The authors of this blog Sens and Sensibilities share, apart from their last name, an ardent love for food. I am sure it is evident from the older posts that they love to try out the local cuisines of different places and are quite adventurous as far as their tummies are concerned. While D heads the kitchen department and can magically cook up almost anything (including a storm), M stays, as far as she possibly can, from the culinary area but loves her Swiggy and Zomato. S, as usual, balances things out for he can both cook and pull them both up to try out new eating joints.
It all began when S read a blog on 37 essential places to eat in Mumbai. The three of them decided to try some of these places during the next three months. What follows here is an account of their mouthwatering trail across the city and beyond…for your taste buds only.
For Bengalis, their bhakti goes hand in hand with food.It is natural that their first stop should be, post a visit to the Siddhivinayak Temple, to one such eatery. It began one fine morning when they went out to thank Mumbai’s presiding deity for all the goodness He had showered on them. Darshan at this temple is best done by 8am. They finished theirs by about 7am and almost entered their regular joint nearby for a round of sambar-vada. On a sudden impulse they decided to go on a long drive instead and landed up in Olympia at Colaba. This is a traditional restaurant which was taken over by the present day owners after the original ones moved elsewhere in 1948 post the partition. The marble topped round tables and old glass windows make this small old joint a delightful place to sit and just talk to each other. Keema Bhurji and Keema Ghotala with bun maska made for the perfect breakfast. An Irani Chai, with all its sweetness is a must have. The caramel custard is also not to be missed. Such food at such affordable prices makes this a must eating place in this city.
Next they decided to pay a visit to apna old Parsi baba at Sodabottleopenerwala at BKC. The food is absolutely delicious. The prawn berry pulao, lived up to its fame. The Toblerone mousse is essential irrespective of how full you may be. A book of limericks, interesting graffiti on the wall and foot tapping music, create an ideal set up for an enjoyable evening with family and friends.
The Parsi bug had got to the trio. By the next weekend they landed once again at Fort before another legendary place called Britannia where the Parsi owners running the place have not changed anything, even the tables and chairs, since the last century when the place first began. Berry pulao with chicken cutlet and bombil fry sipped with a Raspberry cola is something you have to experience to believe. M swears that the caramel custard they had here was the best she had had! And stomach being full is such a relative term...there is always room for mousse! You might find the old Parsi gentleman coming to your table to ask you about the food, a big fat cat may be sleeping on the payment counter or a cow passing by is fed regularly by the lazy owners as she walks past the door. Nothing seems to have changed…the walls, the furniture, the people….yet if you come in post 12 noon, a 30-45 minute wait is normal.
If you believe that we Bongs only have the NV category of food, then you are mistaken. Gluttony knows no barriers. The trio had not seen Babulnath Mandir since they had landed in Mumbai over 17 years ago. They went to this huge Shiva Temple at Babulnath and then walked across to a typical swadisht Gujju joint called Soam’s. Enjoy paanki, chilla, kicha and wonderful mouth-watering starters of cheese and corn not to miss their paper thin desi ghee jalebi with rabri on top. They felt converted.
The conversion was not for long since very soon they longed for the real Mughlai taste and reached the gates of Noor Muhhamadi Hotel on Mohhamad Ali Road. This eighty year old restaurant serves some of the most authentic kebabs and mughlai food. They started with Chicken Hakkimi which is kebabs in flavoured curd…never had they had such a thing before. Absolutely divine! Next was the Noor Muhammadi special of Nali Nihari and mutton chaap. They didn’t go overboard there knowing the limitations of their tummies to accept all these on one day so drove off to Rustom’s on Marine Drive where they still serve, for no more than eighty bucks, a huge chunk of ice-cream placed between two thin wafers. D said she was having this stuff after more than 40 years and again time, place, people and food stood still…kal bhi aaj bhi.
They then headed for Nizam’s city which is a paradise for food lovers…Paradise incidentally is possibly the country’s, if not the world’s, biggest restaurant where 1400 people can sit together and enjoy the food at their original centre in Secunderabad. A biriyani here is mandatory and the helping is so huge that three people with normal appetite can best finish one such plate, not to forget a couple of plates of delicious mutton seekh kebabs and chicken tikka to start with. Also, in this city of nawabs, they enjoyed Breakfast at Chutneys as much as they had enjoyed Paradise. The Babai and Gongura idli with many freshly grounded varieties of chutneys is simply heavenly. You could have Pesarettu or Rava masala dosa but they liked steamed dosa more. The filter coffee here is among the best but let us warn you if you reach this place later than 8am, a waiting period of 15-20 minutes in the morning, and longer during the day, is something you can be sure of. The next two years for M are going to be just another day in Paradise!
After so much biriyani, they returned home to do penance at one of Mumbai’s famous joint where Raj Kapoor loved to go and, people say, even now Mukeshbhai Ambani drops in once in a while with Nitaben…Madras Café at Matunga. They reached there at 8am in the morning and found a huge crowd waiting outside as if free langar was being served. No it wasn’t so, it was people from well to do homes all decked up in their best clothes and jewellery waiting for their turn to find a place on the benches to be shared with others. Funnily the place is very tiny and you hardly get space enough to squeeze your body between the benches and the tables and psssst…there’s no loo here, just a hand wash basin no bigger than a pot in which you cook rice in a home. But the food was absolutely fabulous…butter idli, rasam vada and raagi masala dose topped with Kappi which was a great way to start a wonderful Sunday.
By now Durga Puja was round the corner. This is the biggest festival for the Bongs and something they wait for the whole year and go berserk for the 4-5 days when Ma Durga comes home. She draws them to the pandals where they at best offer a Pushanjali but the moment some semblance of obeisance is done, the Bongo-santan declares an all-out war on the food stalls put up at the venue. The list is long but the favourites are chicken roll, mughlai parota, kosha mangsho with parota, ghughni, vegetable and mochar chop, beguni, fish and mutton cutlets…they will be seen eating voraciously as the sweat drips from their foreheads and oil stains leave their mark on their silk sarees and designer kurtas. Nothing is left for tomorrow. They even stand in long queues to eat the bhog of khichudi, labda, tomato chutney and payesh. The longer the queue, the more you savour…it is like a prize they have won after much struggle. In most homes they do not cook at home these 4 days and gorge on bhog prasad and fried stuff they lovingly call teley bhaaja. Yeh nahin to kuchh nahin. To give you an idea of our religious fervour for food of course, D&S had deep fried bhetki at midnight while pandal hopping…Gods must surely be happy seeing Bongs eat well.
There was a time when a phrase called Bhookha Bangali was used to describe this breed of men and women. Possibly this arose after the Great Bengal Famine of 1940s when over 4 million lost their lives to starvation and sickness. But after reading this piece, the readers will surely vouch that this tag is a misnomer today. Bongs eat all tasty stuff but also suffer from stomach upsets most frequently. Ask a Bong and he will rattle names of all medicines for indigestion. They possibly have the maximum quantity of Gelusil and Digene… they drink it by litres and not pints…surely the pharma companies who manufacture them will swear by the Bongs who ensure their continued prosperity. Despite all the food Bongs eat, they have never had very many strong men after Monotosh Roy, the Mr. Universe from our Sonar Bangla. They are reasonably well read and know the benefits of eating vegetables and healthy food but they won’t because the Bhadralok knows Gods are pleased when their disciples are happy and the disciples are happy when their stomachs are full after eating teley bhaja. For Bengalis, truly their bhakti goes hand in hand with food.
The list is long but MSD are determined to tick mark every one of the eateries, here there and everywhere.
MS & SS
