends, it seems to be a great way to spend your day.

Gurgaonites rejoice! You too have a Mainland China in your vicinity (DLF Corporate Park or its whereabouts). What remains to be seen is whether it gives competition to the godly "The Monk" at 32nd milestone. Again, thats a place that deserves another blog post.

Ze Hut!!

2008-02-12T18:57:00.000+05:30

My Cooking Hut is the latest member of our Roll. Full of quirky stories, easy recipes and spectacular photography, it already does everything that we want to do at the Food Watch Blog. Makes me feel like shutting shop and concentrating on the day job. To rub salt in, the Cooking Hut also has some recipes for Indian cooking. Bah!

We went nightclubbin'

2008-02-11T13:01:00.000+05:30

So some of my friends wanted to go clubbing the other night, and in their search for a place (criterion included decent music, a reasonable entry charge and a relaxed attitude to stags) we chanced upon a new entrant on New Delhi's nightlife - the Headquarters at the Samrat Hotel. I did not really want to go, but I gave in to peer pressure and a persistent friend who kept taking my blanket away.

What a nice surprise to have a bloke who can have a conversation with, outsdie the club. Uniformly across the city, the hallowed gates of night clubs are manned by humungous men who wear black and grunt. Not this pleasant guy with a cigarette dangling from his lips. Even more pleasing was the midnight buffet that is thrown in when you pay the Rs 250/- entry charge.

Whaaaa? 250 rupees for food in a night club? Too good to be true? Well..

We had arrived at 1130 pm, and by 1230, the place was swarming with men dressed in their best linen. And some women. Maybe one for every five. And the music was of a genre I was not too familiar with, but was informed that it was largely house. We got down to ordering our drinks.

More than the lack of women, it was the lack of "character" in the LIIT that caused misery. It was not really tall, not very boozy, and did not taste excellent. I longed for the Long Island Iced Tea of 13th Floor. The mojito was barely there, and only Chow enjoyed his drink - a fine bottle of some wine.

All this disappointment made me hungry and I walked among the furious dancers, strobe lights and scanty clothes to find the buffet. My search proved futile. Even with my brain screaming "you've just been cheated", I decided to give this place the benefit of the doubt, and asked the friendly waiter, who politely informed me that the midnight buffet would be served at 3 am.

Deflation like I have rarely felt.

But my friends were having a great time, and I was almost sleeping in a nightclub. So to keep me awake, someone ordered some food.

I did not hear anyone order it. Whatever it was, it ws uniformly average. The "forgotten art of public sector service" (Chow) was being revived by Headquarters, and the cluttered and messy route to the loo (that doubled as the dressing room for the swimming pool) exmplified this.

The music had turned to Bollywood remixes, and by now my happy friends were happily sozzled, dancing and very conversational. I was bored, but made a fist of it, gamefully giving everyone my version of "shaking a leg". I forgot about being hungry and wavered beyween drowsy and dancing. Don't ask.

And then the news of the buffet came down the dance floor to our couch. Got myself a plate of rice and dal. And one roti and some butter chicken. A few hours back, I would have nailed this buffet. Now, as good as the dal was, I could not eat much. Very Machiavellian, you people at Samrat Hotel!

Caramel and choco-chip

2008-02-07T16:01:00.000+05:30

Maybe it is the lighting at Angels in my Kitchen, but some of the stuff that I photograph there turns out really, really good. An addition has been made to an earlier post.

More on the Meatwallah

2008-02-07T13:48:00.001+05:30

I should have delivered earlier, but finally I was able to visit the Amritsari Meatwallah again. New pictures and impressions have been added to the previous post.

New Food Reads

2008-02-04T17:40:00.000+05:30

Two blogs added to our Good Food Reads list.

The AmateurGourmet is no longer really amateur, having got some great press and better awards. An outstanding blog of reviews, cooking and more, the author started writing to stay sane during Law School. We understand.

The Food Goat, like the Amateur Gourmet has been around since January 2004 and was listed among the Top Food blogs by Forbes. Earthy and excellent. Also a little weird because the Food Goat has a Lady Goat for company.

Mississippi Mudpie

2008-02-02T19:18:00.000+05:30

The Mississippi Mudpie at The Big Chill in Kailash Colony. Lovely.

An ode to the Longest Island Iced Tea

2008-02-02T17:42:00.000+05:30

Dome, at the Intercontinental, Marine Drive, Mumbai is expensive, has white sofas, repetitive lounge music and very bad food. So what makes it one of the most popular lounge bars in Mumbai?

Dome is home to the best, and more importantly, the Longest Long Island Iced Tea in Mumbai. For the uninitiated, the LIIT was allegedly an invention of the times of Prohibition in the United States, and was a cocktail of alcohols in the guise of Iced Tea. The cocktail is a mix of vodka, gin, rum, tequila, and triple sec, topped with cola and some sour agent. The glass is endless, and its good. Good enough to provide the inspiration for several hilarious stories. Good enough to be worth the 500 buck tag (taxes extra). For those who enjoy variety, the bartender replaces the cola with red bull and adds some blue curaco to create the "Bullfrog". It's tolerable only after you've already had an LIIT. It gives one an overwhelming sense of benedryll.

(Clockwise from top left corner: the"Dome" in the Dome, Candlelit decor, the Star of the Show, and the very talented bar)

Even if you're a teetotaller, Dome gives you the best view in Mumbai, so its worth a lounge. This is a food blog, but food's the last thing on my mind on a Saturday Night, and it should be the last thing on your mind at Dome. For the record, the cuisine is Oriental Grill. We had grilled chicken and prawns once, the chicken was coated in a caramelized sauce which tasted of nothing much else, and the prawns were, tsk tsk, stale. I should have returned it, but I didn't order it. Besides, I only return food when I'm sober. A better option would be to eat at Corleone, the IC's Italian restaurant which is currently the best in Mumbai, on your way up. If you want my advice, buy yourself another LIIT with the money. Stick to the complimentary Bingo chips (ITC, ITC) if you want a nibble.

And the crowd goes wild!

2008-02-01T18:07:00.000+05:30

The Food Watch Blog is excited to discover another author on its rolls. The Anglophilicbong lives in New Delhi, does not eat a lot but loves talking about it.

Of Canteen Adventures

2008-02-01T16:01:00.000+05:30

The walk through the woods of Planet JNU invariably means that one inhales in whatever measure some amount of Bong Commie lethargy viruses. The infection completes as one walks into the Commie canteen behind the main Library. This is a shed (literally) embellished with posters decrying war in Iraq, reservation for Backward Classes, sex education in schools, farmers' suicides and triumph of totalitarians. My integrity remains almost untarnished when I say some posters actually read thus: we decry/condemn/lament next line bullet reservation bullet sex education in schools bullet war in Iraq.

One goes in and stands in the queue feeling awkward about one's alienness in the space which has obviously nourished (quite literally) a political rainbow. I ask what's available and quick. Coyly. While few others shout out their favourites from behind. I settle for another's favourite- fish curry rice. Eighteen bucks. I am told.

I shiver in glee for a bit, while the old man pulls out change and directs me to a large window where I am expected to pick up my order. The swift hands from inside the treasurehouse hand out the grub to me and point towards a self-service pickle container.

The spicy, slightly-tomato-sour gravy and copious amounts of rice trigger orgasmic jolts within my Bengali constitution. And the thought of all of it costing eighteen rupees. Two Bihari-accented men with whom I am sharing a table (for it is jampacked) discuss what strings to pull to secure some University job for one of their brethren. Hot, urbane women with armpit bags and anorexic cellphones giggle over pakoras and coffee. Lone small-town chubby PhD girl elbow-licks sambar and looks out wistfully. I burp volubly.

Cut to Delhi School of Economics, North Campus, similar winter afternoon, equivalent DU, Hindi-heartland lethargy virus.

This is an open-air canteen. Run by a Mallu, tucked in at the counter. Chicken rice for forty bucks- little cocky for a canteen, but nonetheless worth a try. This is the hip crowd's den and probably more cosmopolitan than the rest of DU. Lots of Bongs gloating over econometrics and furtively glancing at the unattainable sashays in the vicinity. Some public school bubblegum accents floating discussing imminent exams. A bad-tempered cook serves us hot chicken curry rice. Again the quantities defy market economics. My colleague and I are immediately manouevered into meat conversation. Bong and Manglorean home-food-nostalgia is exchanged over viscous, spicy gravy and chicken leg.

A sorry excuse for coffee follows. This is where the Mallu's Delhi acculturation speaks out loud.

Tubers

2008-02-01T13:45:00.000+05:30

This is not Nagercoil. This is South Delhi.

I managed to get this photo while I waited for tapioca and fish curry at Stotram - a shack that sells all sorts of spicy Malayali food, in INA Market.

And while I waited, I saw the wily shopkeeper sell a kilo of chena (extreme left on the photo) to an African looking dude for 150 rupees. It does not cost more than 14.

Around the World with Flag's

2008-02-01T00:00:00.000+05:30

An initial admission: I love Flag's. I don't know why they use an apostrophe. But, I loved it more than I loved my date the first time I went to Flag's, in Pune, and when they opened a Colaba branch I insisted that Lax threw his birthday party there, and subsequently I visited the restaurant with a date I love more than I love Flag's. With two long lost college friends, I made my fourth Flag's trip to the lovely location of Amarchand Mansion, on Madama Cama Road, a short walk down the road from Regal Cinema to Nariman Point and I was happy to be greeted by Abdus, my favourite steward, with a smiling face. It was martyr's day, so very dry, and so we sat very glumly and surveyed the menu.

What gets me back to Flag's every time? The exhaustive menu. Flag's connotes the cuisines of different countries, and they have a creatively designed menu which match countries on the world map to the dishes on offer. To start with, Tanny had a brandy laced cream of chicken soup (apparently that was not hit by the dry day) while we sipped good quality Virgin Mary and Kiwi Iced Tea.

We surveyed the appetizers and ordered the Iskender Kabab. It was, as you can see, much less a kabab than what is normally accepted. It was a crisp pita bread topped with spiced minced chicken and with a dollop of a herbed yoghurt dressing - a middle eastern offering. I enjoyed the biting into the melange of spices - Indian, but not quite, and the dressing along with the crunchy base.

For the main course, we did a lot of menu searching and came up with a variety of choices. Tanny ordered the Paella - a spanish herbed rice and seafood dish spiced with garlic, tomato, basil, chili and other spices. The Paella seemed a little too soggy but the seafood, including squid and prawns, was fresh. I think Paella doesn't disguise the smell of seafood as well as Indian seafood cooking does, so it wasn't the order of the day, surely.

I admit I was responsible for the Dora Watt chicken that DJ ordered - he wanted something spicy and non vegetarian, and that's what he got - chicken (and slices of boiled egg) and lightly spiced and slightly undercooked rice. And very very spicy. The gravy was reminiscent of a vindaloo - sinus releasing crazy spice. The dish is Ethiopian, for the record. I liked the innovative spice, but the chicken seemed precooked.

My order was the Turkish/Greek Moussaka-slices of eggplant(brinjal) layered with minced meat (there is a veggie option as well). In ordinary circumstances, it would have been great. However, the minced meat tasted a lot like the Iskender Kabab meat, and I was overwhelmed with the feeling of deja vu as the eggplant slices covered with cheese reminded me so much of the eggplant parmasean - a must eat for vegetarians at Flag's. The whole dish tasted more italian than meditteranean, sadly. But I still liked it. I guess sometimes if the food is good, it doesn't really matter where it comes from. Sometimes.

As Tanny had the most disappointing main course, we let him pick the dessert. He opted for the Hazelnut and Fig Mousse, which was small, yet delightful (note the spoons attacking even while I was taking the photograph). The flavours of hazelnut and fig blended effortlessly, the mousse was not overtly sweetened, and there was a tangy berry sauce on the side, but I thought it was a tad overpriced at Rs. 250.

From my previous Flag visits, I can also recommend the spicy and crispy nachos, the divine fondues, the thin crusted and aromatic pizzas, innovative cocktails and yes yes yes, the eggplant parmesean. And there's so much more on the menu that I haven't eaten but will soon, hopefully, and this time, without a sense of deja vu.

Food and Film

2008-01-31T18:33:00.000+05:30

For a selection of great food moments on celluloid, see here.

At home in a five star?

2008-01-31T10:08:00.000+05:30

Difficult to explain how I landed up at the Taj Mahal's Masala Kraft for lunch one day, but it was sheer lethargy that got me to agree with my companion and the waiter to opt for the vegetarian "Maharashtrian Tiffin" for a working lunch. I'm not Maharashtrian, but I've lived in the state for long enough to know what the food should taste like. So there we went.

I noticed the aesthetically done set up while I munched the complimentary papad assortment. Some time later, our meal was brought, little bowls hanging from a tree of sorts, and set up very painstakingly in front of us.

(Counterclockwise from bottom: rotis, varan, Bharili vangi, mix vegetably curry, batatachi bhaji)

The meal began with farsan (not in pic), which was actually part Gujarati - a piece each of dhokla (steamed cakes made with chickpea flour and tempered with mustard), aloowadi (layers of colocassia/arbi leaves alternated with a chickpea flour and spice paste, steamed, sliced and tempered) , Idada (similar to the dhokla, but white in colour, and made of urad dal), and kothimbir wadi (a cutlet made from chickpea flour, lots of spices and lots of corriander/kothimbir), which was the best of the lot.

The main course looked pretty small, but I was pretty full by the end of it. The Batatachi bhaji was simple, very similar to that which is found in maharashtrian households all over, and served usually with pooris. It's a simple enough dish to make - boiled potatoes tempered with turmeric powder and mustard seeds, and garnished with fresh coconut and corriander.

The mix vegetable curry (they had a name for it which is irrelevant) was quite odd, there was nothing maharashtrian about it, in fact, it tasted like a sour paneer butter masala with extra vegetables in it. Perhaps in another thali it would have been appealing (then again, maybe not), in a Maharashtrian tiffin, it was just an outsider. I could imagine a lot of Shiv Sainiks getting very upset about this inclusion.

The bharili vangi, one of my favourite dishes and made in several different ways all over Maharashtra, is a dish of little eggplants/brinjals which are slit till the stem and stuffed with a spice paste of corriander, cloves, chilli, and grated coconut or groundnut, and simmered in the same gravy. My companion, Lax, caught the goof up even though he's not an insider on Maharashtrian cuisine:

"Isn't there too much groundnut in this?"

Oh dear, yes. It tasted like an entire jar of Skippy's Chunky Peanut Butter had been emptied into the spice paste. I cringed.

My biggest grudge however was the bread accompaniment - we were served tandoori rotis, as opposed to the other options of a Maharashtrian meal - bhakris (rotis made of bajra/millet or jowar/sorghum flours), vade (pooris made of rice flour), or even poli (tava chapatis).

I ended my meal with the varan, which is toor dal cooked with very basic seasoning - cumin and asafoetida, and rice, and I was happy - the varan, topped with a teaspoon of ghee, was just the way it should be. A special mention also to the matka dahi which Lax insisted on.

For dessert, we were given the modak: a dumpling made from maida, which is filled with either chana dal or coconut and jaggery. The dumpling is then deep fried, or steamed. The modak came doused with ghee, but I was pained to find that the modak making had been obviously outsourced to the neighbouring chinese restaurant - the covering was thick and reminiscent of a steamed bun dim-sum. The coconut-jaggery stuffing was a little too dry. Lord Ganesha would not have been pleased at the Chef's interpretation of his favourite sweet dish.

At Rs. 1,100 plus taxes, it was certainly not worth it, except for learning that five star restaurants can really bungle up dishes which, ironically, a lot of staff members, and possibly the chef himself, must be eating at home every single day. I know a lot of people will ask me why the hell I went to a Taj Indian restaurant and not to the Chinese ones, which are much more preferred. Isn't there a reason why 5 star Indian cuisine, with the exception of maybe ITC's Bukhara, is looked down upon? Who exactly are we catering to?

A Midnight Feast

2008-01-30T16:14:00.000+05:30

I have walked around Chandni Chowk and Juma Masjid many times in my initial Dilli days. Captivated as a noodle-straps-and-khaki-shorts tourist. My romance-cells belching out loud in complete gratification. Over time, the sad decadence of Dalrymplesque Delhi became cliched.

And then in October last year, K and N took me on a midnight expedition in search of good food
and raat ki dilli. This was the time of ramzan, when Karim's serves nihari in the wee hours of the morning. Nihari is a beef/lamb/mutton stew cooked in tonnes of ghee, that forms the traditional food before the day's fast begins. Hence, three in the morning is the time that the Karim's begins
to serve it.

We got to the the Juma Masjid area at about twelve, and stopped at Moti Mahal in Daryaganj. Imagine an open-air mehfil setup from the Hindi movies of the 70s (where Amitabh breaks into song) and you would've pictured the outer gardens of Moti Mahal. Where Punjabi families
were still polishing dal makhni to the very Anup-Jalota-school rendition of Rafi numbers form the yesteryears. K suggested that we move inside to drown out
the mehfil and concentrate on food. And we seat ourselves inside, when K declares
that this is the place that first popularised the Great Dilli Butter Chicken.

So we order kababs, butter chicken and rotis. Besides the kababs melting in our mouths and the rotis and nans being delicious, we noticed crucially that the butter chicken tasted very very different from the familiar taste of butter chicken that we were used to. Other than being
superbly creamy and a quaint sweet-but-sour, I can't really explain how it tasted. So do try it when you get the opportunity.

We had two hours to kill between Moti Mahal and nihari. And butter chicken to push down our gullets to mete out appropriate welcome to nihari.

The walk to Juma Masjid around this time was to be a surprise. The galis flooded with people. Shopkeepers harking out wares. Multiple midnight markets. streamers running over our heads across the widths of galis. Women shopping for clothes. Young lads gorging at sweetshops.
Children looking around in complete bewilderment.

This was an overkill for my romance-tissues. High on the energies that brushed past me, I realised butter chicken had occupied considerable territory in my foodpipe when we entered Karim's. The hot stew arrived. Ghee dancing on top. This was no health food. And not for those that are wary
of heavy food. This was bravery food. And out of the world. Describing how food tastes is not my area of expertise. But will recommend it strongly to gallant foodies.

And the midnight markets abound in sweetmeat of all kinds. I not a hugely sweet person, but will recommend the pedas. The midnight walk completes the grub-expedition. Nourishing one with romance and extravanza of a fabled sort, over and above goat-brain, ghee, butter and chicken. An indulgence truly sinful.

Mera Pyar, Shalimar

2008-01-30T12:54:00.000+05:30

Mutton (gosht) has always been the "special" food in our house. In my family, fish is a staple, and chicken, thanks to aggressive marketing and consumer friendly availability, is slowly becoming an everyday sort of thing. The elder generation of Saraswats, surprisingly, however, do not eat chicken but only eat mutton as an alternative to seafood. The rationale behind this is that while chickens peck at all sorts of unmentionable things on the ground, goats, who eat only grass and leaves, are a "purer" meat.

Good mutton, like all good food, is hard to find. Most meat connoisseurs will wholeheartedly endorse the joys of "Muslim" meat cuisine, and so, Bhendi Bazaar it is.

The excitement of the narrow lanes of Mohammad Ali Road and Bhendi Bazaar are completely missed thanks to the JJ flyover, which isn't such a bad thing considering the traffic situation in Mumbai. Still, a walk through the Mohammad Ali Road, especially during the late hours of a day during Ramzan, is a meat lover's delight. On Republic Day, the area was uncharacteristically subdued, except for the bustle around Shalimar Cold Drinks, a must visit for a carnivore in Mumbai.

Shalimar has very little to do with Cold Drinks. It's a mammoth three storey structure and is all about food, food and more food. We were made to wait for a table in a courtyard of sorts which had a water fountain surrounded by counters of sizzling meat it was quite like heaven.

Roomali rotis were being tossed, meat was being pounded on a tava into a thick gravy, and deeply marinated kebabs were being skewered. Finally, after much salivating, we were led to a table.

After the first few items we asked for were declared "khalaas" (including the Saturday special Dabba Gosht and a few kebabs), we managed to order seekh kebabs, bhuna gosht, gosht do piyaza and gosht masala. As you can see, we had a one point agenda. The Seekh Kebabs were well done with a generous helping of spices and pudina.

(Clockwise from lower left corner: Gosht Do Piyaza, Gosht Tava Masala, Bhuna Gosht and Dahi Kachumber)

When everything was brought to our table, I was apprehensive that the Do Piyaza and Tava Masala looked too similar. I was pleased to find out that appearances can be deceptive. The Masala was loaded with cardamom and cloves, while the taste of the spiced browned onion paste gave the Do Piyaza a unique taste. The Bhuna Gosht was meat in a thick onion-tomato-garam masala paste that clung to the meat. In every dish the meat was well cooked, yet tender, slipping off the bone easily and quite often, melting in your mouth. Along with the meat we enjoyed some dahi kachumber and some fluffy naans which were just right when made the way Naans should be - with eggs and sugar.

We rounded off with a sample of their desserts - soaked shahi tukda with cream, caramel custard and the "yahan ka famous" shalimar falooda. But the star of the show was the creamy and cold firni.

Shalimar also does sizzlers, chinese and chaats. They also have a nice selection for the vegetarians. Just so you know.

The Gravy Train

2008-01-30T00:00:00.000+05:30

I love my mother's cooking,but i have always refused to take a dinner tiffin to eat on the train to bombay.Ever since my mom was made to sample dinner a la konkan kanya,she stopped even offering the tiffin.
The pantry service of the konkan railway is a real revolution in railway catering.Good food,lots of food,and cheap.When you board the train at about 6,you can sip your tea with batatawadas or onion pakodas that smell like heaven.
Around dinner,the options increase with fries,veg methi kababs and (gasp!)chicken lolipops.The fries are soggy,the lolipops OD on batter but the methi kababs have quite a fan following-a british lady once ate 3 plates of the kababs for dinner.You also have the option of tomato soup with a dainty breadstick.
Keep space for dinner.Today i braved a grumbling tummy and bird flu fears for the chicken thali.The chicken is melt in your mouth,the gravy is spiced with lots of onion,garlic and ginger paste and good ol garam masala.Most importantly,they get the trick to a great gravy right-the chicken is cooked in the gravy,not just boiled and thrown in.The thali has 6 compartments-2 for the chicken,one for 2 tough chapatis,one for slightly undercooked rice,one for sour pickle and one for even more sour curd.Cut them some slack,its the railways!The veg biriyani is outstanding too-long grained rice cooked till just right with crisp but cooked vegetables and a delicious spice paste with fried onions.The whole spices are not to be missed!I find the chicken in the biriyani too tough though my dad loves it.The veg thali is usually good but today when i peeped at my neighbours thali it looked like a whole lot of dal to me...

Indian Coffee House

2008-01-29T17:08:00.000+05:30

Wikipedia tells us:

The India Coffee Houses were started by the Coffee Board in early 1940s, during British rule. In the mid 1950s the Board closed down the Coffee Houses, due to a policy change. The thrown-out workers then took over the branches, under the leadership of the communist leader A. K. Gopalan and renamed the network as Indian Coffee House. The first Indian Coffee Workers Co-Operative Society was founded in Bangalore on August 19, 1957. The first Indian Coffee House was opened in New Delhi on October 27, 1957. Gradually, the Indian Coffee House chain expanded across the country.

And about ICH and Kerala:

Kerala has the largest number of Indian Coffee Houses. Advocate T. K. Krishnan, a Communist Leader of Thrissur and Nadakkal (N. S.) Parameswaran Pillai, or "Coffee House Pillai" the State Secretary of the India Coffee Board Labour Union and a thrown-out employee of ICH were the founders of ICHs in Kerala. The first Indian Coffee House of Kerala was started in Thrissur in 1958. It was also the fourth ICH in the country. It was inaugurated by A. K. Gopalan on March 8, 1958.There is also an alternative history book about the ICH movement, in Malayalam, the regional language of Kerala - Coffee Housinte Katha or History of Coffee House by Nadaakkal Parameswaran Pillai. This is the only published written history of ICH movement in any language.

Most Indian Coffee House's look the same in the late afternoons - dim, and visited only by the pilgrim. There is little debate about their efficient service and amazing coffee.

But they don't look the same in a Barista/CCD/Costa sense. Most of them have associated with them, stories and myths of communists and writers and intellectuals and architects and stoners.

One of the stories, repeated but never really confirmed, concerns Booker winner Yann Martel who spent his time at the Napier Zoo in Thiruvananthapuram, watching animals while he researched the Life of Pi. Some parts of the book were apparently written in the Indian Coffee House located opposite the zoo.

The cheap food to munch with your coffee is a fringe benefit.

Something that I have never eaten in an ICH outside Kerala is the mutton omlette, quite simply an omlette that is rolled up to hide the filling of chopped fried mutton. It is by far my favourite food item at an ICH. But the one on M G Road in Bangalore is a great place to go for that slightly late Sunday breakfast when you want to eat scrambled eggs and mutton cutlets and dunk cold coffee till you burst.

If you intend to visit Thiruvantnhapuram, there a few of these Indian Coffee Houses to pick from. Twelve at the last count. One of them is located at the Thampanoor Bus Stand and is an architectural oddity. It is shaped like a spindle and a spiral runs inside, along the circumference of the building on which the tables await diners. Most people are sipping coffee at thirty degrees to the ground. As I said, quite odd.

Another spectacular one is located at Shangumugham Beach, and every table is sea-facing!

These photos are from a nondescript ICH near the University. In the basement of a shopping arcade where Pizza Corner occupies the prime spot.

When I am in Delhi and looking for cheap coffee and munchies, I recall the India Coffee House in Connaught Place, located on the roof of a tall building that overlooks Regal Cinema, and infested by monkeys. Sadly it has been shut down, and I do not think there is another that is quite the same in South Delhi.

Pictures from a Goan Kitchen

2008-01-28T21:33:00.000+05:30

I snuck up on my mom making lunch, and this is what I found:

An assortment of fried fish - the flat slices are Kingfish, Visvon or Surmai. The others are pieces of Kalli, a fih available in Mumbai as well - very bony but flavourful. The The Spice Paste used is deceptively simple - tumeric and chilli powder in equal quantities, and salt. After marinating the fish, they are dusted with Semolina and shallow fried.

Clams, or thisra, are one of the more popular shellfish in Goa. Here, they have been prepared with lightly fried onion, green chilli, freshly grated coconut and tamarind in sukke, which literally means "dry". The bigger brothers of the

clams, like mussels (shinanyo) and oysters (kalva) are also rava fried.

And the staple - fish curry rice, or sheeth humon. The base of a curry is coconut, ground to a paste with turmeric, pepppercorns, tamarind and chilli. Chopped onions are either fried or boiled till translucent, and then the paste is allowed to boil with the fish. This is prawn curry. Prawns in curry always come with sidekicks - raw mangoes, okra, starfruit - depending on the reason. Here, mom used drumsticks. Smaller prawns are supposed to lend a greater flavour to the curry.

From the frying pan into the fire

2008-01-27T14:24:00.000+05:30

My last installment on Goan restaurants, for now, and it's all about fried fish. Fried fish seems like the easiest thing to do, but its very tricky. You first have to get yourself a fresh fish, because even slightly stale fish stand out. The fish have to be cooked enough so that the crust is crunchy but the fish inside is not overdone. You can't overdo the spices also - because the taste of the fish should be discernible. Unless you are a true fish eater, it's difficult to understand that every fish has its own distinct taste and texture.

The quest for good fried fish brings me to two restaurants which should only be gone to for the fish. After all, this is not a blog about "ambience". :)

Kamalabai at Mapusa (left from the Hanuman Temple and a 5 minute drive, keep your eye out for the sign or ask any taxi driver) sees a good lunch crowd for the VFM Fish Curry Rice (Rs. 20). At night, it attracts a lot of drunkards. A good time is about 8pm. The owners of Kamalabai assure the freshest catch of the day - no surprise, as they themselves own a fishing trawler. It's a pilgrimage spot every time I come to Goa, this time, since it was already nearing 9, we chose to go to Alisha Bar and Restaurant. Alisha is closer to Panjim, located just across the Mandovi Bridge, opposite the Vidhan Sabha. Obviously, there are huge crowds during assembly time. But otherwise there is a flight of mud steps down and steps up to a verandah restaurant, from where there's is a beautiful view of Panjim.

And yes, some fancy looking prawns. These are with the shells and legs intact. I prefer it that way, though I'm sure you can get yours cleaned up. The prawns turned out a little tough.

I am told that red snapper (tamuso) isn't really high up on the priority list of most Goans. It's an uneconomical fish to buy wholesale, as it has a huge unusable abdominal portion. I am a great fan of its meaty taste. It tends to get very tough when fried but the guys at Alisha did a good job.

Chicken Cafreal at Florentine

2008-01-26T13:26:00.000+05:30

Chicken Cafreal, originated as Galinha (Frango) Piri-piri, a grilled bush dish from Mozambique. When the Portuguese came into contact with this, several changes were made to the dish when it was brought to another Portuguese colony, Goa. Galinha Cafreal had incorporated several Portuguese herbs, like Cilantro (coriander), and was no longer grilled but fried.

The best Cafreal in Goa can be found at a small restaurant called Florentine. Just keep driving down the CHOGM road, after Porvorim, just off NH 17, until you will see a large arch with the name "Villa Saligao". For years, this arch and resort have meant nothing but a landmark for Florentine, which is in a lane just to the left of Villa Saligao. Florentine is very basic, very local, and to get a table you actually have to go and tell the occupants of a table that you're next. Notwithstanding the care-a-damn attitude of the management, if you fancy an early dinner, get your table, ask for a beer and a half of their Chicken Cafreal.

(The pic in this plate is a quarter. I know it's messy but the waiter was in a hurry)

So what's so great about it? Everything. Cafreal is a mix of herbs and spices which produces a taste unlike any other flavour in Indian cuisine - it seems like a coriander chutney but it isn't. The Chicken in Florentine is shallow fried after intensive marination, and is cooked with the skin on, which contributes to the moistness of the chicken. The chicken has no gravy,just a hint of a sauce. Best eaten with Poli, if you really need it.

As an accompaniment, Dad loves the fried Bombil, or Bombay Duck. The Bombay Duck is actually a fish, and is actually a fish very high on water retention. When cut and drained (many people place heavy stones on the fish after salting it) and fried, it turns out nice and crispy, with fine, soft bones that you can swallow with ease. Am more a fan of the Bombil at Gajalee, though. But that's for another post.

Cookbook Watch: Madhur Jaffrey

2008-01-25T17:53:00.000+05:30

I have learnt the basics of cooking from my mother, by just watching her. But an autographed copy of the First edition of Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking is what introduced me to a world outside Goan Cooking. It's the real "dummies" guide, written basically for cooks who don't know much beyond Pot Roast, Pasta and Meat loaf. From the description of basic Indian spices, to basic techniques, to small details and helpful hints. I guess the best cookbook writers are not experts in themselves, but people who understand how complicated cooking seems arnd tries their best to simplify things for the reader. Wonderful stuff. My mom thinks that as Indians we should double the chilli content of each of her dishes, and I tend to agree. But if you asked me to choose only one recipie to follow, I'd keep her garam masala recipie.It's better than any packed stuff you can find. I grind the ingredients together and keep it in a air tight container and guard it with my heart and soul. A sprinkle makes even a bland dish wonderfully aromatic.

Here's the recipie:

1 tbsp Cardamom Seeds
1 2 inch stick Cinnamon Stick
1 tsp Black Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Whole Cloves
1 tsp Whole Black Peppercorns
1/4 th of a whole Nutmeg

Grind together, or use a mortar and pestle. But make sure you don't let any moisture near it. Steal a tupperware container from your mom to store it. It makes about 3-4 tbsp of powder.

Recently I chanced upon "Eastern Vegetarian Cooking" at a bookstore. When a Goan girl dates a Tam Brahm boy, she needs to know food beyond fish. I bought it solely on the great admiration I have for Madhur Jaffrey's style. And I was not disappointed!

This book gives you the best of regional Indian vegetarian cuisine, along with some fantastic veggie recipes from all over Asia. She's used a huge variety of vegetables - like Lotus Stems, Karela, Courgettes and asparagus, besides good ol' potato, eggplant, cauliflower and okra. The food's good enough for you to understand why some people choose to be vegetarian... kind of.

At Live

2008-01-23T12:07:00.000+05:30

At Live in Connaught Place is fast becoming a popular place in Delhi to have that expensive drink. A Long Island Iced Tea is priced close to Rs 400 and a pitcher of Kingfisher comes for close to Rs 500. And there is a good band playing most nights in an environment that is all about dim lights, bare walls, comfy couches, stainless steel ashtrays, and Godfather 3.

Food is generally okay, but can surprise you with excellence. Like that burger I ate.

Above is the Garlic Oriental Fish.

And here is that thing which has a name that is impossible to remember.

But the Thai red curry has to be praised.

A taste of Portugal

2008-01-23T00:06:00.000+05:30

Post drinks at Ernesto's. head out to 31st January Road, behind the District Court, close to the Goa Tourism Complex. Hospedaria Venite has wooden balconies and quaint tables for two in each one, and it is THE most romantic restaurant in Panjim. The interiors are made up of wood, and the candles against the lantern lights make for a pretty dining experience. In the inner room, there’s graffiti on the walls right from the year 1974. If you look closely, you can find something I wrote. If you do, please inform me because I was drunk and I don’t remember where I wrote!

At Venite, order some wine, and have some of the wonderful Portuguese fare they have on offer. It is one of Goa’s few authentic Portuguese restaurants. They also have one of the best wine selections (outside of five stars, of course), not to mention fresh feni. You can enjoy a roast chicken, or a steak. They also have wonderful pan fried sea food – again, ask the waiter for his recommendations. Venite has some vegetarian fare as well, though to review that I think I’ll have to make a trip there again.

Unfortunately I’ve never had a romantic dinner at Venite, but a girl can still hope. Till then, I can only wish, and go back to Venite for the wine, the food and my lost graffiti.

Tip: Except for the Christmas-New Year period, Venite is closed on Sundays, as I found out day before yesterday.

The Goan Pub Hop

2008-01-23T00:02:00.001+05:30

Another evening in Panjim? Enjoy your sunset at Dona Paula, and get to Panjim Square, near the Church. Make your way to Club Vasco Da Gama (ask around, people are very helpful) and to Ernesto’s, the closest Panjim has to a Pub. Ernesto is a young entrepreneur who is living the Goan dream – he is running this club and bringing a young face to Goan hospitality. Ernesto has wild headgear and snazzy dressing but other than that, he’s all business. It’s the best place for beer and good music. Ernesto has a great collection of 70’s and 80’s music and loves requests. If you are lucky to get a table in the window, you can enjoy the view of Panjim garden. Or, you could play foosball. No sophisticated drinks, but they have tonic water. I love Ernesto, but I don’t share the sentiment for the food there. If you want a nibble, the goan sausages (chorizo) are a good option. You can walk in any time of the day, and sometimes you can find people discussing everything from the stock market to football to law here. I've been guilty of the latter!

Viva Viva Panjim!

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When it’s dinner time, one of the best restaurants to get the Goan experience is the heritage home of Linda Aunty. Linda D’Souza is the proprietor of Viva Panjim, behind the Mary Immaculate School, on 31st January Road. Its slightly off the road, a small lane off 31st January Road takes you to the cheery venue. A board on the main road will help you find your way. Linda Aunty is always smiling, and the waiters are always helpful. The service can sometimes be painfully slow, but if you’re in a hurry, there’s no point going there anyway. Avoid sitting in the AC room, the best place to sit is outside, under the stars. Order your drink, ask what’s the catch of the day and order it rava fried. Ask the waiter for a bowl of red chutney on the side, which is the rechado masala paste (pronounced reshaad). Rechado masala can also be smeared on your fish and then fried, which is also good, but I tend to think it ruins the taste of the fish. If you want to try rechado fry, ask for mackerels rechado. Mackerels, being oily fish, have a bit of an odour of their own which is masked quite well with the masala. If you aren’t used to eating fish, however, be wary about the mackerel because it’s a bit of an acquired taste.

When I’m at Viva Panjim, there’s nothing I like better than a vodka lime cordial and some fresh red snapper (tamuso) rava fried. You can also have the calamari (squid), white snapper (morso) and crabs. Fried crabs always seem to absorb too much oil and so I’m not a big fan. I prefer crab masala in a thick coconut-onion gravy.

This is usually enough for me, but if you want the whole hog, as a main course the Chicken Xacuti (pronounced Shakoothi) is spicy and delicious. Xacuti is the most popular of Goan gravies – roasted onion and coconut is pasted along with a generous helping of garlic, cloves, peppercorns and coriander seeds. The meat is then cooked in the paste – upon cooking, the paste becomes a darkish brown and acquires a thick, creamy texture on account of the coconut. Xacuti is made with Chicken, Mutton and in its vegetarian avatar with kabuli chana, masoor, or (my favourite) monsoon mushrooms (almi) is called Thonak. The best accompaniment to Xacuti is Unno or Pao, which are brought piping hot to your table at Viva Panjim, almost straight out of the oven. The meat doesn’t seem to have been cooked in the Xacuti paste and that’s my only grouse against it, really.

For the people with cast iron stomachs, you can try a Vindaloo. Vindaloo is traditionally made from a paste of red chilies and vinegar – the red chilies are set to soak in the vinegar overnight and are then pasted on a stone. Spicy is an understatement. Ask for less gravy because there’s no way you’re going to eat that spice paste anyway. Vindaloo is best had with rice and lots and lots of water.

There’s never any rush at Viva Panjim, it opens real early (about 6pm) for dinner and it’s a great place to chatter away with old friends or sip a beer while reading a book.

Fontainhas feedings

2008-01-22T23:55:00.000+05:30

Fontainhas, Panjim, is one of my favourite spaces in Goa. Small roads go through a sleepy collection of houses, painted in deep bright colours. As you walk around the lanes and admire the Portuguese architecture, you can enjoy the breeze and even the sounds of violin and piano from the windows of diligent children doing their afternoon practice. You can stroll around for hours, enjoying the heritage and stopping at the church, and going up the hill to the Maruti temple.

On your way, near the Mary Immaculate School, you can have a choriz pao as a small snack. Chorizo, or the Goan sausage, is pork spiced with chilli, vinegar and garlic, and served with Goan crusty bread. As you walk around Goa, you might just have to make way for the Poder, or bread vendor, who rides around on a cycle and uses his horn to attract potential customers, stopping only at the sound of “hey, poder!” from the window. The Poder has three types of bread, largely – Pao, the bigger brother of the bread that’s used in Vada Paos, Unno, or the crusty buns, and Polis, which are thick Pita breads. The Choriz are fried and chopped into small pieces and the spicy tangy meat is stuffed into the Unno. The Choriz-pao guy sells his goods from what looks like a bhelpuri stall, so keep your eye out.

You can have a cup of coffee at Panjim Inn, at the balcony eatery on its first floor. The wooden floor, cane furniture and the shade provided by the surrounding trees lull you into a sense of absolute comfort. Order a pot of tea, or maybe a beer, curl up with a book and while away your time. It's also a great place for a late breakfast.

A star is born

2008-01-22T20:47:00.001+05:30

The Food Watch Blog is proud to announce a new author on its roll. Ruma mostly divides her time between Bombay and Goa and like all of us, loves good food.

A taste of Goa

2008-01-22T15:22:00.000+05:30

I am asked to write this blog when I am reclining in Goa, on holiday with my wisdom tooth. What better place to start writing a blog on food?

When in Goa, stick to Goan food and you shall never be disappointed. There are several places where you can get fare which is closer to home – whatever is home for you. There’s good Gujarati fare at Shravan and at Hotel Fidalgo in Panaji, both on 18th June Road, and Delhi Darbar in the heart of Panaji City cooks up mean kababs and butter chicken. If these look like appetizing options to you, don’t waste more time on this blog post.

Yes, Goa is all about sea food. And meat. The vegetarian food options are many, contrary to most notions. But to start with, my city – Panjim. I'll profile a few restaurants close to my heart - both for the memories and the great food. So Enjoy!

Food fit for an emperor

2008-01-21T22:22:00.000+05:30

I keep going back to Karim for a taste of the food whose secrets have been passed down for generations in a family that cooked for the Mughal emperors. After Bahadur Shah Zafar was deposed, the great grandfather of the current managing generation took to feeding the public outside the Jama Masjid, not very far away from where the restaurant is located today.

Alight the Metro at Chawri Bazaar Station and ask any rickshaw guy to take you there. You will pass through this tunnel, and at the other end is Wonderland.

Please do not come back from Karim without having tasted the sheekh kebabs.

The best naans in India? I don't know, but certainly the best ones I ever ate.

The chicken jehangiri.

And more stashed away delights.

More pictures from Angels in my Kitchen

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Edit: Caramel cookies on the foreground and chocolate-chip ones behind. All cookies are priced lower than Rs. 20 each, and so it is something anyone can walk in and consume without thinking about it too much. When hot, they are all spectacular.

Moets Sizzler

2008-01-17T17:16:00.001+05:30

Conti food does not excite me a lot, and it was no surprise when Moets Sizzler in Defence Colony left me unsatisified. I had their Special Sizzler.

The fish-and-chips (above) were no more than adequate for me, but my friend Chow seemed to enjoy it immensely.

Strawberries and Cream

2008-01-12T15:31:00.000+05:30

Corner House is a Bangalore institution that grew roots and then grew branches. One of them is located inside the premises of the Airlines Hotel near Lavelle Road. Always worth heading there. Strawberries and Cream, during the winter months and Death by Chocolate at any other time. There is also a really, really thick chocolate milkshake, whose name I forget now. All wonderful.

Keema Meat

2008-01-12T12:38:00.001+05:30

How I love the Amritsari Meatwalla.

Mr Narender's keema meat is spicy, soft and guaranteed to put you to sleep for you just cannot stop eating.

Very nondescript, you will find this place once you turn left after you pass under the Defence Colony flyover.

There is not a lot of things that you can eat here. The several printouts plastered all over the walls indicate four items - the Keema meat, Keema kaleji, Keema egg curry and Chicken biriyani - all priced between fifty and eighty rupees. Each roti comes at two rupees. The first three items have a generic keema-based gravy that comes out of this large bubbling pot.

The only problem is that you cannot set your watch by the timings. If you take his word for it, you can expect to be served lunch at half past one. I waited from two to three before I was served.

But pure desi ghee, Mr Narender claims. More photos of this place soon.

Edit: Mehra compared Mr Narender to the beloved soup Nazi on Seinfeld, the "guy who lays

down the law when he gives you soup". I had to agree. At 9:15 p.m., there were a few frayed nerves around that bubbling pot.

Seemed to be some kind of system in place, but whatever it was, its collapse was painfully evident. People wanted food. And they were being made to wait in a haze of the most amazing aroma of mutton being spiced. Several plates of keema kaleji and keema meat and stacks of rotis were being sent to what can best be described as an "eating area", but it was never enough. A Sardar feigned familiarity, another person threatened to get angry, but nothing worked. One just had to wait.

We had decided to get the food packed, and despite the chaos, we did not have to wait more than 25 minutes. At home, we attacked the keema meat and rotis. Not surprisingly, it was well worth it.

The simple puttu

2008-01-07T19:53:00.000+05:30

If you have never had puttu, make sure you do so before you die. It is a simple and common Malayali breakfast preparation, made from rice and coconut.

The puttu demands the same simplicity from the gravy dish that will go along with it. It can be served with kadalakkari, which is a spicy curry made from gram, and the kind of gram may vary. For a slightly "more special" breakfast, a chicken or mutton stew is more appropriate. For less special occasions, a banana and some sugar will do.

Both pictures feature the simple chicken and potatoes stew.

Bennai Masala Dosa

2008-01-04T18:50:00.001+05:30

The letters C.T.R are written in tiny script, next to the large Kannada lettering over the nondescript door. I cannot read the language but I have been told that the letters expand into Chennai Tiffin Rooms. It is another Malleswaram institution, serving up some unique breakfast. The crisp bennai (butter) masala dosa is very popular.

For all the ghee and butter involved, both Raghavendra Stores and CTR attract a fair number of morning exercisers.

Raghavendra Stores

2008-01-04T12:16:00.001+05:30

Raghavendra Stores is located just outside Malleswaram Railway Station in Bangalore.

A favourite among morning walkers and others on their way to work, and some people without work, this place dishes up a mean idli-vada combo. Drenched in an excellent chutney, the consistency of which has been determined to precise perfection, there is even a dollop of butter on top if you like. The coffee too, as one might expect in Bangalore, is perfect for a day with a nip to the air.

There is no place to sit, but the boundary walls of the station will do.

Rajinder da Dhaba

2007-12-05T14:28:00.000+05:30

One of Bangalore's finest eating locations for the budget-minded, or anyone for that matter, is Johnson Market. Nestled in between the old and new centres of Bangalore, it has quite a few places that serve amazing rolls. Phanoos, the most popular among them, serves a series of beef rolls named Jumbo, Mambo and Shambo. They even have a good chicken liver roll, though that is not for everyone.

Somewhat similar is Rajinder, which is in Safdarjung Enclave. No beef, though.

These mutton sheekh rolls are very different from kakori kabab rolls at Aap Ki Khatir, or those at Khan Chacha or Nizams. A singular roll is a bit of a meat overload - like the Phanoos roll. The chutney is nice.

Here's a look at some Afghani Chicken. Drool, you sinners!

Nizams

2007-12-01T18:04:00.000+05:30

For several years, Nizams meant the following four items: the beef roll for fifteen bucks, the beef-egg roll for twenty, the chicken roll for twenty and the chicken-egg roll for twenty five.
Every year they would come to college on invitation and serve us these delicious rolls while we entertained ourselves and our guests. Occasionally, I miss their taste. There is a Nizams in CP. Apparently it is the mother-ship. When I went there the first time, it was a big disappointment. It was great food, but it was expensive. More importantly, Nizams lost its spine and did not serve beef.

Yesterday, I went there. Among other things, we nailed this Malai Keema Kofta. Really tasty.
You can even see the shiny battooras in this pic.

Non-Sagar sambar-vada in Defence Colony

2007-12-01T17:21:00.000+05:30

One of the things I miss most from Bangalore are cheap opportunities to eat several vadas.

An old lady waits with her cafe on wheels, as soon as you turn into Defence Colony from near the Andrews Ganj flyover. She is comfortable speaking Tamil or Hindi, and even understood me when I spoke to her in Malayalam. Last time I ate there, random policemen were fleecing her, and from what I saw, it could not have been a one-off experience.

The sambar had too few vegetables and too much asafoteida, and on my return to office I was feeling like a bit of a gas cylinder. It was quite tasty, but maybe I was too hungry. It did not matter. Two parippu vadas and two uzhunnu vadas for twenty five rupees is as cheap as you get at any Bangalore darshini.

In Malayalam you call them parippu vada (darker ones on the left) and uzhunnu vada. But as far as I know, parippu (kind of dal/lentils) is ground with water to make uzhunnu.

Here she is.

Mt. Bread Pakora

2007-11-19T11:16:00.000+05:30

It is amazing how people are able to get away with building pandals on arterial lanes in Lajpat Nagar, blocking traffic for up to several hours. But since it was a festive occasion, I forgave easily and photographed this huge and growing pile of hot bread pakoras.

Parathas all sorts.

2007-11-14T13:30:00.000+05:30

A staple of the North Indian breakfast (and more), the variously stuffed parathas can fill you up in less than twenty rupees. This mooli (radish?) paratha, I came across in Manali. Pickle of indeterminate origin.

Varathameen

2007-11-02T16:08:00.000+05:30

INA Market has four or five specialty Malayali eating joints. I didn't eat this fried fish. I was on the way back from some satisfying appams, fish curry and beef fry that I saw this and wished I was not so stuffed.

INA: Ivide Nursummar Alayunnu. (Nurses roam here.)

Chilli Chicken

2007-11-01T20:47:00.001+05:30

Apart from being a decent place to drink, 4S, in Defence Colony is also a good place for reasonably priced (think Delhi) Chinese and Thai food.

The Chilli chicken goes well with some Old Monk and coke.

The 4S style mixed fried rice is also quite good.

Kakori Kebab

2007-11-01T19:33:00.002+05:30

App Ki Khathir is near Nizamuddin, and I have not seen it open before sunset. During the day, some kind of garage operates there. Forget the chicks, these kebabs are probably the best thing about South Delhi.

A touch expensive for street food, two of these come for sixty rupees. I was told that the lamb would be marinated for three days with curd and papaya - among other things, to get the meat this soft.

Biriyani

2007-11-01T19:27:00.000+05:30

Nizamuddin. Near the Dargah. I wasn't really a great fan of the biriyanis in Delhi. Hyederabad, Bangalore and Kozhikode seemed to offer much better. This plate, costing a grand total of fifteen rupees, changed my mind. As you can see from the scales in the photo, it is sold by the kilo.

Those hands belong to the Media Baron. The meat was very tender.

Eggs.

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Omlette.

Lajpat Nagar. Central Market Road.

Boiled eggs. Same guy who is usually near the Axis Bank ATM.

Melty halwa stuff.

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Nizamuddin. These stalls come up at every Urs. Or so they told me.

Tikki, Making of

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Lajpat Nagar II

Muffins

2007-11-01T13:18:00.000+05:30

Angels in my Kitchen, Defence Colony, New Delhi