Fusion Confusion

If the purists see this post, I'll be "ashes to ashes" before you can say "Gobi Manchurian". I tossed together (and then ate it all up) a glorious stir fry - a technicolour mix of...hold your breath... :

• Udon noodles
• Onion, garlic, carrot, capsicum
• Hoisin sauce
• Sriracha chilly sauce
• Teriyaki sauce
• Spice blend of kafir lime leaves, lemon grass, birds eye chillies

Is it any wonder that high priests of cooking will burst a vessel....or, more likely, sprout 2-3 ulcers on reading this list? All of this in one dish?!!, they'll ask.

Now I know, that this ingredients list reads like the Impossible Trinity of Far Eastern cuisnine - Thai, Japanese and Chinese cuisines cannot co-exist in one dish.

But they did, and oh so deliciously!

The fat strands of Japanese Udon noodles were the perfect robust carriers for the onslaught of the triad of sauces - Chinese Hoisin, Japanese Teriyaki and Thai Sriracha. Throw in the Chinese stiry frying technique of wok hei and you had more international harmony than the General Assembly of the United Nations. :)

Which brings us to the much-debated debate - the battle for supremacy between taste and authenticity. Rubishing Indian Chinese cuisine (sneered at as 'Sino Ludhianwi' by Vir Sanghvi) just because it is a made-up cuisine, a 'bastardisation' of Chinese cooking by Indian no-chefs is one such example. What if the world misses out on a fabulous new taste sensation just because the purists turned their noses at it?

Also, which cuisine has strictly retained its original form for generations? Cooking is not so much a rigidly preserved art form or an immutable scientific

formula. Cooking, like language, is a continuously evolving, ever-adapting means to satisfy one of man's primal needs - cooking fulfills the need for physical nourishment, while language is the solution to the urge to reach out to fellow human beings . If a child is lactose intolerant or if a husband is allergic to chilli - does not the woman of the house modify the ages-old recipes handed down to her without a second thought? It is this fluid adaptiveness of cooking (and
language) which will keep both of them bright and alive while stuck-in-mud art forms will get mummified and remain as relics in museums.

In short, judging a dish or a new style of cooking without tasting it or giving it a fair trial is amoral, IMHO. If you genuinely hate it and thinks the flavours don't marry well, say it by all means. But don't judge without hearing (err...tasting) both sides of the case.

Restaurant Review : Moshes Cafe, Crossword, Kemps Corner

Today, towards the fag end of my Urban Trek (aimless meander through historic/ interesting/ pretty/hidden corners of the city with camera in tow) I was low on energy, and my legs were protesting having to carry my lump of weight around. So it was with thankfulness that reached my planned pitstop at the Crossword Bookstore at Kemps Corner. And for the first time ever, the bookshelves went unheeded, as, straight like an arrow I walked into the cafe on the first floor - Moshes.

The cafe was mercifully only half-full so getting a table did not present any waits or delays. Settling down at one of the small wooden table-for-twos was bliss for my aching feet! The cafe is small (eupphemistically you can call it 'cosy') and packed with small wooden tables. A leather-padded bench runs the length of one wall forming one seat of the 5 two-seater tables crammed along it.



The menu at Moshes is not too long or varied - around 5-6 entries in every category - and the categories range from salads, sandwiches, dessert, hot drinks, cold drinks to 'Lite Eats' like toasties and 'By-the-side' stuff like muffins, croissants, cupcakes etc. There is even a separate category for eggless desserts and the desserts on offer here sound so yummy - as do the rest of the vegetarian dishes - that there is no chance of vegetarians being short-changed. The price of all dishes - from all categories - hovers around the INR 150 mark, ranging from 110 to 190. There ARE a few dishes which diverge from this mean price, like the smoked salmon with cream cheese on bagel which costs INR 270 - But thats fair, given it IS smoked salmon. The prices are surprisingly reasonable for an outlet of a swish chain of cafes - but the menu is more snacks-oriented than proper sit-down meals, so I guess that covers it.

I ordered the Barbeque Chicken Sandwich with Harissa, Fresh Herbs & Brown Onions - with the Kookai - a concoction of grape, guava and kokam juice - on the side. The sandwich came in an oblong deep-dish with a knife and a fork, with a token amount of salad on the side.

But whatever little greenery was there was yum - crisp, fresh and drenched with a balsamic-olive oil dressing. As for the sandwich - it was delicious! Crunchy crispy toasted slices of bread generously packed with succulent chunks of chicken doused in a finger-licking sauce - the thought of that sauce is enough to get me drooling! Just-so spiced with red chilli, sweet with the caramelised onions and fragrant with a heady mix of cinnamon and cumin - every bite was a pleasure.


The Kookai came in an ominous shade of dark dark reddish-purple.

But it was an awesome accompaniment to the sandwich! Speckled with some purple powder on the top (what was it?!), it was sweet and cold and full of the flavour of kokam and guava (the poor grapes went unnoticed)

By the time my sandwich was served, the cafe was full and people were waiting in queue, so I didnt linger over the sandwich. Also, did I mention - the tables are really close to each other? So even if all you want to do is tuck into amazing food and and the book you have just bought downstairs - you are forced to do some people-watching and people-hearing. (Which brings me to - what IS it with kids today? Everyone - and I mean EVERY ONE - was toting a Blackberry. Even the 10-year old at the table next to mine had her own BB - as did the newly-teen girls with her!)

Anyhow, Blackberry Boys aside, Moshes is a great place for a quick lunch that manages to balance taste, health, and uniqueness in its food. Do stop by for a bite if you're near any of their outlets. And dont forget that chicken sandwich. Droool.........


P.S.: Please forgive the really sad photos - they were taken on a VGA (!) cellphone camera - having had to deposit my bag (with my precious camera!) at the security downstairs. :(

Urban Trek - Khotachi Wadi

Ever since Agent J has started taking off on (long and hard) treks in the Sahyadri hills EVERY SUNDAY, my guilt at not doing any activity has grown exponentially (it gets worse with every trek that J comes back from - which is more arduous than the last).

But what do I do? I am NOT a trekker - I love to walk, but climbing hills in rainy slippery weather is NOT my forte. So I decided to embark on Urban Treks - walks through city neighbourhoods that are historic/ interesting / poky or have beautiful architecture/great but as-yet undiscovered eateries/ unusual shops. With camera in tow, of course. :)

Last Sunday saw me take off on my first Urban Trek - in crashing rain. I had a lovely (albeit very wet) walk along Haji Ali Seaface, up Pedder Road and culminating in a lazy browse through Moraa Tara, a curio shop opposite Villa Teresa school that I had been dying to explore after years of seeing and wondering what it sold as I drove past it.

Today, I went exploring among the bylanes of Girgaon - the erstwhile haunt of the city's Maharashtrian Brahmin population (before most of them migrated sequentially northwards - first to Dadar, then Vile Parle, then Dombivali and Thane). On my radar was Khotachi Wadi, a heritage colony which still has old-fashioned houses complete with sloping tiled roofs, wooden balconies and staircases.

As you step in, you feel as though you have stepped back in Time. Most of the really old-style houses are owned by Catholics and you feel as though you are in a secret Goan village hidden in the heart of the city, just a few feet away from the crowds and traffic of crowded South Bombay. The rest of the not-so-old and not-so-beautiful additions in the Wadi are where other communities reside - most notably the Gujaratis. But Khotachi Wadi which used to boast of beautifully preserved buildings, its own heritage festival and the famed Anandashram restaurant - which served terrific authentic coastal cusinine - now looks a little neglected and frayed around the edges. Anandashram has closed down too. :(

I also strolled along Chowpatty, Babulnath Road and Pedder Road, scouting for any heritage buildings that could be captured in my lens. And found lots! Here are the pictures of today's Urban Trek!

Restaurant Review : Narayan Dosa, French Bridge (Hughes Road)

Today I stumbled upon one of the city's numerous hidden culinary jewels - eateries which are too tiny to register on the food columnist/ food show anchor's radar but which are firm favourites in their neighbourhood. I'd spent the morning out of office( "on the field" ) meeting customers in South Bombay, so by the time I got back to our Hughes Road office it was late and I was hungry. Luckily, MK, my colleague was waiting to take me out to lunch at a dosa place well-known and well-loved in that neighbourhood.

It was a rainy day with a cool breeze - perfect for a long stroll. But, given the state of my tummy, luckily, Narayan Dosa was just a quick 5-minute walk from our office. Located off Hughes Road (right at the beginning of French Bridge). Narayan Dosa is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it tiny eatery which can seat 12 people at a pinch. In fact, it is so long and narrow (not more than 6 feet wide) it is more akin to one of the secret passageways so beloved of Enid Blyton books than an actual restaurant.

But who cares about the ambience when right at the entrance, you see the chef spreading yummy-looking masala onto the dosas and expertly folding them into crispy golden triangles? Who cares about sitting down at tiny tables boxed in between 2 walls when the air is redolent with delicious scents of garlic and butter and spices? Not me!


The menu boasts of some very radical dosas - Palak Paneer dosa, Chopsuey dosa, Paneer Chilly dosa, Chilly Cheese dosa, to name a few. Of course, there are the usual suspects - masala dosa, mysore dosa, uttapam and the rest of the "normal" brigade, but I'd choose the radical over the conservative any day! MK asked for the chopsuey dosa which is her usual order and I ordered the paneer chilly dosa. In less than 5 minutes, our dosas were served - crisp, golden-brown parcels stuffed with spicy fillings and served with generous dollops of 2 chutneys.

The Chopsuey dosa was filled with a medium-spicy mix of noodles and finely julinenned cabbage, capsicum and carrot. The Paneer Chilly dosa had a huddle of soft paneer cubes in a spciy brown gravy. Both had the perfect balance of crisp outside and soft inside. And both were piping-hot and tasty - perfect when it was so cold and wet outside!




We followed this up with the believe-it-or-not Palak Paneer dosa - smooth, garlicky spinach puree studded with soft pieces of paneer. While I liked all three dosas, the Paneer Chilly and Palak Paneer had the edge over the Chopsuey dosa, IMHO. And this review would be incomplete without a mention of the chutneys - spicy, tasy and and thick with the goodness of real coconut (not the recycled washed-out coconut scrapings so beloved of Udipi restaurants) - one with garlic, and one without. With free top-ups on demand. :)

The prices of the dosas range from INR 25 for the plain dosa and INR 55 for the ultra special variant (Chinese Cheese Dosa, any one?) The service is quick, the food is tasty (and made fresh on order, by definition) and the environs, while no-frills and cramped, are clean and hygienic. So, visit Narayan Dosa and enjoy hot-off-the-tawa dosas while the rain pours down!

Restaurant Review: Candies, Pali Naka, Bandra-West

Life has a way of throwing awkward situations - where we'd rather not be, thankyouverymuch - which must be faced. For instance, a forced dinner with people you'd rather avoid. Or having to eat out when you're trying to stick to a diet. In such situations, in comes Candies to the rescue - the veritable knight in shining armour, astride a white horse. Really, you don't see such thoughtfulness among eateries these days....

Got people who grate on your nerves? Take them to Candies. Candies has that much-dreaded feature of the restaurant world - self service. And before you start picturing the military-like efficiency of McDonalds, stop. Right there. For Candies, while in theory, has a battery of order counters (with name tags of the staff manning them hanging from the ceiling in case you want to cozy up to any of them), the people who take orders themselves go and get the order ready. So more than half the time, the counters are left unmanned as impatient patrons wait for someone to come and take their order. There is a single cashier at the back, who is, at any given time, hounded by at least 4 of the counter staff for the change to be given back to the patrons. This further adds to the wait time. So, despite the menu largely comprising of ready-cooked meals which just need a quick re-heating in the microwave, the minimum order-processing time for any dish is 30 minutes. Of standing at the counter, shuffling your (in my case, considerable!) weight from one foot to another, while you gaze at the rolls, croissants, fried chicken, quiches, lasagne etc kept in the chiller case. Sigh.

But this is a blessing in disguise if you are with people who you'd prefer were far far away! Because either you can escape them by volunteering to get the food from the counter (30 glorious minutes away from the annoying dinner companions!), or better still, get THEM to get the food.........you get the picture. :D

Its Candies to the rescue!! (Sound of trumpets in the background)

Or if you're stuck in the difficult situation of having to eat out when you're on a diet - go to Candies. Apart from standing in the queue for at least half an hour for the main course (and another half hour for dessert - that is a separate counter!), which itself burns calories - Candies gives you the added exercise of having to revisit the counter 2-3 times to check on the progress of your order (if you make the mistake of ordering something that requires actual cooking). There go all the calories you will have piled on during the meal! :P

Is that a bird? Is that a plane? No, its Candies!! (Sound of swoosh in the background)

All this is a shame - especially since the food is yummy (even if it is - or perhaps because it is!-not too calorie-conscious). The fish and chips, pasta, salad and sandwich that we sampled were all tasty. The red velvet cupcake and grape mini tart were fabulous. And the chocolate lava cake was scrumptious beyond words!

What's more, the prices aren't the burn-a-hole-in-your-pocket type either. Dishes start at INR 40 and go up to INR 150. Throw in a lovely ambience (terracota tile-topped tables, old-fashioned park benches, shrubbery outside), a salad bar (don't fool yourself - lots of mayo and salad cream on display) and a cool crowd (though leaning towards the teeny bopper variety), and you have a potential winner. In fact, the crowds that throng the place seem to think that Candies is already a winner.

Now, if only they hire some waitstaff to wait at the tables or order more staff to man the counters....till then, Candies will continue to remain one of the most considerate restaurants I have seen in recent times. :)