Restaurant Review : Vinoteca by Sula

The only thing I know about wine is that I don't like it.

White wines taste like sour astringent while reds remind me of Ayurvedic 'kadhe' - medicinal decoctions. The only wines I enjoy are sweet ones- like port- which are considered at the bottom of the wine quality pyramid.  Its telling enough that Agent J and I shared a single glass of wine throughout the evening during a (not so) recent visit to Vinoteca, the wine bar opened by Sula a few weeks ago at Worli.

The sole glass of rose wine that we sipped on throughout the evening

Why then, you would ask, did I even bother to go to Vinoteca?  The answer is one word - tapas! :D

While Vinoteca IS a watering hole where you can taste Sula's finest as well as a selection of international wines, its kitchen, run by Chef Silvia Grimaldo specialises in tapas - bite-sized Spanish starters. Though calling them starters is actually a misnomer because often the entire evening is spent nibbling on tapas with no mains or entrees in sight.

The menu at Vinoteca offers tapas, mains and a very limited (3) selection of desserts. While tapas and mains are listed in the menu, you also have daily specials (scribbled on black boards mounted on walls at 2 ends of the room). The pintxos (pronounced pinchos) however change daily with no set menu choices.

The day we visited Vinoteca, (after making a reservation- they follow a 2-slot reservation policy,either show up at 7 or 9 - and reservations are necessary since its a hip new hangout that gets full FAST) the daily specials did feature the mini lamb burgers, much to my relief. It was a dish which was raved about in the reviews I had read! I had made up my mind to order them way before Chef Silvia came across to our table (casually dressed in jeans and top with long blonde hair left loose) and recommended them! () also highly recommended the Chicken Croquettas (in a charming Spanish accent!) After the Chef, had one of the hostesses coming over and recommending the wine to go with our tapas. I really loved this touch of personal attention which was sadly not followed through by the distracted waitstaff. But on the whole the staff is friendly and courteous - score one!

The first tapas to arrive were the mini burgers. The adorably miniature burgers, held together with toothpicks made a very cute picture.

But there was nothing little about their taste! Toothsome tasty patty with absolutely no sign of dryness, a dab of spiced mayo,  a slice of cheese and a picked gherkin - we loved those bite-sized burgers!

Next up was the salmon and cream cheese tapas ( I forget the name) that featured silky slices of salmon rolled around a core of soft cream cheese. These rolls were  garnished with a walnut and a dab of sweet chilli sauce, and sat atop a bed of micro sprouts on thick chunks of toasted bread. 

I quite liked it, but not being a devout fan of salmon, I didn't LOVE it the way I loved the mini burgers. Agent J found the dish too bland and the slippery salmon too confronting so he pushed his share on my plate.

Next up were the much-recommended Chicken Croquettas. What a delight! Soft, soft cylinders made up of a crunchy-yet-fragile shell and a tasty morsel of chicken filling, every croquetta was a heavenly mouthful. 

Totally worth the gushing recommendation!

To round up our tapas selection was patatas bravas - fried cubes of potato drizzled with tomato sauce. Fried potato is always glorious, but a more generous ladling of the tomato sauce would have given a lift to the kind-of-dry-and-bland dish.

The dessert menu is extremely limited with just 3 options- a coffee tart, lemon tart and chocolate truffles. And I doubt if chocolates can really be a dessert.

There were lots of dishes on the menu - all very exotic sounding and tempting, but the kind-of high prices made me feel vary of blowing up money on a dish that I might not end up liking. The pork tenderloin was raved about in this review but the very steep price (Rs800) made me gulp and skip it. :)

To sum up - excellent service, some great (and some not so great) tapas, a very cool vibe - but a tad heavy on the wallet!

Vinoteca by Sula
Ground Floor, Sunville Building  Dr. Annie Besant Road, Worli, Mumbai
Telephone: 022 4004 6234

The bill came to approximately 2000 Rs - with 1 glass of wine included

Cookery School : Chivda

Chivda is such a common (there are as many variants of the basic recipe as there are homes) and easy-to-make Maharashtrian snack, that I'd dismissed putting it up on the blog. But a request for the recipe from a non-Maharashtrian friend brought home the fact that the typical Maharashtrian 'Patal Pohyancha Chivda' is not so well known after all. And it is tastes SO amazing with a cup of hot, sweet tea that I just couldn't not share it with all of you! So here is my Mom's adaptation of the basic recipe given in Ruchira, the authoritative guide to Maharashtrian cookery ( like Mrs. Beeton's).

Maharashtrian Patal Pohyancha Chivda
Patal- Thin
Pohe - Rice Flakes
Chivda- think of a savoury Indian Chex Mix

Ingredients:
0.5 kilo patal pohe (patal means thin, so ask the grocer for thin pohe)
1 wati/katori or 1.5 cups peanuts (skins on)
8-10 green chillies, chopped into 1 cm long pieces
8-10 kadhipatta (curry leaves)
0.75 cup vegetable oil (groundnut/sunflower)
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
0.5 teaspoon hing (asafoetida)
1 teaspoon haldi (turmeric powder)
0.5 wati/katori or 0.75 cups dried coconut slices ( thinly sliced in half-moon shapes)
Salt and sugar to taste

Process:
Sift the pohe (lightly shake them around in a colander - not a sieve) so that the small dust-like particles of crushed pohe fall down and usable pohe remain in the colander. Do this in 4-5 batches.
In a huge vessel (the biggest you can find) tip all the pohe and dry roast them on low heat. Keep stirring at 30 second intervals or so - the pohe, being very thin, can start burning very easily so you need to keep them moving.
To test if the pohe are done roasting, take 2-3 pohe out and let them cool down. If, at room temperature the pohe are crisp and crunchy, they are done. Handy hint - start testing once the pohe for crunchiness once they feel lighter and easier to move about in the pot while stirring. They become lighter cause the water content is evaporated which is the whole reason we're toasting the pohe. :) DO NOT SKIP this step of roasting pohe, else you might land up with tasty but chewy Chivda!
In a kadhai/wok, heat the oil. First, fry the peanuts in the oil till they become a dark pinkish red. They will splutter as they cook, so stand back!
Remove the peanuts with a slotted spoon and toss them over the toasted pohe
Next, fry the coconut slices in the same oil. They turn from white to gold to burnt brown in minutes, so watch out! Take them out when they are a deep gold and strew them over the pohe.
Next, make a phodni/vaghar/tadka in the leftover oil. That is, add mustard seeds, asafoetida, turmeric, chopped chillies and curry leaves - in that order. When everything is done spluttering (and the chillies are wrinkled up and crisp) empty this spiced oil over the pohe.
Add sugar and salt to taste.
Using 2 long-handled spoons, toss and turn around the pohe, peanuts, coconut slices, and spices till everything is well-mixed.
Let the chivda cool down to room temperature. Once done, store it in airtight jars.
Enjoy with a cuppa steaming hot tea!