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Review: Spices, JW Marriott

CM personally feels that there are two cuisines that Mumbai restaurants have not been able to do justice to – Thai & Mexican. While we have made some headway in Mexican, moving away from the fusion Gujarati sev & rajma tacos with restaurants like Sanchos & Sammy Sosa, Thai is something we still haven’t mastered.

Yes I know we have the likes of Thai Pavilion by the Taj Group & Koh by Kittichai. But if you have ever been to Thailand and had even the moderate street Thai curry you will know that the sweet gravy served in the guise of Thai curry here is bullshit. Not many Mumbai restaurants have got the intricacies of this beautiful and flavourful cuisine right. So when I got an invite for JW Marriott’s Asian restaurant – Spices, I went without any expectations.

As Vir Sanghvi puts it, our definition of fast food is limited to the crap that American chains serve us. If you want to know what yummy & nutritious fast food is, one that does not taste like the tire of your car or the eraser of your pencil – then Thai street food it is. Even the most moderate, small roadside Thai hawker will serve you some of the most amazing dishes. Every vendor specializes in that one dish – Som Tam (papaya salad) or Baked Fish, which will linger in your tastebuds forever.

JW Marriott has this Thai Street Food Festival going on. Did it fit in Culinary Muse’ quest for authentic Thai Food in Mumbai, you are about to find out...

I begin with the Som Tam – nutritious, healthy, cholesterol free papaya salad. The solace of the chef making it fresh, right in front of you is brilliant. You have to consume this fresh, immediately after it’s made. The one at Spices matched all my check points. Fresh ingredients, dried shrimp (yup this will tell you the authenticity of the dish) ground peanuts that added the crunch. Sweet, sour, spicy tangy all in one bite!

Next were the starters –

Pandan Chicken

Pandan Chicken- succulent pieces of chicken wrapped in pandan leaf. Yummy and perfumed with lemon grass

Lemon grass chicken

Lemon grass chicken – Had beautiful flavours to it

Prawn Sesame seed – a tad oily but delicious at the same time

Prawn Sesame seed 

Banana fritters – well done banana bhajjis, thai style

Then came the soups –

I had the Prawn Tom Yum – this was extremely fiery, would pass of as sambhar so stay away from it

The live stations –

They had 2 live stations, one for Phad Thai & The other one for Thai barbeque

Thai Barbeque Station

The Phad Thai was delectable. Silky flat noodle sheets stir fried with veggies, meat of your choices, yummy flavor sauces, topped with egg. CM could’nt get enough of this

Phad Thai 

The Barbequed Meat

The Barbeque Station too was brilliant – beautiful fresh rock lobsters, mackerel, baby pomfret, & chicken sate. Nom Nom

Then came the Thai Curry Station-

Green Thai Curry With  Prawns 

Beautiful baskets of fresh ingredients – galangal, lemongrass, kafir leaves lay infront and you can direct the chef to make your curry with the meat & veggies of your choice. Now this is my ultimate test. If a restaurant can get its Thai curry right, there is no doubt on their thai food capabilities.

I tried the Green Thai Curry With  Prawns – it was ------ wait------ for------it – Immaculate! Not to sweet, not too tangy, full of balanced yet bold flavours. This definitely falls under one of the best thai curries I have tasted in Mumbai. Even if you don’t come here for the festival you must not miss the thai curry at Spices

Lobster Ka Prao with Thai Basil Rice

Pair it with their sticky rice and you know what it’s like to have a spa in your mouth.

In the main course they also had the Lobster Ka Prao – beautiful lobster pieces cooked in thai basil sauce was delectable too.

For the desserts –

The Rambutan a delicious lichi like fruit. The Egg Custard was yummy. The rest of the desserts were very ok, not great!

The Thai Street Food Festival is on till December 01^st & costs approximately 2300/- with unlimited beers.

But I would suggest you go to Spices even for an a la cart meal if you can't catch the festival. On an average a meal would cost Rs 2000 for 1 without alcohol.

Verdict:

Food: Yummy

Ambiance:  Serene                                 

Service: Good

Quick Tip: Go there for the Phad Thai & Thai Curry with Sticky Rice

The Co-ordinates:

Spices, JW Marriott

Where: Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, Mumbai, Mumbai

Tring Tring: 022 30932030

Timings: 7 PM to 12 Midnight

Food Type: Asian, Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese

Payment Methods: Credit Card Accepted

Star of Asia

Review: Auriga

 Located next to the controversial DB Realty project and Famous Studios, Auriga stands out with it's asymmetrical shape and bright lighting on the exterior. It gets this unusual name from one of the 48 modern constellations in space.

The 30 seater, 2 level lounge- restaurant boasts of a plethora of pan Asian dishes. Thankfully not the usual boring stuff! Kudos to Chef Nilesh Limaye & owner Kritika Nagpal, who have gone beyond the 'hot & sours' and 'black beans' to include dishes like pomello dimsums and  Edamame Exotic Vegetables in Orange Ponzu Sauce. The eatery also boasts of separate vegetarian kitchen.

Spicy Shanghai Crab Meat Soup

We start with the soups. The Spicy Shanghai Crab Meat Soup – thick white broth with slivers of crab meat and egg drop was beautiful and silky. 

Glass Noodle soup with Dumplings

The vegetarian broth – Glass Noodle soup with Dumplings was delicious as well

Pomello & Cashew Dumplings

The Pomello & Cashew Dumplings were beautiful delicate parcels that burst with citrusy goodness. I never would recommend vegetarian dumplings but this one is a must have!

Star of Auriga

In the drinks, we tried the signature Star of Auriga drink – an apple flavoured rum based cocktail was very refreshing.

The Chicken Dumplings were great too!

Chicken Dumplings 

The Rice Paper Rolls were ok... quite tasteless.

Rice Paper Rolls 

The Shrimp Tempura was crunchy not the oily kind.

 Shrimp Tempura

The Khowsuey served with a plethora of condiments had a distinctively zesty taste to it thanks to the lemon grass.

Khowsuey

The Sticky Rice was a mish mash. Looked and tasted more like the famous Indian breakfast item ‘sooji’. Avoid!

Sticky Rice

The Fish in Kaffir Lime Leaf Curry was flavourful.

Fish in Kaffir Lime Leaf Curry

Passionfruit Cheesecake

We end the meal with a very contemporary take on the cheesecake – Passionfruit Cheesecake. An ephemeral experience!
On an average a meal would cost Rs 2000 for 2 without alcohol.

Verdict:
Food: Yummy
Ambience:  Chic                                 
Service: Good

Quick Tip: Auriga is one of the few Asian restaurants that has a lot to offer in vegetarian food! Go there for pomello dimsums, khowsuey, their signature drink and end your meal with the Passion Fruit Cheesecake. That is what heaven would be like!

The Co-ordinates:
Auriga
Where: Dr B E Moses Road, Famous Studio Lane, Mahalaxmi, Mumbai
Tring Tring: 022 30932030 ext:904
Timings: 12 Noon to 3 PM, 7 PM to 1 AM
Food Type: Asian, Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese
Payment Methods: Credit Card Accepted

*PS: The portions in the pictures above are small portions meant for reviewing. The actual portions are bigger.

Mastering the Art

Review: Masterchef Brunch @ Shiro

Don’t we all just love Masterchef? Not the American or the Indian one but the Australian one!  I know I do! I love watching Garry’s friendly anecdotes, George’s energetic demeanour and the his softer side when he talks about his Greek roots and mom’s cooking and Matt Prestons colourful attire or just the way he stands – with one foot forward as if he is always posing!

Masterchef Judges

Every year Masterchef brings you something new and exciting and when I saw the last season with Nigella, Kylie, the Dalai Lama featuring as judges and I didn’t think it could get any bigger. But Season 4, gives you as much a kick as the last one, what with nationalist feeling you get when you Dalvinder or the salivation when Aminah cooks up some yummy Egyptian Asia fare or the really graceful Deborah works her magic in the Sandwich round!

Season 4 Top 24 Contestants

Just the sound of that song - Come on Come on (not many of us know it is composed by Katy Perry!) on Star World India makes me want curl up in front of the television prepared with my dinner and watch! To me thats my ‘me time’, distressing as I watch what they call amateur cooks (hell they are not!) cook beautiful delicacies most importantly with the love for food in their hearts!

So this year I thought why not try the Masterchef Australia inspired brunch at Shiro.

Shiro has this beautiful Zen like interiors. Wooden walls and flooring, huge Buddha effigy welcoming you into the dimly lit ambience. It is so dark you can barely see the food your eating! But CM isn’t complaining the less people see how much she is eating the better J

So we begin with a Vietnamese soup: Pho – a clear broth served with rice noodles and beef or chicken, delicately flavoured you could taste the hints of basil and lime in it. The next was the famous Otak Otak Kukus (no I am not chanting an African curse) – a cake made of fish and spices. Do you remember the flamboyant Chef Wan teaching this to Kate in Malaysia in Season 3! Well while this looked really different from the original dish (see comparison below) this was the softest thing i have put in my mouth! The dish just beautifully melts in your mouth. Coupled with the sweet chilli sauce it is delectable.

Otak Otak Kukus @ Shiro

The Hanoi Parcel’s – a spring roll filled with chicken, shrimp and crab meat was crisp and delicious as well.

Hanoi Parcels

 On the Vegetarian Appetiser’s side there was Tofu with Spicy Korean bean- something was really off about this dish either the tofu was stale or the black bean however it tasted awful. The Mushroom Dumplings & Aspragus Dumplings were a refresher – soft parcels of yumness in your mouth! The Sweet Chilli Potato was nice too! Although it tasted a bit like Indian Chinese straight out of the Five Spice kitchen!

The Salads both Chilli Calamari with Watermelon and the Veg one (don’t know the name) were insipid! The calamari was rubbery and chewy a clear indication of it not being well cooking!

In the main course, The Garlic Chicken and Greens – roasted chicken breast sliced to perfection with stir-fried broccoli mushrooms and baby corn  was very okay! Not theflavourfu kind! The Sweet Corn Chicken with Ho Fun noodles – stir fried chicken with flat rice noodles lacked any kind of distinguishing flavour!

Sweet Corn Chicken with Ho Fun Noodles

The Thai Curry was beautiful and fresh a little on the sweet side though. This coupled with Hibachi Rice – sticked Japanese style cooked rice made a delectable combination. The Masamann curry was also flavourful too. The Beef Curry with Daikon was to blah!

Massaman Curry

Hibachi Rice

Overall while the starters were packed with yum quotient, the main course was a disappointing! I would rather recommend eating the al carte fare! I pray any of the three judges never see this, they may die of embarrassment!

The Masterchef meal is priced @ Rs 1750/-. The brunch is on every Sunday from July 01 to August 26, 2012

Verdict:

Food: Mixbag

Ambience: Zen

Service: Helpful

Quick Tip: Go there strictly for the appetisers. The Otak Otak Kukus is a must have!

The Co-ordinates:

Shiro

Where: Bombay Dyeing Mills Compound, Pandurang Budhkar Marg, Worli, Mumbai

Tring Tring: 66511207, 66511208

Timings: 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM, 7:30 PM to Midnight

Food Type: Asian Fare

Payment Methods: Credit cards accepted

PS: Some of the pictures are close representations of the dishes, it was too dark to click!

Royal Feast

Review – Royal China

Mumbai has always been home to some of the best Chinese fare. Whether it’s the roadside spicy affair or the finer more authentic ‘peking duck’ et all offering places Mumbai has it all!

Royal China has been in the Mumbai Chinese circuit since sometime now. Quite popular amongst the hoity toity it’s located at next to Sterling Cinema. The first time I went there I didn’t quite like what I ate. Blame it on my HR College fiery Chinese upbringing! But last time I went there, the meal was something worth writing home about. It also has Bandra outlet.

Now for all the Apple/Mac suckers and for the usual technoholics ordering at Royal China is quite a treat with an Ipad Menu. Personally I loved the experience of just holding in my hand, delicately touching the screen, to view the dishes I am about to order. That’s the best part you can actually see a picture of what your ordering making it an awesome experience.

Hot & Sour Soup

Stir Fried Chicken with Chilli Oil & Spring Onion

We start our meal with the traditional Chicken Hot & Sour Soup, a brilliant peppery and tasty broth not the one you would usually find.  The next was Salt & Pepper Prawns which was crispy batter fried prawns sprinkled with wok tossed Chilly and Garlic. Again yummy in my tummy! The Stir Fried Chicken with Chilli Oil and Spring Onion, which is actually a main course but we ordered on suggestion from our Maitre d’ and also lack of options on the appetizers bit, was good as well. Pan tossed Chicken flavoured with light Chilly oil made for delectable combination. In the vegetarian the Lettuce Vegetable Wrap is also a great dish. A mix corn peppers, crispy fried noodles is provided that needs to be filled into fresh crunchy lettuce leaf that painted with Plum Sauce

Salt & Pepper Prawns

Braised Mushroom Noodles

Chicken in Black Pepper Sauce

Lotus Leaf Wrapped Rice

In the mains we order for the Chicken in Black Pepper Sauce was delicious. The Lotus Leaf wrapped Rice had a beautiful aroma emanating and with a taste so ambrosial it could give the whole Hrithik Roshan in Spain Combination of ZNMD a run for its money . The Braised Mushroom Noodles – pan-fried noodles on a bed of Lettuce Leaf topped with braised Shitake mushrooms was a divine dish! Nothing like I have had before, this dish is a must have especially for the lovers of Shitake Mushrooms.

For dessert we had the dulcet Banana in Toffee syrup – crispy batter fried bananas topped with honey and sesame seeds served along with Vanilla ice cream. The crispy exterior, the hot goey banana interior combined with chilled ice cream made the dish saporous! Not for the diabetic or calorie conscious though!

All in all the experience at Royal China was great. I think with a menu like that, Royal China manages to cater to the growing sect of discerning foodies and is doing especially well at it taking by the crowd that started to fill the place on the day I went.

An average meal for two would be a mere Rs 800 – 1000 per head

Quicktip: If you love your Chinese and want to eat it too! Royal China is a must go. The Lotus Leaf Rice and Braised Mushroom Noodles are must haves!

The Co-ordinates

Royal China, Behind Sterling Cinema Building, Hazarimal Somani Marg, Fort , Mumbai

Phone: 66355310, 6635531, 22077513, 22072492

Timing: 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM, 7:00 PM to Midnight

Food Type: Chinese, Pan Asian

Serves Alcohol: Yes

Payment Methods: Credit Cards Accepted

Idol Worship

Review – Joss

The word Joss stands for a Chinese deity or house idol. I can’t seem to figure out why Farrokh Khambhatta, chef & restaurateur would name his first fine dining restaurant that but nevertheless Joss definitely seems to have created a niche for itself amongst restaurants serving oriental fare. Located in the art hub of the city – Kala Ghoda, Joss was incorporated in the year 2004. With it’s unique menu boasting of Oriental Crab Bisque, the Crisp but Tender Peking Inspired Duck, Nonya Bamboo Chicken, Balinese Clay Pot of Zucchini, Young Corn, Broccoli, it adds a level of panache to fusion cuisine.

The restaurant spans over 2 floors, very spacious with a swanky décor of South Asian Wooden curios. The plush white interiors with mellow lighting and wooden furniture make for a very pleasant dining ambience and mind you it is always very crowded so better get you reservation in order. Co-ordinates given below.

Khowsuey

We start with Chicken Khowsuey, one of Joss’ signature dishes. Yes I know Khowsuey is more like a main dish but for my family & me it’s a soup and something with which we always start our meal with when at Joss. The Joss Khowsuey is actually more of a broth with the right consistency not very thick not very thin unlike the thick versions served at places like Flamboyant and Busaba. The dish is combination of brilliant flavours and exquisite taste. I prefer this khowsuey to any other, I have been served as yet.

In the appetizers, we order for the Water Chestnuts stuffed in Corn Curd with Lemon Chilli Dip – imagine water chestnuts surrounded by soft almost cotton like pureed corn on the inside and crispy on the outside served on a spoon and lightly drizzled with lemon chilli sauce. Beautiful and yummy!  The Korean Barbeque Chicken is more like Moghlai Chicken Tikka, not something you would expect at an oriental restaurant!

Mushroom Sticky Rice

Broccoli Baby-Corn and Water Chestnuts in Burnt Red Chili and Soy Sauce

For the main course we order for the Mushroom Sticky rice – thick grained rice mixed with loads of butter, garlic and mushrooms – silky smooth just the melt in the mouth combination! If I had it my way I could just have this by itself. The Chicken with Star Anise and XO Glaze  - brought with a brilliant star anise aroma when served and tasted as delicious! However the chicken breast pieces, that were coated in egg, flour and fried were very chewy not very appetizing. The Green Chicken Thai Curry is good by Indian standards better than what you get at most places but can hardly match up to the authentic thai curry. The Chicken in Sambhol Curry is also brilliant very similar to the Thai Curry but again the chicken is very chewy! In the vegetarian fare there also is an equal variety with exotic ingredients like snow peas, water chestnuts, Shitake Mushrooms! We order for Broccoli Baby-Corn and Water Chestnuts in Burnt Red Chili and Soy Sauce – the flavours of the burnt chilli pieces, garlic and soy sauce totally complement each other to create magic in our mouths! The Teppan Soba Wheat Noodle on the other hand look like tape worms and are very chewy so highly not recommended whereas the Pan Fried Noodle are delectable.

Now beware because all this ‘yummness’ comes at a price. So a meal for 2 would come up to anything between Rs 1500 – 2000 per head without alcohol

Verdict

Food: Great Variety and Delectable

Ambience: Good but could get noisy on weekends

Service: Courteous, they suggest well

Quicktip: If you enjoy experimenting with oriental fare, Joss is a must go. Take along a friend, a date or family (if they like experimenting that is) and you will get a taste of the exquisite. But be sure to shell out some ‘Bapu’s’ for that.

The Co-ordinates

Joss, 30, K. Dubhash Marg, Next to Chetana Restaurant, Kala Ghoda, Colaba , Mumbai

Phone: 66356908, 66334233

Timings: 12:30 PM to 3:00 PM, 7:30 PM to 11:30 PM

Food Type: Pan-Asian,Fusion, Sri Lankan, Malaysian, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese

Serves Alcohol: Yes

Payment Methods: Credit cards accepted