Gourmet Saturday : Nico Bombay

I'd read about Nico Bombay in Mumbai Boss and the mere mention of Vitello Tonato had me salivating. (Veal in a tuna sauce - and one of my favourite Italian staples). So last Saturday, Mr Jules and I took ourselves off to Kala Ghoda where Nico's is located, for a bit of culture and nice food.  

In the morning we checked out a couple of art galleries.  The Jehangir was full of the usual rubbish so we went on to visit the newly opened Delhi Art Gallery (just across from the bright blue synagogue) - which is currently showing "Mumbai Modern: Progressive Artists Group 1947 to 2013". Of course, the art was on another level altogether when compared to what was showing at the Jehangir but not really to our taste.  Too much angst and naked women. 

There was nothing for it after that - we'd have to have lunch (that Vitello Tonato was beckoning!)  We turned left into Apollo street and immediately saw the sign to Nico's and an arched window with voile curtains gracefully draped within.  Looked promising so far.

As usual, we were the first in (at this point you also never know whether you will be the only customers during the whole of lunch service) and had the choice of seating - any table out of their 11 or so.  As we sat down on the suede director style seats I glanced around at the interior.  Very elegant yet contemporary with its huge bespoke glass chandeliers, wooden panelling and Victorian lamps. We immediately felt at home.

Nice homely but elegant feel to Nicos

In the reviews, some people have complained about the foreign bottled water at Nico's but the cold, sparkling Veen water from Finland was very welcome after walking for only a few minutes in the searing heat.  I say, if you want Bisleri, go to MacDonalds - plenty of it there!

It didn't take long for us to make our selections from the mostly Italian-French menu - the starters didn't yield much in the way of choice for Mr Jules so he went for the 'pulled goat meat, red onions and micro greens'.  I of course went for the 'veal tenderloin, tuna tonato'.  If I hadn't gone for that, I may have chosen the Kadaifi wrapped prawns, citrus mousseline'.  For the main course - Mr Jules opted for the 'roasted confit duck leg, pea puree' and I went for the 'oven roasted pumpkin ravioli, amaretti crumbs'.  We requested bread but were told there wasn't any (bizarre considering that there were side plates were on the table!).

There is one thing that no western-style restaurant seems to be able to get right - and that is bringing out people's food all at the same time.  Mr Jules's goat thingy arrived first and then my veal a few minutes later. As his goat dish was warm, he would have to go ahead and start without me.  They also brought out our requested side dish of a quail egg salad (actually chicken's egg as they had no quail eggs) with the starters.  Oh, and we received four slices of bread!

Bread - and very nice it was too! Wonder why they didn't want to let us have it ahead of the meal?

Quail Chicken Egg salad with asparagus, new potatoes, 'edible flowers'

With the egg broken - lovely and runny yolk to be mopped up by that elusive bread

The pulled goat meat was presented in small pitta type pockets on a slate platter.  Yes - slate has arrived in Mumbai - whatever happened to the good old plate?  My veal also arrived on a slate platter - chunky tender pieces of soft and springy veal topped with what looked like tuna straight from the can.  The oil had not been drained off and was dripping off the edges (unless it was the dressing and was supposed to be like that?).  And disappointingly it was not the tuna tonato as I was expecting - tonato has a lot more ingredients in it resulting in a creamy mayonnaise like consistency. Having said that - the veal itself was delicious and being a tuna fan would definitely order this again.  Mr Jules enjoyed his goat thingy - I wouldn't taste it as I have a phobia of (knowingly) eating goat.

Pulled goat in soft, delicate pittas.

Veal topped with tuna rather than tonato but tasty nevertheless

I opted for a glass of white wine with my meal - a Grover Viognier - not too expensive at 275 Rs per glass (so I had two!).  And for the first time ever, Mr Jules managed to get a bottle of imported beer at the first request (restaurants tend to put imported beers on the menu but not actually have any in stock). Kronenbourg I think it was.

By now the restaurant was starting to fill up - with a table of glittery ladies-wot-lunch; a couple sharing one of Nico's pizzas (sorry "Neopolitan Flat Breads'); two blokes prodding away on their respective I-phones and a jolly family of four.  A nice bubbling atmosphere was developing. 

When Mr Jules's duck was brought out, I immediately knew that I'd made a mistake ordering pasta.  It looked heavenly!  Absolutely beautifully presented, with a big 'cheffy splodge' of pea puree.  Bizarrely there were no potato side dishes on offer (perhaps this is a low-carb restaurant?) so he made do with the small potatoes in the egg salad. Mr Jules let me have a taste of his confit and I have to say - to die for!  

That duck!

And again!

Unfortunately I was to be massively disappointed with my pasta.  For what was presented to me - although very pretty - was in fact large tortellini and not ravioli.  Seriously, roasted pumpkin ravioli is a classic dish (best served with a sage butter) - so why the misdescription on the menu?  I am guessing that the pasta was freshly made - so it's not like they would have 'run out' of ravioli.  The pumpkin mush inside the pasta - although it tasted OK was watery and bulky.  I wasn't keen.  And I didn't like the way it was served with slivers of raw tomato. Some work to be done there - I pulled the waitress over to complain about the misdescription but she just looked at me blankly.

When is a ravioli not a ravioli? When it's a tortellini silly!

I was hoping for better luck with the dessert.  The portions at Nico's are just dainty enough that you can squeeze one in without feeling guilty.  I went for the chocolate fondant (chef's worst nightmare!) and Mr Jules - the creme brûlée.

The creme brûlée strangely arrived in what looked like a lasagne dish big enough for six. But Mr Jules still managed to polish off the whole lot.  He said that the top was under-caramelised and the consistency a little runny to make it an excellent example.  My chocolate fondant was lovely - served in an expresso cup - the top was spongy and the inner shiny and silky.  It was served with an orange granita and a small dollop of chocolate mousse.  A very nice trilogy. 

A creme brûlée? Or a lasagne for six?!!

The inside of the chocolate fondant - shiny and silky. Heavenly.

By the end of the meal - and despite a couple of culinary upsets - we were feeling warm and fuzzy inside (helped along by a couple of brandies).  We decided that we liked the restaurant very much and would definitely come back.  Nico Bombay hasn't been open long so I am sure when we return - these little problems will have been ironed out.  The bill was just over 6,000 Rs (£60) but half of that was down to Maharashtra's heavily taxed alcohol.  

More pics:

I was surprised to see so many cooks!

Head Chef Sinclair Pinto in action

Such a lovely interior

Can I have a smaller version of that please?

Nico Bombay

105 Apollo Street
Bombay Samachar Marg
Kala Ghoda

PHONE022 2262 4466

HOURSDaily, from 11.30am to 3.30pm and from 6pm to midnight

Facebook Page here

Shiro - Japanese Food in Mumbai

Mr Jules and I recently stumbled into Shiro after a few drunken cocktails at the Hard Rock Cafe next door. Shiro is a 'pan-Asian' restaurant in Worli, and had been recommended to us by 'those in the know' as a good place to sample Japanese food - Mumbai style.

I have always loved Japanese food - ever since Yo Sushi! was thrust upon London in the late 90s - bringing us our first experience of raw fish using colour-coded plates travelling around a novel conveyor belt concept. Following that, Mr Jules and I were lucky enough to sample the 'real thing' on our amazing honeymoon tour of Japan. 

The statue that greets you when you enter Shiro

There are only a few places that serve authentic Japanese fare in Mumbai - of which Shiro is one.  Sushi is still not really a 'thing' here in Mumbai, the most cosmopolitan of Indian cities. The choice is either the phenomenally expensive Wasabi at the Taj Mahal Palace (voted one of Asia's 50 best restaurants 2013) or the other couple of places that offer watered down versions of Japanese cuisine (which I will not even bother to mention by name).  And when I say watered down, I mean that raw salmon is replaced with either cucumber or deep-fried/teriyaki chicken, and that raw fish is completely missed off the menu altogether.

But I guess you have to understand that not only are the ingredients required for Japanese cooking probably very hard to come by in India (for example - salmon does not exist in the waters around India), but I am sure that it must be nigh on impossible to prepare such food in the hot and humid climes of Mumbai. And of course, it doesn't help that raw or delicately seared fish is probably a huge turn off for the majority of vegetarian Indians.

Sesame crusted tuna sashimi with a wasabi mayo.  Ten out of ten.

The Shiro establishment itself is very impressive - as you walk through the door you are greeted by a colossal Zen like stone statue with its head almost in the clouds.  The restaurant part is upstairs on the mezzanine level - and you have to pass another equally impressive statue on the way up the stairs to get there.  The place almost reminds me of the pan-Asian restaurant Ruby Foo's on Broadway in New York - with its similarly giant Buddhas and over-sized oriental lampshades.  

Downstairs is a seating area and bar pumping out upbeat music, filled with suited office workers from nearby office buildings, soaking up the Friday night atmosphere. Upstairs we were seated by a 'pondish' water feature adorned with floating waterlilies and a dripping pipe. The furnishings are lavish - silky upholstered chairs and massive purple lampshades. The staff are professional and accomplished.

Having been deprived of Japanese food ever since my arrival in India (a year ago), I immediately zoomed in on the Japanese section of the menu - which also includes Vietnamese, Thai and Korean influences. I ordered the Norwegian salmon sushi nigiri and sesame crusted tuna sashimi whilst Mr Jules went for tempura prawns and 'Dyna' makimono - consisting of rolls of rice and nori filled with (more) tempura prawns.  Mr Jules - not overly keen on raw fish himself has a firm belief that anything in batter tastes good.  Then we shared a bowl of beef tenderloin donburi (udon noodles). The whole Shiro experience was such a treat, I can tell you.

I really can't take photos in low lighting conditions!
This is the Norwegian salmon nigiri.  Could have been a bit neater in presentation but it tasted good.

To be honest, the food is not completely up to the standard of places where the ingredients are immediately available in a fresh state.  But Shiro definitely gives Japanese cooking techniques a really good go - and I certainly had nothing to complain about.  I was more than satisfied with my raw salmon and tuna dishes (I may even have mentioned the word 'bliss' at the time) and Mr Jules was pretty impressed by the almost perfect tempura batter on his prawns.  And I loved the ambience of the place - chic, cool and trendy (those words aren't cool and trendy  - I know!) with a beat of dance music in the background and the subtle lighting (perhaps helped by the massive lampshades?).  I did notice that most of the other clientele that night were expats - probably the people that most crave sushi in this city.  Raw fish aside, I suspect that Japanese cuisine is also far too bland for the Indian palate. However, there are still plenty of other oriental dishes to be sampled on Shiro's extensive menu.

Mr Jules and I will certainly be going back when we get our next Sushi/Tempura Prawn craving!

More bad photos:

Prawn 'Dyna' Makimono

(Real) waterlilies

Did I mention the giant lampshades?

Fabulous prawn tempura

Tenderloin Donburi

Zen like creature

Lovely silky upholstery (bad photo taken on my Blackberry)

That giant statue again.

Dynamic bar crowd in the background

Shiro

Bombay Dyeing Mills Compound

Pandurang Budhkar Marg

Worli, Mumbai

Tel: 02266511207 or 02266511208

Price: Pretty expensive but a lovely treat and great for parties (and apparently... star-spotting)

A Very Fine Finely Chopped Food Walk

For an expat dining out in Mumbai, it is all too easy to only frequent well known restaurants and Sunday brunch locations. Ones which can be considered 'safe options' that cater well to our western constitutions. But what about trying out some of Mumbai's more traditional eateries?  The kind of places that are part of the very fabric of the city?

Mumbai is without doubt, the most cosmopolitan city in India - but it is also the most itinerant.  Over many decades, millions of people have flocked to the city from rural villages all over India, each one bringing their own traditions, faiths and recipes.  Nowhere else in India will you find such a variety of regional cooking; rich meat curries from the Punjab; coconutty prawn curries from Kerala; vegetarian thalis from Gujurat; Irani influenced Parsi berry pulaos; the Portuguese balchaos of Goa.  The list is endless.  The most well known of these food styles can be found at the best Indian restaurants in town. But in order to get right under the skin of itinerant Mumbai you have to dig a little deeper - by going right to the soul of the community.

Last night, Mr Jules and I did exactly that by joining a 'Finely Chopped Food Walk'. Finely Chopped is actually a food blog and Facebook page with a huge following that is lovingly written by Kalyan Karmakar - a guy who works in market research whilst penning all things food related in his spare time.  As the blog became more and more popular - and supported by the explosive growth in dining out - he created the concept of the Food Walk. The aim of which is to take a group of people right to the heart of regional cooking; to experiment with cuisine at local restaurants (where you may not even find a word of English on the sign!), to walk around an area and shop for ingredients along the way, and to get people to meet other people with similar food interests.  A forum for discovery, discussion and enjoyment.

Dadar was the location of last night's walk - an epicentre for 'typical' Maharashtrian cuisine. Previously, the only Maharashtrian food that we had sampled was of the Mumbai street food variety - Wada Pav, Sev Puri, Pani Puri etc.  Nothing particularly 'substantial'. Maharashtrian cuisine itself, being the cuisine of Marathi (and hence Mumbai) people actually covers a wider range of districts -  from Nagpur in the very North, to Mumbai and Pune in the middle, Kolhapur in the south and the Konkan coast down the west side of India.

The group of 14 introducing themselves in Aaswad.
A mixture of expats and locals
Kalyan at the helm and resplendent in orange

Within 30 minutes of meeting at the first eatery - Aaswad - we had already been introduced to a diverse group of 12 other individuals - including a travel writer, a food blogger, a corporate lawyer and even an American ex-fighter pilot!!  A refreshing drink was swiftly brought out to get things started - Panha - which is a mango juice infused with cardamom and saffron.  As Kalyan proceeded to give us a commentary on the origins and ingredients of all the dishes we would be sampling, the food began to arrive:  crispy and flat Thalee peeth pancake; soft batata (potato) vada fragrant with mustard seeds; rice-crispy like sabudana vada; delicious, sweet mango aamras puri; and lastly, a refreshing amba daal salad. (Some detailed in the pictures below).  My eyes were already beginning to feel bigger than my stomach!

Thalee Peeth - flat and crispy and tasted
a bit like an onion baji.  Dip it in white butter and yoghurt first.

Yummy Batata Vada broken open - have it with a sprinkle of chilli and a dollop of coconut chutney

Sabudana Vada - fried dumplings of sago. Crispy and wholesome

Divine Mango Amraas Puri - mango pureed with a bit of milk in which to dunk puris
- which tasted like donuts but better!

After spending an hour or so at Aaswad, we moved out of the restaurant and across the road to visit a local spice shop.  The shopkeeper allowed us to smell the various fragrant spices and tangy pickles and we were even able to taste one or two of them.   I purchased a meat rub with a sophisticated hint of star anise - a good sized packet for a mere 35 Rs.  A stallholder at Crawford Market had previously tried to rip me off for 300 Rs for a small bag of madras curry powder, so I was even more pleased with my purchase.

Spice kiosk across from Aswaad - smelling and tasting before buying

Colourful pickles

Then we moved on to the next shop - the very charming Kokan Bhavan - which specialises in ingredients from the Konkan coast.  In particular, the juice of Kokum which is a berry unique to the region and which is used in curries and sherbets.  We bought two large bags of papads for deep frying, a rustic looking mortar and pestle (for grinding our spices properly!) and we were given a bottle of the Kokum juice free of charge.  We are going to experiment with this juice to see if it makes a good gin cocktail!

Kokum Juice - perhaps a nice mixer for a gin cocktail?

Spices at Kokan Bhavan

Next we moved on to Prakash restaurant for a short stop and a taster of 'missal' - a spicy concoction consisting of mung beans, potato, curry powder and topped with sev (crunchy gram flour noodles like you find in Bombay Mix).  This was a bit too chilli hot for me but it was nicely washed down with Piyush - a bit like a sweet lassi and totally delicious.

Waiter at Prakash serving us sweet and refreshing Piyush

Our final destination (which was just as well as I was almost at bursting point) was Sachin restaurant - serving traditional veg and non-veg Gomantak food. Gomantak is a style of cooking that belongs to the Saraswat community from the coastal areas of Southern Maharashtra and Goa and is therefore very seafood based. First to come out was the Sol Kadi - a salty coconut based drink that most of us unfortunately did not like - worth trying but I think it is an acquired taste.  Then in quick succession - prawn fry, Bombay Duck (Bombil fish) Fry, and Sukha Mutton - meat cooked in a most unctuous and deeply flavoured sauce.

The not so popular Sol Kadi - salty and warm.

Prawns Fry - who can resist something so crispy and deep fried! Yum.

All the while we were receiving a detailed commentary on the food - their origins and ingredients and some of the history of the restaurant owners.  Kalyan really knows his stuff and is so enthusiastic about the food, you can't help but enthuse with him! We left the restaurant thoroughly but pleasantly bloated, holding a complimentary box of sweets to have later. We really enjoyed our outing and it made such a change from the usual slump on the sofa in front of a Sunday night movie. Not only that, but we met an interesting and diverse group of people, experienced completely new tastes, found new places to shop and we also came to appreciate Dadar for being a community offering a quality food culture. A place that would have otherwise remained hidden to us forever.

I can't wait to go on another Food Walk.  Kalyan also mentioned he may be offering cookery lessons during the quieter monsoon period...watch this space as I will be first in the queue for that!

In order to get on a walk – keep tabs on the Finely Chopped website (www.finelychopped.net) or email Kalyan on k.finelychopped@gmail.com to see when the next walk is coming up. We paid 2,000 Rs each which included all restaurant food, a few freebies and bottled water. The outing lasted just under four hours (6 to 10pm).

 A few other images:

We walked past this street stall selling sweet Jalebis

Small onions at Kokan Bhavan

Sweet stall outside Prakash restaurant

Our last stop.

Sunday Morning Indian Breakfast in Matunga

We heaved ourselves out of bed early this Sunday morning to join some friends for a traditional Indian breakfast in Matunga.  Matunga - south of Mahim Creek and just south of Dharavi - is (as I discovered this morning) a nice, leafy suburb with a few famous (but still 'local') places to eat.  We were aiming for the most fabled of these, Cafe Madras - but by the time we arrived at 9.15 am, the queue was already out of the door and trailing along the pavement.

As none of us were into waiting, our trusty experts took us to another place they knew, a few paces away across the road and slightly around the corner. Here, at Anand Bhavan, we only had to stand in line for two minutes for food that would be as equally good as that dished up at Cafe Madras. 

How to aerate a coffee.  No fancy coffee machines here!

The cuisine served in these Matungan restaurants is predominantly South Indian.  We are told by our friends that it is this South Indian food that is adored by the many local Gujurati residents who make up the bulk of those queuing and eating. Perhaps because it is vegetarian only.

Inside Anand Bhavan. Clean, organised and serving delicious South Indian food.

After getting seated upstairs in Anand Bhavan (by a rather hunky guy that us ladies took a bit of a shine to - good enough reason alone to visit!), our friends thankfully did all the ordering.  Mr Jules and I certainly do not know what we are doing when it comes to ordering regional Indian foods (yet - let's try to rectify that).

It was only a short wait before we were presented with a delicious array of traditional breakfast items - rasam wada, utma, idlis, dosa, wada, sambals and coconut chutneys - and the best coffee ever.  The rasam and sambal is spicy and watery and loaded with flavour. And from what I have read from reviews of these restaurants, it is the flavourings of these watery accompaniments that sets these eating establishments apart from each other. As well as how fluffy the rice idlis and how paper-thin the dosas are.  Friends back home might think it's quite weird eating such spicy food for breakfast - my only experience of this previously being when I was hungover in my twenties and eating leftovers from a Friday night curry the next morning.  However, the staples of idlis, potato dosas and fried wadas really don't work without the savoury accompaniments.

From left to right, top to bottom:

1. Rasam Wada. 2. Idlis (made out of rice flour) 3. Utma 4. Rasam Wada broken open and a potato wada on the side 5 A perfectly formed Sada Dosa 6. Rice Idlis with Sambal 7. Mr Jules the hand model demonstrates the inside of Wada - perfectly fluffy and non greasy on the outside 8.  Spinach something - didn't get the name but yummy and slightly crunchy.  9. The only sweet item we had - a delicious paratha type thing stuffed with coconut.

We were kindly treated to breakfast by our friends but I think that the bill for four adults and three small children only came to a couple of hundred rupees. After we left the restaurant, Mr Jules and I went for a walk around Matunga market where we bought a nice big bag of veg for our Sunday roast - which was noticeably cheaper than Bandra's Pali Market and without the need to haggle.

What a lovely and inexpensive Sunday morning!

Controversial reading matter found at one of the second hand book stalls outside Anand Bhavan!

Matunga Market - where we bought veg for tonight's Sunday Roast.

One of the many flower stalls in Matunga

The eccentric Asthika Samaj Temple on Bhandarkar Road in Matunga
 - the outside of which is adorned with many colourful Hindu deities

Anand Bhavan
461/A, Ram Niwas
Maheshwari Udyan
Ambedkar Road
Matunga  East