Swadeeka - Welcome (Thai)

Review: O:h Cha

I always claimed that restaurants in Mumbai don’t do justice to two cuisines – Thai & Mexican. So when O:h Cha, which derives its name from the Thai word for delicious, opened, CM was quite inquisitive to see whether it proved her theory right or wrong.

Brainchild of Sanat Patel who has been behind the fancy (read: overpriced) Two One Two bar and Grill and the ‘still to make its mark’ Burgs, O:h Cha is tucked inside Mathuradas Mills, famous amongst Mumbai’s ‘once bustling now dead’ mill scene at Lower Parel, which has now become a hub for youngsters and office goers who throng to places like Blue Frog, Busaba, Barking Dear and Cafe Zoe.

The decor of this restaurant is contemporary Thai - wooden, spacious with green hues.

The menu contains some famous Thai dishes known and devoured by most of us who have travelled to the land of curry & massages (ahem... i meant foot massage control your mind).

We begin with the Tom Kha Kai soup – the balmy flavour of lemongrass, galangal & coconut milk create the best concoction in your mouth. A must try here

Also before I go ahead let me make it clear, the menu specifically illustrates the level of spice one can go upto. The more the chillies the more the spice and this has to be taken seriously. Don’t go with the notion of little spicy or medium spicy!

Next came the Tom Yum Kai soup– now unless and until you are strong hearted do not go for this one. It’s extremely charged!

The next was the Som Tam – delicate slivers of raw papaya tossed in chilli, lime, castor sugar, peanuts. A delicious yet healthy dish. Stick to the first level of spice.

Chicken Satay

In the appetisers we tried the Poh Pia Sod – a kind of thai spring roll – not too great in my opinion. The Chicken Satay was served cold! Again not recommended

Green Thai curry

Then came the real test – the Kang Kaew Waan – Green Thai curry with prawns – Beautiful, delicate broth, not too sweet, not too milky like the one’s served at Thai Pavilion and Koh. This was just the perfect balance of spice, sweetness and sour. One of the best thai currys I have tasted in Mumbai.

The Pla Kow Nong Ma Nao – Steamed trouper with garlic chilly sauce was immaculate. Like spa in my mouth!

Stir Fried Chicken with Holy Basil

The Stir Fried Chicken with Holy Basil too was delicious.

In the deserts we try the Lemon Grass Creme Brulee – no sign, smell or sight of lemon grass but the dish was delicious

 Water Chestnut with fresh coconut spirit

The Tum Tim Krob - Water Chestnut with fresh coconut spirit is heaven in summers. Must try!

After the meal, with an extremely satisfied (and heavy) stomach, I think to myself at last Mumbai has lost its ‘Good Thai Food’ Virginity! Take a bow Mr. Patel.

O:h Cha is not too kind to your pocket though. A meal for 2 would cost between Rs.3000 - 3500/- without alcohol

Verdict:

Food: Amazing

Ambience: Serene

Service: Catching up

Quick Tip: If you missed a trip to Thailand this year, head to O:h Cha to satisfy your thai food craving.

The Co-ordinates:

O:h Cha

Where: Mathuradas Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai

Tring Tring: 022 66334455

Timings: O:h Cha is now open for lunch as well and has introduced a prix fixe menu

Food Type: Thai

Payment Methods: Credit cards accepted

*Note the review spans over food eaten on 2 occasions

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.

The Beer Belly

Review: Barking Deer

Keen observation of the Mumbai food scene, and I notice fads – It started with the  90’s where we saw Italian –Mexican fusion places mushrooming like Cream Centre, New Yorker, America, cutting straight to 2011-12 Asian restaurants like Hakassan & Yuautcha opening up; French food – Chez Vous, Chez Moi, Suzette; Spanish – Arola, Vinoteca feeding us tapas & paella. As a food lover I enjoy being in a part of this melting pot, I love being in the middle of so much confusion and so many choices!

The latest fad I witness is Beer Brewing!

An intelligent conversation post lots of beer drinking with Richa Lulla, Baker & Blogger (Knead With Love) made me realize that while Maharashtra, Karnataka & NCR have been progressive on the beer licenses front, Mumbai lags behind. Hence the sad state of affairs. But beers lovers must not loose hope – people at the Gateway Brewing Company and The Barking Deer are in the process of defeating the system and bringing you up to speed with the rest of the world with their indigenous  brands of craft beer.

Located in the commercial & lifestyle capital of Mumbai aka Lower Parel, The Barking Deer is the newest edition to the city’s drinking scene. The place gives you a barn kind-of feeling with wood flooring and mahogany hues. Walls stacked with beer books, mugs & bottles. Towards the end of this this elongated sort of bar are huge copper vessels all connected to form what will soon be Mumbai’s first Micro- Brewery. Albeit they still await licences.

The micro -brewery

Brew Master Benjamin showing us how to brew beer

So we start with the Heineken paired with Cheddar sticks & Chicken Wings. The beer was quite normal & don’t think it did too much to enhance the flavour of the Cheddar sticks & Wings. The Wings had quite a zing to it, and I found the cheddar sticks quite lip smacking with yummy molten cheese at the centre.

Heineken & Chicken Wings

Next was the Amstel Beer paired with Potato Skins & Fried Calamari. The beer was a bit too bitter. Coupled with the potato skins, which are quite bitter themselves made it even more unpalatable. The fried calamari was a bit chewy but not bad!

Hoegaarden & Potato Stew

The came the Hoegaarden – a beautiful light citrusy flavoured beer. This was paired with the Potato stew – a beautiful balmy combination. The Chicken Waterzooi – light broth was a little bland and also the veggies were a bit over cooked

Leffe Blond with Lamb Shanks (top) and Cottage Cheese (bottom)

The next was Leffe Blond Abby Ale. Ooh this was my second favourite beer. It has a very peppery aroma & aftertaste. It went perfectly when with the Pilsner drowned Lamb Shanks. In the Veg the Cottage Cheese Steak with orange reduction was very blah.

London Porter with Creme Brulee

For desserts we move on to the London Porter – black malt, very strong almost like black coffee. Too strong for my taste. This was paired with the Creme Brulee which was too dulcet. Quite a let down for desserts

A meal for 2 would cost anywhere between Rs 2000- Rs. 2500 with alcohol

The Barking Deer leaves us with a promise to bring some innovative craft beers like fruit, chocolate beer, dark stouts once it gets the licences. Amen to that.

Verdict:

Food: Mixed Bag

Ambience: Good

Service: Confused

Quick Tip: A great place to meet up with your mates, chat up on beer and snacks.

The Co-ordinates:

The Barking Deer

Where: Opposite Blue Frog, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Kamala Mills Compound, Lower Parel, MumbaiIndia

Tring Tring:  - 022 61417400

Timings: 1 PM to 12 Midnight

Food Type: Bar Snacks, American Fusion

Payment Methods: Credit cards accepted

The Divinity Within....

Review: Haagen Dazs

The most fond memories I have of my childhood is going with my family - parents, cousins et al to this ice cream parlour called Yankee Doodle’s at Marine Drive. We sat together on the bench swing, me holding on tight to my cone, wrapped in a tissue, licking my chocolate ice cream while the melted cream slithered around my hand and made its way to my dress. Life was carefree, homework the only biggest tension and ice creams the bestest thing in the world!

It’s raining outside, as I wait anxiously for the door to swing open. With every swing I spring to see, but no sign of him. I am at the Haagen Dazs, New York’s finest ice cream parlour, newly opened in Mumbai waiting for the glimpse of mi amour.

Reminiscing my childhood days, I wonder, if I can ever feel that carefree again? I look at the kids around and see their satisfied expressions while licking that dripping creamy ice cream and immediately come to a conclusion that ‘it's a child thing’. The innocence just fades, you get conditioned!

While waiting, I order for a Raspberry Sorbet... Rs 200 for one scoop! Hell this better be good. I take the first bite of crystallized ice cream – the tangy flavour is refreshing, but can’t sustain you for long. After a while you get bored and can’t eat much of it.

The door swings open, he walks in and my heart skips a beat. My arms fling open, as naturally as when bird unfurls ready to fly. A leap, a hug and there is electricity in the air!

 Banana Caramel Crepe

We order. The Banana Caramel Crepe - wafer thin French dessert drizzled with butterscotch sauce, one scoop of Dulce de Leche and another of Pralines & Cream on the side, scattered with banana slices and hazelnut bits. The entire combination – the buttery sauce, the rich ice creams, and the layered crepes can make the world seem like a better place!

We talk. Actually we talk a lot. I love talking to him. That’s the best part of being us. We can talk about anything under the sun.

Our next dessert is the Lone Ranger, these come in 3 different flavours, we order for the ‘Summer Berries & Cream’ one - summer and berries ice cream on a bed of raspberry sauce, some cream, raspberries and crushed biscuits. The ice cream’s fruity flavour combined with the rich dollop of cream below was yum. The only thing I didn’t like about this dessert was that the raspberries were frozen, once you put them in your mouth all you could taste was ice!

The Lone Ranger

We both are sarcastic in our own way, we share that. A sense of humour only we can understand. A side I could never share with the world, not many people appreciated cynicism. We let it out with each other, sometime we make fun of others, sometime poke fun at each other, sometimes try to hurt just so that we get attention. It’s our dark side, we may not be proud of it, but we live with the solace that there is one person in the world who will live with us inspite of it.

The fourth dessert (yes fourth! Statutory warning: These stunt i.e. eating four desserts I mean, can be performed only by experts...DO NOT TRY THIS on your own) was the Love in Belgium. Now this is a huge dessert! A lava cake with molten chocolate inside waiting to pour out with Belgian chocolate and normal chocolate ice cream on the side. But the best part of this dessert was two small pieces of flourless brownie. The moment we put it in our mouths – something happened, our eyes closed to fully taste the ambrosia, then opened we looked at each other and burst into laughter. Suddenly I was transported back on the swing of Yankee Doodle. Then came my moment of Epiphany!

Love in Belgium

Divinity lies within, it’s there somewhere, beneath the dust of cynicism, the cobweb of distrust, it’s there waiting for a trigger. Chocolate is the trigger, Love is the trigger!

A meal for 2 would cost between Rs.1000 -1500/-. Each dessert is in the range of 440 – 1300 bucks. But Haagen Dazs is a dessert meal not an after food option!

Verdict:

Food: Divine

Ambience: Serene

Service: Good

Quick Tip: Spread the joy, take your most favourite people here and experience the divine!

The Co-ordinates:

Haagen Dazs

Where: Palladium, High Street Phoenix, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai

Tring Tring: 022 43474449, 022 42952900, 022 42952902

Timings: 11:30 AM to 1 AM

Food Type: Dessert Meal

Payment Methods: Credit cards accepted

Snow White & Some Food

Review: Smoke House Deli

You enter Smoke House Deli and you get the feeling that Snow White could have stayed here. White washed walls with cryptic, ‘hand made black marker’ kind of designs. A book shelf, a gramophone and a bar, all in one place! Riyaaz Amlani has sure given alot of thought to the design of his new brainchild.

The menu at Smoke House looks very limited while it has good range – soups, salads, pastas, mains & desserts; the choices in these categories are not many. And more so I think the vegetarian options are sparse.

To start we are served with a bread (in cute sack) and some flavoured butter. Didn’t impress me much and they didn’t refill it either going forward.

Sangria Rosso

To quench our thirst we order for Melon Sangria & Kiwi, Cantaloupe, Melon & Lemonade Mocktail.  The Melon Sangria to my surprise came in sparkling wine, which wasn’t what I expected. I told the waiter that I was expecting the red wine Sangria. He twitched a bit explained to me that melon sangria was white but politely went back to get me the Sangria Rosso. It feels great when the staff at restaurants really take care of your needs rather dismissing you. Hospitality isn’t just serving people it’s much beyond. Delight would be close but beyond that too. The Sangria Rosso – was nectarius mix of fruity flavours! The Kiwi, Cantaloupe mocktail was refreshingly soothing!

 

Mushroom Risotto

We dived right into the mains with Smoked Mushroom Risotto – thought Arborio rice was not cooked to well. Not the al dente kind. Also the flavours were quite disappointing. Too bland! The next dish Peri Peri Smoked Chicken + Pimento Reduce was scrumptious – grilled chicken breasts drizzled with pimento (bird chillie) sauce. Both Peri Peri and Pimento originate from these bird chillies of African. They add a beautiful piquant aroma! The Chicken Peri Peri was a dish full of such enticing flavour.

Cambodian Basa

Peri Peri Chicken

Next we move on to Lemon+Dill Cambodian Basa oak smoked pimento & Garlic Sauce – Marinated in batter the fish was soft and succulent. It had this herbaceous Lemony zing to it.

Overall my experience with non-veg dishes was better. They also have a value for money option a soup+ half sandwich option which have added to my totry list

A meal for 2 would cost between Rs.2000 - 2500/- with alcohol

Verdict:

Food: Good for Non-Vegetarian

Ambience: White

Service: Polite

Quick Tip: On the weekend, after exploring the pathetic sale at Zara & Mango at palladium, park yourself at Smoke House for Sangria Rosso and Chicken Peri Peri. You just might get over not having shopped for anything!

The Co-ordinates:

Smoke House Deli

Where: Unit No.9G, Block No 3, High Street Phoenix,  Lower Parel , Mumbai

Tring Tring: 24933222, 9619863248

Timings: 11:30 AM to 11:30 PM

Food Type: European, International, Lebanese, Mediterranean, Fusion, Italian, American

Payment Methods: Credit cards accepted