Return to Mohammed Ali Road

When we visited Mohammed Ali Road last Ramzan (September), it took me 5 months to post about it. This time around, I was determined to turn over a new leaf and blog about it in less than 5 days....so here are is an account of our foodie encounters, in technicolour glory for all to salivate over! :)Anti-gluttony Declaration - We did NOT eat all the yummy stuff featured in the photographs. While my appetite is prodigious, it has not expanded to colossal proportions yet. YET being the operative word... :P

First stop was a quick exploratory walk-through of the khau galli opposite the Dargah at Mahim. Its a wide (compared to Mohd Ali Road!) street with brightly lit food stalls and makeshift eateries on both sides and the lit-up dargah at the end. Of course, given the fact that we reached there early, there weren't too many crowds yet, but oh, the food! All kinds and cuts of meat - from drumsticks and marylands to entire chickens and to kebabs and fritters of less-easily-identifiable animals - all set out in a eye-watering display oof bright tandoori reds, unnatural greens and deep golds. At one place, entire chickens were even strung end to end,like decorative banners - lurid red tandoori chickens, obviously. :)

We sat ourselves down at the rickety-wooden-table-and-plastic-chair seating at one of the more inviting (read: more yummy looking food laid out for all to ogle!) eateries and ordered a Seekh Kebab (mutton) and a Chicken Baida Roti.

Seekh Kebab

First up were the juicy, glistening-with-oi seekh kebabs. So bad for you, but oh so good! Especially with the lengths of fresh-cut onion and the zingy mint chutney that was plonked on the table as soon as we sat down. Agent J ordered pao to go log with, and we feasted on an improvised sandwich of piping-hot kebab, spicy chutney and crunchy onion all pushed inside a pillowy soft pao. Bliss!

Next up was the Chicken Baida Roti. A packet made of deep-fried crunchy shell (as close to a 'roti' as Angelina Jolie is to being ugly) encasing a moderately spicy stuffing of shredded chicken, tomato and onion....the CBR was forbidden pleasure in every bite!

Chicken Baida Roti - golden goodness!

Agent J also sampled the Khichada at another stall (needless to say, I had a taste in, too!) - a lentil stew studded with a few pieces of mutton and sprinkled generously with sweet and sticky strands of fried onion.

Khichada

Also for our gorging pleasure was bright orange 'Mahim Halwa' to be eaten with gigantic parathas - each one easily 1.5 feet in diameter. Goodness!




Luckily for our digestive tracts, we skipped these, along with shwarma and other culinary delights - for there was more to come at Mohammed Ali Road!

At M.A.R., we caught up with H, our foodie guiding star from last year. We went to the same places as last year (if it ain't broke, why fix it, eh? ) but tried different stuff. At the first stop, where we'd supped on Paya last year, this time around we tried the Nalli-Nihari. Nalli-Nihari is a thick, smooth gravy resonant with meaty umami flavour with bits of nalli (bone marrow) suspended in the gravy - which melt in the heat, so you have to mop them up with the fluffly tandoori roti quickly.



I was too chicken to try marrow (even though its a prized delicacy - I steer away from offal because of the strong flavour), so I stuck to dipping my roti in the spicy and bursting-with-flavour gravy instead. Washed down with ice-cold Pepsi, of course. Bliss!




We also re-acquanited our tummies with the World's Best Tandoori Chicken - just one maryland this time, of the Laal variety.

Scrumptious beyind words - smoky from the grill, yet juicy and succulent. Mashahallah!

We skipped the deep-fried kebabs and didnt even stop for a bite at the legendary Suleiman Usman sweetshop - instead, choosing to just packsome Malpua, Phirni and Malai Khaja (layers and layers of puff pastry surrounding a core of thickened rabdi) for the parents.

Malpuas being fried at Suleiman Usman

Malpuas ready to be devoured.....yum!!

Of course, we ogled all the different sweets on offer...

Gulab Jamuns

Mawa Jalebi

While we didnt really unearth any new treasures this time around at M.A.R., and stuck to the old and the familiar, the experience was still very novel - probably because this time around, there were fewer crowds (we'd visited on a lull day) and just three of us. So we made our foodie pilgrimage in unhurried peace. Plus, last time my head was spinning with the excitement of visiting M.A.R. the first time ever, so my high spirits meant I missed out on the finer details which a calm mind picks up (sounds like a discourse on Art of Living, eh? :) )

This time around, I had the time to truly take in all the sights and sounds and smells (oh, the smells!!) properly, at my pace.


So, I could really taste the different spices in the nalli-nihari, and marvel at its exquisite silken gravy. My mind was not overwhelmed by all the sensory overload of my eyes, ears and nose...so I could better appreciate the soft fluffiness of the roti, and relish the chicken in a - what can I say - more aware frame of mind.

Slower, more detailed, infinitely richer - my return to Mohammed Ali Road was truly rewarding.