Thanks to Facebook, one discovers one's true friends. I had not updated my status for 3 days and there was Mohan Sule enquiring why it is all quiet on the gurudutt front.
A phone call to him and I was enquiring what Meenal was cooking these days. So mad about food this year -- in fact, I remember starting a discussion on breakfasts at the local Reliance Super store. I came to know from the 70-year old from Jabalpur (?) that he had Jalebi and yoghurt (dahi) for breakfast. BTW, Pushpesh Pant mentioned this in his last article too!
I had given a surprise visit to Mohan and Meenal on January 26, 2000 (?) The date is easy to remember, but the year! Well, in 1999 Yukta Mookhey won the Miss World, and on Jan 26, 2000 my daughter won the society fancy dress competition posing as Miss World (She wore a similar costume to that worn by Yukta Mookhey.)
But to me what was most memorable that day was the Kande-batata pohe made by Meenal. Nice big poha, perfectly puffed up, nice yellow colour and perfectly warm. I think she had already put the limbu in it too. (Not served separately as I like it nowadays.) Now, you will ask me what is so great about Kandhe pohe (kande means onions and poha is flattened rice)? I have had this so many times, but it was never perfect! Perfection or excellence is what I am talking about. All the ingredients need to be right, perfectly cooked, and served well.
You can have kande pohe in most Maharastrian restaurants. None of them are a match. Of course, the ambience and friends also contributes a little to the experience and rating. Their well kept house with the right amount of artistic touches and their friendship might have added to the experience.
My friendship with Mohan goes a long way back. I remember visiting him, and his mother would always make a perfect cup of tea. I would always look forward to that cup of tea. It is too long back, so I cannot remember the snacks she made for us. I would rate her's as one of the 5 best teas I have ever had in my life.
When Meenal got married to him, I am sure I must have tasted several of her snacks too. But I really enjoyed the Dhansak she made. Those days I was not too much into food and was in fact tasting it for the first time. I really enjoyed the nice, fluffy, long-grained rice. The Dhansak dal was superb with the right consistency and taste. It was very interesting that the pumpkin was totally mixed with the dal. The garnish of fried, brown onions is one of the tastiest garnishes. In fact, I could eat is as a complete meal. These onions added to the taste and overall experience. Above all, I remember, both the dal and the rice were hot and steaming. Mercifully, these were pre-microwave days. Apparently, even then I was interested in cooking as I remember her telling me the secret to the fluffy rice.
Meenal is from Ahmedabad and it would not be wrong to say she is half-gujrati in some ways. Ahmedabad is also a food paradise and if there is one outstanding community known for its love of food it is the Gujaratis. Just at the char rasta opposite Iskon Temple/Food bazar there I had a decent plate of roadside kanda poha (note the change in spelling) for Rs.2 (?) for a katori (plate made out of dry leaves) full. For a road-side vendor to give me such a nice, cheap snack at 9.30 am in the morning was indeed good! It was decent and if I give it say 2.25/5.00, I would give Meenal's a 5/5!
I think the secret ingredient of Mohan's mother, Mohan's children's mother (er, Meenal) and all mothers is simple -- they just add a dash of love and of course their years of expertise. Restaurant foods don't have this ingredient -- so you know why they taste so ordinary.
Showing posts with label dhansak and brown rice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dhansak and brown rice. Show all posts
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
The Teapot Café!
Food 2.5 Good
Ambience 2.5 Good
Service 2.4 Average - Good
Location: Homi Modi Street, Opp Andhra Bank, next to Indian Coffee House, Fort
This is a smallish, quaint little cafe in Mumbai's business district, which I know as Fort or Flora Fountain! It has a few functional tables and chairs, a nice sofa and two side sofas, a pastry counter at the entrance. Each table has a game on it -- Crunch (Brainvita), cards, card games (hey, don't expect me to go to each table and check it out), etc. Does not really remind you of the Friends cafe, except for the today's special written with coloured chalk on a black board. And, er, Delna Palia, the owner and our very own Rachel Green. Er, in the case of Delna, she knows her food or beans (both the green ones and the coffee ones)! She has a very welcoming smile. The food was pretty decent, so I was wondering whether she is our very own Monica, that is the food chef par excellence (not referring to the control freak!).
Google Detour: Central Perk. Hey, come back -- or better still go there later!
Basically, I am saying -- it is a relaxed place! The Assamese/Nepali looking girl helpfully puts an Elle/Bazaar or some such hip ladies magazine on your table the moment you step in! Out of 5 tables, 4 were occupied by single ladies -- who came, ate, browsed, and left!
On a Monday at 1 pm I was thinking that we would have difficulty getting a place! But apparently, Rashmi Uday Singh's article had not done too much for the business. We did find a place and very soon it was full!
Basil Coconut Soup (Rs.50) This was loaded with vegetables. I have never seen so many vegetables in a largish soup bowl! Delna -- please teach this city how to make a decent soup with loads of vegetables. Most of the vegetables were largish chunks, with nice whole long strings of green beans (1.25 inch plus!). Plenty of sweet corn and a lot of other vegetables. Naturally, the base was a watery coconut gravvy with sprigs of basil popping now and then! Mercifully, we had ordered only one between the two of us! It was a really hearty soup and fairly well made. Full marks!
Hawaiian Salad Rs.60 -- this was a decent salad with vegetables on a bed of lettuce leaves. I was expecting pineapple bits, but there were none (which was good!). I thought going by Vir Sanghvi's logic that Hawaiin was a code word for Pineapple. I remember having a fantastic salad in Guam (which is a sister island of Hawaii!) in a similarly cute café with a similarly cute owner-chef!
We had a Veg Stroganoff Rs.100, this was satutéed vegetables with white sauce in a ring of broken rice (tukda rice). Came to know from Wikipedia that: Beef Stroganoff is a Russian dish of sautéed pieces of beef served in a sauce with sour cream. I normally hate white sauce, but this one was OK. I liked the vegetables, the sauce and the rice tukda. Each rice separate and bone dry and crunchy! I think there were strings of carrot! How cute and interesting! Bits of large garlic -- don't know why they did not have the sharpness!
Next, Dhansak with brown rice (Rs90). The rice again was very well done -- and the chef really knows how to do things in the kitchen. Had lovely, crispy friend onion on top! Really nice! The Dhansak dal was rather too thickish for my comfort. I prefer it a tad watery -- it should flow smoothy, rather than plonk in big blobs! But ofcourse, less flowing than the dal tadka. Consistency of a maa ki daal would be just fine!
Chocolate cake Rs40. I am calling it a cake as I don't know what it was -- it had a very bebinca/halwa kind of structure. Quite OK, with shaved rolls of chocolate (hope you understand what I mean)on top!
Chocolate Tart Rs35 The tart was a bit hard biscuity and the chocolate filling was OK.
Total Bill (for 2 persons): Rs.375.
BTW, The Teapot Café is a Café, Takeaway, Conference Room, and Lunch Service. It has a very homely atmosphere! The food is good and I think reasonably priced.
Like the French, I wish I had coffee after the meals (more so without the desserts).
Will I visit it again! Definitely! Ummmm, the delicious friend onion slivers!
Ambience 2.5 Good
Service 2.4 Average - Good
Location: Homi Modi Street, Opp Andhra Bank, next to Indian Coffee House, Fort
This is a smallish, quaint little cafe in Mumbai's business district, which I know as Fort or Flora Fountain! It has a few functional tables and chairs, a nice sofa and two side sofas, a pastry counter at the entrance. Each table has a game on it -- Crunch (Brainvita), cards, card games (hey, don't expect me to go to each table and check it out), etc. Does not really remind you of the Friends cafe, except for the today's special written with coloured chalk on a black board. And, er, Delna Palia, the owner and our very own Rachel Green. Er, in the case of Delna, she knows her food or beans (both the green ones and the coffee ones)! She has a very welcoming smile. The food was pretty decent, so I was wondering whether she is our very own Monica, that is the food chef par excellence (not referring to the control freak!).
Google Detour: Central Perk. Hey, come back -- or better still go there later!
Basically, I am saying -- it is a relaxed place! The Assamese/Nepali looking girl helpfully puts an Elle/Bazaar or some such hip ladies magazine on your table the moment you step in! Out of 5 tables, 4 were occupied by single ladies -- who came, ate, browsed, and left!
On a Monday at 1 pm I was thinking that we would have difficulty getting a place! But apparently, Rashmi Uday Singh's article had not done too much for the business. We did find a place and very soon it was full!
Basil Coconut Soup (Rs.50) This was loaded with vegetables. I have never seen so many vegetables in a largish soup bowl! Delna -- please teach this city how to make a decent soup with loads of vegetables. Most of the vegetables were largish chunks, with nice whole long strings of green beans (1.25 inch plus!). Plenty of sweet corn and a lot of other vegetables. Naturally, the base was a watery coconut gravvy with sprigs of basil popping now and then! Mercifully, we had ordered only one between the two of us! It was a really hearty soup and fairly well made. Full marks!
Hawaiian Salad Rs.60 -- this was a decent salad with vegetables on a bed of lettuce leaves. I was expecting pineapple bits, but there were none (which was good!). I thought going by Vir Sanghvi's logic that Hawaiin was a code word for Pineapple. I remember having a fantastic salad in Guam (which is a sister island of Hawaii!) in a similarly cute café with a similarly cute owner-chef!
We had a Veg Stroganoff Rs.100, this was satutéed vegetables with white sauce in a ring of broken rice (tukda rice). Came to know from Wikipedia that: Beef Stroganoff is a Russian dish of sautéed pieces of beef served in a sauce with sour cream. I normally hate white sauce, but this one was OK. I liked the vegetables, the sauce and the rice tukda. Each rice separate and bone dry and crunchy! I think there were strings of carrot! How cute and interesting! Bits of large garlic -- don't know why they did not have the sharpness!
Next, Dhansak with brown rice (Rs90). The rice again was very well done -- and the chef really knows how to do things in the kitchen. Had lovely, crispy friend onion on top! Really nice! The Dhansak dal was rather too thickish for my comfort. I prefer it a tad watery -- it should flow smoothy, rather than plonk in big blobs! But ofcourse, less flowing than the dal tadka. Consistency of a maa ki daal would be just fine!
Chocolate cake Rs40. I am calling it a cake as I don't know what it was -- it had a very bebinca/halwa kind of structure. Quite OK, with shaved rolls of chocolate (hope you understand what I mean)on top!
Chocolate Tart Rs35 The tart was a bit hard biscuity and the chocolate filling was OK.
Total Bill (for 2 persons): Rs.375.
BTW, The Teapot Café is a Café, Takeaway, Conference Room, and Lunch Service. It has a very homely atmosphere! The food is good and I think reasonably priced.
Like the French, I wish I had coffee after the meals (more so without the desserts).
Will I visit it again! Definitely! Ummmm, the delicious friend onion slivers!
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