Waah Ustad!

Review: Masalchi Ustad

Agla station Bandra, next station baaaandra gets a new takeaway joint.  Masalchi Ustaad claims to be an 'indian QSR'.  Now thats an oxymoron! The complication involved in preparation with its myriad of ingredients and long drawn cooking process' makes it very hard for any Indian dish to be quick! And not to forget it would always be incomplete without being paired with with the accompaniments like chutney pickle etc.

The Kebab Platter

Nevertheless, Masalchi Ustad boasts of some indian fusion dishes - Naan Turnover, Basa Fish with Orange Malta sauce, basil chicken tikka as well as the regular mogul fair - Nalli Nihari, Kebabs & butter chicken.

Culinary Muse decided to give this 'so called' QSR a shot.

The Naan Turnover are hot  stuffed naan pockets with butter chicken like gravy and hints of molten cheese on the edges. Quite a sumptuous meal in itself. Although i found the filling is a bit sweet though

Naan turnover

As part of the kebab platter we had:

The Seekh kebab was succulent and beautiful

Billayati Murg Tikka

The billayati murg tikka was beautiful and silky

The Murg Sunheri kebab was also delectable 

Aftabi fish tikka

The Aftabi Fish Tikka - fish kebabs coated with green coriander masala was juicy and delicious

Nalli Nihari

The Nalli Nihari was flavorful but really rich. Those watching their calories must truly avoid

Dal Makhani

The Dal Makhani was wholesome and beautifully flavored. A must try


On the whole Masalchi Ustad is worth a try. Ample quantity and wholesome make it a good option when one has guests over or a party to host. Sadly they only deliver in and around Bandra as yet

MuseTip: The kebabs are sure shot winner!


The Co-ordinates
Masalchi Ustad
Address:Masalchi Ustad, Sherly Rajan Road, Khar, Mumbai
Telephone: 09029077516, 09029077517, 09029077518, 09029077519
Type: Only takeaway

Dumpling Diaries & New Bar Launch

Radio Bar

Bandra gets a new bar – The Radio Bar. Decorated with old school radios, jukeboxes and cassettes, this new hip bar is the latest edition to Linking road alongside the likes of The Daily

The place has some quirks – a wall full of old radios almost telling you a story of the genesis of this machine; a basement where you have a corner for live band performances and another wall, this time full of cassettes. Do you remember those rectangles with two holes in the middle and a thin black tape running inside it? Most of you would not even have been born at the time when these things were a craze

This place is almost like a museum for audio systems!

The drinks were interesting I had the Mojito and Radio Special Cocktail. Quite nice but the food needs some definite working!

Mamagoto

Meanwhile Mamagoto, the fun Asian place gets an all new dumpling menu! “We were being questioned” said a spokesperson, “How can you be an Asian restaurant and not have a dumpling menu? So Voila”

The restaurant turns 5 this month as well and is on an expansion spree. Sources say that after Delhi, Mumbai & Bangalore they are headed to Pune

Mango Cocktail

I first tried the Mango Cocktail - the hint of vanilla and subtle flavour of mango just make this cocktail right to beat the heat this season. Mamagoto infuses their own cocktails

Prawn Crackers

Prawn crackers - beautiful things come in crunchy! I could eat this all along!

Chinese Chicken Puff

The Chinese Chicken Puff - was horrible, you rather eat this at Hersh! They are the best

Gyoza

Street Style Dumpling

The Street Style Spicy Dumpling was nice, silky and melt in the mouth and so was the Old school Gyoza

Tokyo Metro Mantau

The Tokyo Metro Mantau again needed some working. It just tasted like a limp burger

Porky Apple Mantau

The Porky Apple Mantau Makeover was sweet as hell. It might as well be on the dessert menu

Muse Tip: Drinking plan with office colleagues head to Radio Bar and then hop into Mamagoto to eat yummy dimsums and fight the hangover!

The Co-ordinates

Radio Bar - Ground Floor, Hotel New Castle, Linking Road Bandra

Mamagoto - 133, Ground Floor, Gazebo House Hill Road Bandra West, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Interacting over Latin Indian Food & Chocolate Martini

Meet-up with Rohini Dey & I Bar Review

The IPL season is finally over! I particularly am very happy. First of all I don’t understand why cricket is played? Secondly you come up with a series called the IPL  by the ICC, the great Indian Cricket Circus, the basis of which is ‘entertaining’, money-making and selling. I am surprised at the public outrage over spot fixing. The IPL is a form of ‘reality show’, which by the way is fixed, the outcome pre-decided. Hype factors are weaved in everyday to make it entertaining. Sad reality, but the truth. Let’s accept and move on....

On a more cheerful front, I had the opportunity to meet Rohini Dey – ex World Banker, ex McKinsey economist, who left the corporate world (which by the way is treating women like shit #Phaneesh case) to start her own restaurant. Not just any other run-of-the-mill Lassi the Parothe, Chinese or Japenese but a Latin-Indian restaurant. Yes where Latin America’s fiery sauces meets India’s gravies, where tandoori meets steak & where kheer meets pudding! Sounds like a east meets west story but Rohini actually pointed out a lot of similarities in the cuisines – use of fiery spices, need for coconut stew or a gravy-like base and and use of peculiar ingredients like tamarind (imli)

Rohini talking animatedly about her cook-off

Rohini had come to India to host a cook-off, the winners of which will be work at her restaurant Vermilion (New York, Chicago) and get pay packet of upto $70,000 to start with.

She spoke to us about her journey of becoming a restaurateur, the Bengali and Mallu dishes that inspire her menu at Vermillion and how she now wants to put Indian cuisine on the world map. But not in its stereotypical curry & biryani way but with twist of Latin flavours to it. On being asked whether she looks at getting Vermillion to India. She almost naturally quips, if you finance it! Ah well, Rohini, I am anyways loosing monthly salary to Mumbai’s ever increasing and ever so expensive restaurants. Don’t push it, I say!

Moving on to the pub we met up at – I Bar. Located in the ‘sacred’ galli of Bandra Reclamation,  (sacred cause it also houses Candies, yes THE CANDIES) I BAR is this hip new joint with interactive tables and I Pads for menus. Hence the name – Interactive Bar!

The Menu at IBAR sports some really tempting concoctions, bar food along with some mains.

We start with the -

Fries

Fries with 5 dips: Crispy potatoes with 5 kinds of dip. The dips are refreshing from the otherwise boring options of mustard & tomato. A must try at this place

Pesto Prawns: While the prawns were fresh, there was something very off about the colour – hulk green & taste. A definite no no

Tequila Prawns

The Tequila Prawns – beautiful king sized prawns marinated in potent liquor. Beautiful silky taste!

Coconut Crusted Chicken

The Coconut Crusted Chicken – chicken strips served in a fancy martini glass drizzled with mustard, the chicken can get a bit soggy, but not a bad dish

Salmon Sushi

The Salmon & Cream Cheese Sushi – this is one of the best sushi’s I have tasted so far in Mumbai. Beautiful balmy smoked chicken rolled in sushi rice.

Cajun Spiced Potato

Crispy Cajun Potato – Umm I didn’t like this at all. A bad version of what Sindhi’s make called ‘Tuk’. Totally avoid

Kebabs

Special Kebab - An Iranian preparation of kheema pattice, this was smooth & melt in the mouth!

Camembert Jalapeno – Literally cheesy, melt-in-the-mouth again

Mushroom Focassia – Beautiful crunchy bread topped loads of mushroom pate. Delectable

Veg Wrap

Vegetarian Mexican Wrap – Extremely sweet. Must stay away to avoid diabetes

Prawn Tempura – crispy, crunchy & yum! All you would expect from a tempura!

In the drinks –

Chocolate Martini

Chocolate Martini – Was yum! But I don’t know how the liquid nitrogen added any flavor to it

Mai Tai – Puke. TOO STRONG. HAVE AT OWN RISK

Kamikaze- Lemony & refreshing

Black Grape Mohito – Yum yum yum!

Apple Sangria with black grape caviar with strawberry and tequila infused jelly – too fancy Naam Bade, Darshan Chote

Gimlet

Gimlet – My favorite, zesty, rejuvenating

We end  our meal on an extremely sweet with the Chocolate Cake – again stay away to avoid diabetes!

On an average one starter & one drink would cost around Rs 500 – Rs 700 at I Bar. Quite a steal I say!

Verdict:

Food: Good

Ambience:  Fun in a party way

Service: Very Confused

Quick Tip: I Bar is a great place to have some innovative drinks & finger food. Must have the sushi, tequila prawns & chips with 5 dips & the Gimlet

The Co-ordinates:

I BAR

Where: 7, 8, Gelekia, ONGC Colony, Bandra Reclamation, Bandra West, Mumbai

Tring Tring: 022 26400288

Timings: 7:00 PM to 1:00 AM (12.00pm To 1.00am On Sundays)

Food Type: Mixology, Bar Food

Payment Methods: Visa, Master, Cash, Credit Card Accepted

The Sound of Eating

Review: Nom Nom

For some people ‘eating’ is mechanism of survival, for some others its yet another chore but for my kind, food is sacred, and eating is like praying, I am me, I am the happiest when am chomping on deliciousness. I know most of you reading this feel the same... Thats why they say Great Minds think Alike J

Recently CM got out of her comfort zone (ie SOBO) and ventured into the land so far .... er um called Bandra (yup its a bit far by my standards) to place named after the sound of eating... Nom Nom

Tucked in the galli of KFC, this is Nom Noms second outlet with the first in Versova.

The ambience of this place transports you to some exotic far east country like Thailand. Rustic wooden decor with minimalistic lighting gives a soothing touch and totally cuts you from the noise and commotion of linking road.

The menu of Nom Nom offers quite a variety of Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Singaporean dishes.  Today we were here to sample their ‘Tea Pairing menu’

Black Pepper Chicken

We were greeted by a cheerful Maitre d’. Our first dish was Black Pepper Chicken - succulent pieces of chicken topped with the spices, the dish was good just a tad bit salty for my taste. He paired this with the Basilur Ceylon 

Green Tea. On being asked why this pairing he gave a very ambiguous answer. The tea didn’t go well with the chicken either. It sort of made it taste more salty

The real benefit of pairing tea with your food is to cleanse your palate (something like what a soup would do) and enhance the taste and flavour of the dish. The Ceylon green tea failed on those parameters.

 

Our next dish was the Basa in Lemon Coriander Sauce – fillets of fresh basa tossed spring onions and garlic made for a very pleasant taste. The tea recommended – Basilur White Magic was just appropriate. A light tea with a milky sweet aroma and smooth sweet lingering taste combined with delicate meat was like a match made in heaven.

The next was the Vegetable Dimsums, quite good these dimsums seemed to have some kind of a fusion going on with cheese bursting into your mouth on the first bite.

The Chicken Dimsums weren’t very impressive, the skin was too doughy and you could taste the rawness of it.

In the mains we ordered for the Burnt Garlic Fried Rice and the Chicken in Chilli Basil Sauce. Again subtle flavours of the chicken made for a very good meal. This coupled with Basilur’s Cream Fantasy Tea was perfect. The hint of strawberry and vanilla in the tea just made the taste of mains very pleasant and delicious.

Nom Nom by today’s standards seemed like a very affordable place. A meal for 2 would cost anywhere between Rs 1000- Rs 1500.

For my towny ‘Obnoxious Lemur’ SOBOites, Nom Nom is soon to open an outlet in Fort!

Verdict:

Food: Good

Ambiance: Aesthetic

Service: Good

Quick Tip: Take a trip to the Far East with the flavourful food here. Stay away from the dimsums and you won’t have anything to complain!

The Co-ordinates:

Nom Nom

Where: 1 & 2, Delux Mahal Building, Ground Floor,Opposite Mini Punjab Restaurant, 16th Road, Bandra West, Mumbai

Tring Tring:  - 022 30932030

Timings: 12 Noon to 1 AM

Food Type:Thai, Burmese, Indonesian, Japanese, Singaporean, Malaysian

Payment Methods: Credit cards accepted

Italy On My Mind!

Review: Polpo cafe

Lately I have had a lot of Italian things on my mind, My brother gifted me the brilliant Mario Puzo's ode to the Italian Mafiosi - The God Father, my last post was of an Italian Pizza Place and coincidentally I get to visit another Italian ristorante to the city Polpo Cafe. The cafe belongs to the Datwani family of Shatranj Napoli fame. Actually Polpo is to another addition to the Shatranj Napoli premise.

When you enter the, you are greeted by a beautiful alfresco ambiance.  Surrounded by vertically stacked plants and Christmas curios hanging from the wired roof.

The insides of Polpo reminds you of a Mediterranean eatery with dome shaped ceilings, cute little  paintings hanging on the walls, a well stocked bar and an open kitchen,  aromas from which  build your appetite!

The Polpo is Italian for Octopus. God knows why they name it that because CM didn’t see no tentacled creature on the menu. We were given 2 menus - the Cafe menu and the Shatranj menu.  Assessing both I chose for the later.

Limoncello v/s Sangria Rosso

In the drinks I choose the Sangria Rosso – Red Wine Sangria with Apple Sliver good but when I tried the a fellow food bloggers Limoncello – beautiful warm with ginger juliennes I regretted my earlier choice. This is one of the finest drinks I have had

Chicken Cappuccino

Next came the Chicken Cappuccino, a frothy broth served in a coffee mug. Take a sip, light and subtle flavours fill your mouth and you are ready curl up in a blanket. Comforting and beautiful.

Fonduta di Funghi

In the appetizers, we began with Fonduta di Funghi - mushroom caps filled with cheese and tomato concase, delicate and tasty. The Pollo Della Chef which was described as chicken marinated in Mustard but turned out to be chicken breast supremes barbecued, a sort of like a rendition of the sate, with no hint of mustard whatsoever. However this did not deter its deliciousness of the dish.

Pollo Della Chef

Salmon Pinwheels 

The Salmon Pinwheels - a sort of salmon roulade was yum with a delicious smoky flavour to it. 

 The Asparagi al Prosciutto was ephemeral –stems of asparagus wrapped with thinly sliced salty meat. The asparagus was not bitter a sign that it was cooked really well.

Asparagi al Prosciutto

In the main course, the Penne Alla Romano was immaculate with the balmy taste of mushrooms and cream. The Pizza I felt was very thin, couldn’t catch the name & didn’t like it much either. Next we had the basil pesto risotto which was too creamy for my taste!

Petti di Pollo alla Griglia

We also had the Petti di Pollo alla Griglia - grilled chicken breast, served with mashed potatoes, vegetables & mushroom sauce which I felt was tasteless and could definitely do with some seasoning.

Next came the desserts, of which I really liked Bailey’s Surprise, the bottom of which was filled with a lot of surprise alcohol J and the Blue Berry Style Cheesecake. The Red Velvet didn’t impress me much.

Baileys Surprise, Blueberry Cheese Cake (on top), Red Velvet (bottom)

However do not leave before trying the in-house creation – The Pizooki. A freshly baked, hot out of the oven, rich and delicious cookie topped with three scoops of vanilla ice cream and served in its own deep dish. your choice of chocolate chunk, white chocolate macadamia nut, peanut butter or oatmeal raisin walnut. The experience is yum & amazing!!

The Pizooki

A meal for 2 would cost between Rs.1500 -2000/- per head. excluding alcohol.

Verdict:

Food: Good

Ambience: Beautiful

Service: Good

Quick Tip: Come here for the beautiful al fresco ambience. Definitely try the Salmon, Asparagus & the surreal Pizooki dessert

The Co-ordinates:

Polpo Cafe

Where: Shatranj Napoli, Ground Floor,12 Union Park, off Carter Road, Bandra West., Mumbai, Maharashtra, India 400 052

Tring Tring:  022 26499844

Timings: 11:00 AM to 1:00 AM

Food Type: Italian

Payment Methods: Credit cards accepted