“There is no love greater than the love of eating.” This undeniable truth wraps around the icon of a rooster on the napkins and menus at Brittania Cafe in South Bombay, source of Parsi and Irani food since 1922.
Brittania isn’t an unknown gem. I first heard about the place from an article on Bombay food in the Wall Street Journal. And on my second visit, earlier this afternoon, the octogenarian proprietor Boman Kohinoor offered clippings from Time and Saveur.
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I’m now in Varanasi, a center of Hindu pilgrimage in North India, where beef is absolutely, completely, incontrovertibly forbidden. But for the (two? three?) readers of this blog who don’t follow me on Twitter or Facebook, before leaving Mumbai (I’ll be back in a week) I did get to taste the city’s cheesesteaks.
To see the City Paper story, click here.
Konkan Map, circa 1740
The best of this food, I’m discovering, has its roots in Konkan, a stretch of Indian coastline extending south from Bombay, through Goa, and into Karnataka. Fish and rice are staples of the region’s diet, and the many Konkans living in Bombay — just one of many regional identities represented in those polyglot city — are well represented on the culinary map.
All of this is just a long-winded way to talk about today’s lunch. Thali is Hindi for plate, and in a restaurant setting, a thali is a fixed meal, offering a sample of items all on one plate. Gajalee was the first fish-focused restaurant I’ve been to in Bombay that offered a thali. With a chance to try several fish preparations, this was a perfect choice for my solo visit. Read the rest of this entry »
Rahul Akerkar, born in Bombay to a German-Jewish mother and an Indian father, is the city’s Stephen Starr. After bouncing around in a handful of restaurants in New York City, he’s returned to establish his own culinary mini-empire here, anchored by his original restaurant, Indigo.
Indigo’s menu is as impressive as one will find here in India. Items like “saffron fettuccine in spiced olive oil with chorizo, spinach and shallot marmalade” would look at home at any fine dining establishment in a major American city, especially one looking to demonstrate a global reach.
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When I think of Bengali food, two things used to cross my mind. Overpoweringly sugary sweets– far too much for my American palate to handle. And river fish, usually prepared in a tumeric-enhanced sauce, and served with rice.
My basic impressions would have been different if I was exposed to Kolkata-style rolls. But I didn’t learn about these hearty cigars of egg, mutton, and spice during my week in Kolkata in 2005. Instead, I’ve only just discovered them here in Bombay, at a Bengali roadside joint by the name of Hangla’s. The name evidently means glutton in Bengali, and on my first visit several weeks ago, I responded to the mandate, devouring both a spicy, well-formed fish chop (essentially, the Bengali equivalent of our fish cake) as well as a mutton egg roll. On today’s visit, I reined it in. Just one roll. Read the rest of this entry »
Shortly before his death in 2006, R.W. Apple, of the New York Times, included Trishna Restaurant on a list of meals worth the price of a plane ticket. I’ll need years of eating, and an expense account considerably more substantial than my current one (I’ll settle for any expense account), before I can aspire to becoming a gastronome of Apple’s proportions. In all likelihood, it will never happen.
If Apple’s chosen mode of conveyance was class in a 747, I travel in the second-class compartment of the Mumbai Suburban Railway, where a sardine would not feel out of place. Luckily, last night, that train took me to Trishna. On the express train: only 30 minutes. Read the rest of this entry »
Eating seafood in Mumbai is a constant education. A quick glance at the menu in any restaurant serving fish reveals a series of unfamiliar names: rawas, surmai, bombil, pomfret.
This afternoon on my way to the Mahalaxmi racecourse, Mumbai’s home to thoroughbred racing, I stopped by the Race View Restaurant, a small stand across the street from Gate 6. According to a recent article in TimeOut Mumbai, which put the spot on my radar, the small shop has been there since 1918. I edged my way inside, and waited for a seat to open up, anxiously eying the clock. In India as in the US, I never like to miss the first post. Read the rest of this entry »
I had no idea Dungeoness Crab even existed until I moved into my present apartment. Even with my current knowledge that it’s a large crab found in the Pacific, it still ranks nowhere near Beer and Breakfast on my list of necessities.
Not that I’ve ever had breakfast at the Garden Court Eatery either. Let’s be honest- its sole value in my life is limited to purveying beer, slightly stale kaiser rolls, and the occasional pint of Häagen-Dazs. That’s convenience.
Rick Nichols, of the Philadelphia Inquirer, also found the concept of Dollar Dog Night noteworthy. He also had the wherewithal to make it to the first such event of the season and was less than ecstatic with what he found: Read the rest of this entry »
Yet Another Guy Writing About Food 