Hot tables

Hot tables

The restaurants and bars that appear in this section are chosen by TOM’s critics. We visit the establishments anonymously and pay for our own meals and drinks. Meal for two ` Under ` 500 `` ` 500-` 1,000 ``` ` 1,000-` 2,000 ```` ` 2,000-` 3,500 ````` Over ` 3,500 Koh by Kittichai It’s clear that Chef Pongtawat “Ian” Kittichai – a Bangkok native who has been involved in restaurants in New York and Barcelona –isn’t satisfied merely cooking up the standards of the Thai menu. The dishes he’s created for Koh (which means “island” in Thai) use familiar Thai ingredients such as kaffir lime, tamarind and hot basil in new contexts: they’re paired with lamb chops, with sea bass and with fillet mignon, creating intriguing flavours that linger in the memory long after you’ve returned to the tribulations of the real world. To match Kittichai’s innovations, architects Satomi Hatanaka and Quentin Danté have dispensed with the usual Buddha statuettes to create a space bathed in muted gold and purple. One wall is dominated by a poem in giant Thai letters, hailing the virtues of eating with the family while another is painted with a gaggle of querulous Pop Art heads, several of which are looking up into the sky as if they’d left their umbrellas at home even though the weather girl had predicted rain. Keeping Mumbai’s dietary preferences in mind, about 60 per cent of Koh’s menu is vegetarian: the starters section includes hand-pounded rock corn and pak-choi wrapped Asian mushrooms, while the entrees include oven-roasted king aubergine and wok-tossed morning glory and asparagus. If you are a carnivore don’t miss their 12-hour lamb shank massaman curry, a hunk of meat that had been slow-cooked for half a day until it’s silken soft, and the chocolate baby back ribs. InterContinental, 135 Marine Drive (3987-9999). Daily 12.30-3pm, 7.30-11.45pm. Alcohol served. All majorcredit cards. `````. Mocha Mojo Sinking into one of Mocha Mojo’s plush sofas or chairs is like stepping back in to the 1970s. Totally groovy! There’s a replica of Salvador Dali’s Mae West Lips sofa, lava lamps, pop-art murals and a fur-covered boot of an Ambassador car that doubles as a couch. If it’s too hot to have their Lindt Hot Chocolate, then try their fresh juices (which you sip straight out of jam jars). Their raw food menu should give you something to chew on: nothing is heated over 40 degrees. All this psychedelic bliss doesn’t come cheap, but dude, it’s totally worth it. Classic Corner Building, near Holy Family Hospital, Hill Road, Bandra (W) (2642-1484). Daily 10-1.30am. Beer and wine served. All major cards. ` Pali Village Café Despite being on one of the noisiest, busiest and dustiest intersections in all of Bandra (no one’s been able to drive past without 13 honks, it seems), the café manages to shut out the chaos outside, allowing only the view of the clouds to dreamy diners. There’s a high-ceilinged seating area on the lower level and an air-conditioned dining room upstairs, in addition to an alcove for two. Wherever you choose to sit, there’s no escaping the café’s shabby-chic decor. Linger over lunch and look through the half opaque glass windows, soaking in the beauty of Mumbai’s rains. The café may look like a stylish ghost of the past, but its casual-dining menu is set firmly in the present and it’s almost futuristic in pricing. It’s all about looking good, a principle echoed in the plating. Next to Janata Bar and Restaurant, Pali Naka, Bandra (W) (2605-0401). Daily 10-1.30am. Wine served. All major credit cards. ```. Panshikar Aahaar Jitendra Panshikar, one of the two proprietors of the famous Girgaum eatery, has kept pao bhaji and burgers away from his kitchen. “At other places, you’ll find everything,” said 42-year-old Panshikar. “But I don’t want to lose my speciality which is Maharashtrian food.” With changing times, the Panshikar brothers, Jitendra and Mahendra, continue to preserve the legacy of their grandfather, Bhalchandra, who started out with a mithai store in 1921, and their father, Shripad, who began to serve preparations of sabudana and farali to people who were fasting. In 1993, the brothers set up Panshikar Aahaar, a hit not just with the Maharashtrians of the neighbourhood but even with the Gujaratis. Since then, mini meals and cold drinks have entered the menu of Panshikar but some things haven’t changed. The traditional Maharashtrian offerings are still served by barefooted waiters. Goverdhandas Building, near Central Plaza, JSS Road, Gurgaon (2386-1211). Mon-Sat 8am-9pm. Also at Kadamgiri Complex, Hanuman Road, Vile Parle (E) (6695-9863). No alcohol. Cash only. ` Salt Water Café Riyaaz Amlani, who also owns the Mocha coffee shop chain and Juhu’s delItalia restaurant, tried to explain Salt Water Café’s menu with these words, “We’ve tried to pair diametrically opposite flavours.” The result is a board of offerings that includes truffle risotto with spiced chocolate oil, smoked duck carbonara and candied orange peel, and baked lamb chops with prune chutney. Salt Water Café is an all-day restaurant, with muesli, waffles and eggs for early birds, and a large selection of intriguing sandwiches and burgers (spare ribs and fruit chutney, tuna pate and wasabi) for snackers. We’ve been back many times to work our way through the rest of the menu. Next to Rose Minar Housing Society, near Lilavati Hospital and Mount Carmel’s Church, Chapel Road, Bandra (2643-4441). Daily 9-12.30am. All major credit cards. Meal for two with drinks `4,000. Samovar Samovar is the mother of all of Mumbai’s addas, surely the city’s most well-endorsed restaurant, with testimonials from almost every artist, celebrity or businessperson of note. When the restaurant opened its doors, the owner wanted to emulate the cafés on Left Bank in Paris and set up a “haunt of the city’s premiere poets, artists, beatniks and film makers”. She faced little competition. Although Kala Ghoda hadn’t yet been singled out as an arts enclave, the neighbourhood was at the intersection of social and artistic ferment. Elphinstone College, then one of Mumbai’s premier educational institutions, was across the street; Colaba, with its swinging nightclubs and tourists, was barely a kilometre away, as was the Fort business district. As Mumbai’s culturati took shape, almost every one of them dropped into Samovar to tuck into tea, pakoras and kebab rolls. Some still do today. Jehangir Art Gallery, 161B, Mahatma Gandhi Road, opposite Elphinstone College, Kala Ghoda. (2284-8000) Mon-Sat 11am-7pm. No alcohol served. Cash only. ` Shvatra The Bhagat Tarachand family is known to choose practical locations, use laminate as the major décor element, price meals for working-class people, but cook up vegetarian Sindhi-Punjabi food that is massively easy to get addicted to. Originally from Sindh, the Bhagat Tarachands moved to Kalbadevi and have been feeding the bankers of the area home-style Sindhi food since1895. As the demographic of the area changed, so did the menu. Gujarati traders moved in and preferred their own food and popular Punjabi. Some Sindhi influences linger in the way the Tarachands cook even though the changing clientele has wiped many Sindhi dishes off the menu. Thankfully Shikarpuri roti has been spared – the two-layered, soft, delicate, fluffy discs of buttered bread had us in paroxysms of pleasure. For a Sind-Punjab leaning meal, have them with Shvatra’s creamy lasooni dal and fried masala bhindi, finished with a bottleful of their famous chaas. R-City Mall, Level 3, LBS Road, Ghatkopar (W) (6770-4411). Daily noon-4pm, 7-11pm. No alcohol served. All major cards. ` Two One Two Bar and Grill We’re suckers for drama – especially the sort that unfolds on spotless white ceramic plates and Two One Two’s chef Alex Bignotti seems to pull this off effortlessly. The Mediterranean menu abounds with pesto, tapenade and sage butter concoctions; there’s a list of thin-crust pizzas like quattro formaggio, and prosciutto and basil; pastas and a grills section that boasts of beef, pork and fish. The latest internationalchef looking to earn his stars in Mumbai, Bignotti’s prowess lies in creating minimal but impeccably-plated dishes. But lots of places can make a plate look good. A brushstroke here, a swirl of oil there and a few slivers of immaculately-placed cheese make all the difference. All through our meal, it was clear that concoctions had frills only when they serve a function. Don’t miss the tuna carpaccio, ricotta ravioli and especially the bitter chocolate fondant: it looks ordinary enough but a feather-light nudge of the spoon and the cake pours its lusciously dense, gooey heart out to you. Like most of our meal at Two One Two, the dessert had a rare quality. It was lighter than the sum of its parts. Bravo! Two One Two Bar and Grill 12-A Hornby Vellard Estate, opposite Nehru Centre, next to the Jewel Of India, Worli (2490-1994). Daily 11am-1.30pm. Alcohol served. All major cards. ````` West View – The Grill Here, you must meet your meat. ITC Grand Maratha’s West View restaurant has you begin your meal by walking past its raw food “stage” – a long brightly-lit counter at a far wall, where glistening chunks of cool, marinated meats, seafood and vegetables wait for your approval. Diners are encouraged to pick any amount of halibut fish squares, corn cobs speared with red chillies, tenderloin medallions, chorizo chunks, John Dory filets, and potato cups with country mushroom stuffing, before the food is whiskead away to the grill. In the meanwhile, the ready-to-eat cold starters table opposite has tiny pots on a terraced arrangement, containing artichoke slices with caramelised onion, creamy spiced crabmeat in cucumber cups, Parma hamand roasted pear, and carpaccio thin slices of butternut pumpkin with feta. But don’t expect to find these when you go there. West View’s marinades, meats and vegetables change everyday, which makes it moreof an adventure. ITC Grand Maratha Sheraton Hotel & Tower, opposite Oberoi Flight Kitchen, Sahar Airport Road, Andheri (E) (2830-3030). Daily 7.30-11.30pm. Alcohol served. All major credit cards. `````

Source : Time Out Mumbai ISSUE 8 Friday, December 10, 2010