Kepchaki Pork Momos (and reminiscences of earlier ones) followed by an amazing dinner with friends thereafter!!

I'm back after a two month sabbatical spent working my chops off both in the catering biz and at the Univ, the catering hotted up with the advent of the Parsi wedding season and then was quickly accelerated by Xmas and New Year, followed hot on their heels by Annual 'Rocks, Minerals & Fossils Exhibition' held at the University of Mumbai's Convocation Hall from the 4th - 7th of jan 2012!!

Things finally slowed down a bit (a wee bit) this week and I caught up with a lot of my online reading ... Lo behold!! my old buddy Kalyan Karmakar alias The Knife had written about the surprise discovery of a Pork Momo stall in Bandra! 

My tryst with momos goes back to my courting days when I went down to meet my In-laws to be in Calcutta and was introduced to these old friends (whom I had first encountered only in Delhi - Dilli Haat) at what Rhea told me was the original Momo Shop in Calcutta - Tibetan Delite. This shop located in a small very narrow lane of 63 Chowringhee Rd in Calcutta was truly the kind of dim, smoky, ill lit, ill ventilated place that one remembered from a hundred bad 'B grade' Hollywood films, bossed over by a fat greasy somewhat shabbily dressed Tibetan lady ... it was so cliched that it was perfect.

Many a momo later - both steamed and fried, I reckoned myself to be a connoisseur of this delicacy. 

Now, a momo is essentially a crescent shaped steamed dumpling from Tibet, Sikkim, Nepal and the Northeastern states of India. By default all original and traditional momos are Pork Momos ... it is only in the Ganga Valley and south of it that the weird and bizarre Chicken and Veg momos have materialised like some wannabe cousins. My tryst with momos culminated in Pune at the Deccan College Boys Hostel when my good friend from Nagaland - Imtirenba Changkija decided to feed me what he called the 'real stuff'. He set up an assembly line of fellow Nagas (Chumbeno, David and Akham), chopped Pork belly, mixed in salt, onions and ginger, laid out the dough, made the little parcels and steamed them to perfection. These non-commercial babies are to date the most awesome momos I have ever eaten. The belly made for a parcel filled with soupy dumplings filled with hot aromatic melted fat that exploded on contact with the mouth filling one with a sublime taste that can only be described as perfection.This though was 11 years ago!

Thus finding out that Pork Momos were available in Mumbai that too at Carter Rd, Bandra was something that left me slavering like Pavlov's dog!

When Rhea told me we were having dinner with friends at Bandra and that I would have a couple of hours to kill between Univ and dinner ... I headed for the end of Carter Rd like a bullet.

The Shop is called Kepchaki Momos and is run by two Nepali boys Santhosh and Mithun, it's actually a small stall outside a tattoo parlour on the last lane that leads up from Carter Rd to Pali Hill. They make pork, chicken, prawn, veg and paneer/cheese momos. I had portion of the pork momos and was very pleasantly surprised. They were actually quite nice though a tad lean on both filling and fat. They were served with a nice tangy spicy chilly sauce made sans any colour. I then ventured to try the chicken and veg options, the prawn and cheese were over, the chicken was very so so, bland and boring, the vegggie ones were actually quite sad and tasted a tad weird. But the pork momos were what I had come for and they were superb. I wolfed down another three to wash out the taste of veggie momos (serves me right!!) and packed two portions (6 in a portion for Rs 80/-) to take for my hostess who had declared that I dare not come without them.

Santhosh hard at work at the Kepchaki Momos Stall

Santhosh delivering my first plate of Mumbai Pork Momos!!

The Pork Momos ... ate two before I could muster the strength to take a picture ;)

Mithun giving me a half plate of chk momos and a half plate of veggie momos.

The crescents at the top are the Chicken Momos and make the bulk of sales, the flat fat cushions at the bottom of the plate are the veggie guys.

After quenching a desire that had remained unsatiated for many a year I made my way into the tiny little lanes of Bandora village and met up with old friends Pavan, Megha, and Arina ... and a litlle later were joined by Rhea and Roshni for a lovely dinner put together by Megha. The excuse for the dinner was that megha was designing some new desserts for me from which I had to choose one for the Dalal Enterprises Valentine's Day Menu (more on that in another post). She'd put together some awesome hors d'ouevres a lovely Chicken Almond and Broccoli Salad followed by some delicious pasta (of which I have no pictures!!!) and then  capped off the meal with three of her signature bottled desserts. One of these was her famous Shahi Tukda which is to die for; the second was a Pannacotta  with Strwberry topping and the third was the evenings Piece de resistance and won the right to be the DE Valentine's Day Spl dessert ... more on that later (ie once we figure out what to call it ;)).

The little Toasts with Ricotta, Bell peppers, Mushrooms, and Home made organic Pesto accompanied by Cheesey Lavash and Organic Honey Mustard and more of the Pesto

The Salad with pavan making a quick move at getting a picture before it was demolished by the starving barbarians.

All in all one of the nicest days of this year. Thank you all!

Visit to Bungalow 9 - a lesson in Hubris.

As a comparatively new blogger (I only started this May) I was thrilled to receive an invitation from the Social Media Div., Percept Profile to visit and dine at Bungalow 9 - a restaurant they represent. They wanted to host me at their restaurant, wanted me to meet the Chef, and then write about my experience on my blog. I was thrilled and replied back in the affirmative. Ms Priyanka called me up and insisted that me and my wife come and experience a 'true fine dining experience' at Bungalow 9 a property which was represented by her company. We fixed Monday the 14th of November at 8.30pm. She was very solicitous of my comfort and recommended the outside seating as the weather was pleasant and confirmed to me that Monday would be perfect as the Chef wanted to meet and speak to me and that his day-off was on Tuesdays. Armed with all this, a careful perusal of the restaurants website, and a bucket of confidence I convinced Rhea (my wife) to drive all the way across town (45km away) with me to have dinner on a week-day (read working day) evening. 

We arrived after a 95 minute drive and gave our car to the valet and sauntered into the premises of Bungalow 9. Upon being greeted by the usher I gave them my name and informed them that I had a table for 8.30pm. They looked blankly at me and informed me that there was no reservation in my name. This is when it all began to unravel. I informed them that I had been invited here and told them that I was expected. The Maitre d' - or someone I suppose was the maitre d' - then came up and asked me who I was ... I gave him my visiting card and once again repeated that I had been invited here on this day at this time by the corporation involved in promoting their restaurant using social media. He looked blankly at me and pointed out that neither was my name on the reservations list nor had their business partners informed him of any such event. He went on to inform me that in such a scenario Percept Profile promptly emailed all details to the restaurant followed by a telephonic confirmation and that the restaurant had received no such missive or communication. He offered me a seat and led me to a small corner sofa instead of a table whilst I desperately tried to bring up the email details on my phone. To my increasing chagrin there was very low coverage and the phone couldn't access my emails. I then reiterated the same (previously mentioned) details to the maitre d' who looked at me in a rather doubtful fashion and informed me that there was no such communication and that if I so desired a table could be made available as they were not full up. By this time I was mortified, deeply embarrassed and had a very highly upset spouse at my side. I decided I had had enough and left.

An hour later after having caught up with an old friend and having accessed my email over her iPad I was in the process of dialing Ms Priyanka when she called. She informed me that she had been in a meeting and had just received a call from the restaurant and that there seemed to have been some mix-up. She continued to assure me that it was obviously just human error and that she had made a booking (for 2) and had confirmed the same with the restaurant, I then informed her that the restaurant had stuck the reservation book under my nose and that there was no booking in my name, surname or in the name of her company. Her reaction was - Oh! 

She then told me that it was a human error and that her colleague/junior had probably bungled it and that the restaurant had confused everything because I asked for a table for 8!! I was completely flummoxed ... there were just two of us at the restaurant and I had specified the same to the usher and the maitre d'. She asked if I could go right back to the restaurant, I declined. She promised that that she/the company/the restaurant would make this up to me and that she hoped that I understood this was just human error and that this could happen anywhere. I was with a friend and a rather irate spouse not to mention deeply embarrassed and insulted - I refrained from further conversation.

It was a rather expensive lesson in humility and in my father's old adage - there is nothing like a free lunch.

I have eaten at Mumbai's and India's best restaurants, both fancy and simple, and at some absolute dives ... in all my years I had never experienced this. I realised it was a fitting reply to my hubris. I was embarrassed, humiliated and insulted that too by someone whom I had never met and who appeared to have been asking a favour of me!! I will probably never visit Bungalow 9 ever again and I doubt very much whether I will ever take up an invite of this kind. 

I have been in the food business for the last 35 years (I was seven when my Mum started the business) and this has definitely been a new and unique experience. I understand mistakes happen. We have made them too ... but when one occurs you try and smooth them over ASAP, you pull out all the stops and bend over backwards ... I waited all day today for a call ... there was none. Neither was there any email. 

I wonder if this is how PR people treat all their targets or was this just for some blogger who didn't deserve any better? 

 ADDENDUM
I received a call from a very distraught Ms Priyanka, 45 mins after I posted the above blog,  who was very hurt that my wife and I held her and her company responsible. She told me that she would forward the email she had sent to Manasi of Bungalow 9. I told her I would append the same in her defense.

I then received a very polite call from Ms Irani the owner of the restaurant who said she had been informed of the incident and that whilst she she hadn't read my blog she'd like to tender an unconditional apology with no excuses whatsoever. She asked me to drop by anytime ... if nothing else for a coffee and a chat. I was very happy and felt somewhat mollified by her call.

Upon going home I opened my mail to find Priyanka's forwarded email. To add insult to injury it mentioned someone else's blog as mine and had that blog's statistics appended to the same. What I had thought was just plain 'human error' was actually gross negligence. I am pasting below her email.

Priyanka's email to me:

 Dear Kurush,

This is further to our conversation as to where Percept was not at fault in this miscommunication. Below is an email sent to the representative at Bungalow 9 about booking a table for 2 with all other preferences.

At no given point was Percept misinformed or has not informed the concerned representatives at Bungalow 9.

I hope this email below clarifies Percept’s point of view.

Regards,

Priyanka Agrawal

Sr. Consultant- Digital Media
Percept Profile (A Division of Percept Limited), P-2, Level A3, Raghuvanshi Estate, 11/12 SB Marg, Lower Parel (West),

Her email to Manasi at Bungalow 9:

Dear Manasi,

Mr. Kurush Dalal of The Sassy Fork would like to visit Bungalow 9 on Monday, 14th November, 2011 for dinner at 8.30pm. He is visiting the restaurant with his wife and would prefer to sit outdoor.

Blog Details:

http://thesassyfork.blogspot.com

Profile Views: 1200+

No. of followers: 75+

Total Page Views: 58,000+

Regards,

Priyanka Agrawal

I leave the judgement to the readers.

Silk: The latest in a long line of iconic avatars from Cadbury's Chocolates.

Was scrolling through my emails a few days ago when I came across an email from Cadbury's asking me if I'd  care to host a video of  the results of their latest competition (The Silk Affair) for their new flagship brand Silk.

Now Cadbury is synonymous in India with chocolate and the most common method of asking for a chocolate in India is to ask, "bhaiyya ... cadbury hai?". Here 'cadbury' generically means chocolate irrespective of the brand!! Imagine the impact Cadbury's have had on India and the Indian public that all over the country this name is the word that spells chocolate!

I was lost for the next half an hour in a very pleasant fog of memories all having to do with Cadbury's products eaten through the last 40 years or so. I thought back to those heady school days when one desperately craved the one rupee Cadbury bar - a thin slim bar wrapped in purple foil whilst hoping and praying that the parent or grandparent would succumb to ones viles and purchase a Cadbury Krisp (the predecessor of the perk - only with dark chocolate and twice as thick and twice as wide) or a Cadbury Plus (Choclate surrounding a thick almost jammy jelly) the closest thing I have ever found on the net is the Cadbury's Turkish Delight ....

(... I wonder whether it's the same .....????)

The next big thing was the Cadbury's 5 Star an absolute sensation with caremel and toffee all rolled up in smooth silky chocolate with very catch print adverts. The 5Star Bar soon bacame and absolute favourite and is available to this day in India. 

The 5Star Bar soon had competition in the form of the Double Decker Bar a bar with two distinct layers one with chocolate and crunchy cereal (puffed rice?)  and one (the upper) with a sticky chewy white nougat. I was in love!

Round about the same time Cadbury's introduced two creamy centred chocolates in slab form ... Caramello and Orangello .... Caramello is still available in Britain and Australia but the Orangello no one seems to have heard of outside off  India ... even here it had a woefully short career.

The 90's (actually 1989-1995) were perhaps the most startling for Cadbury's fans as Cadbury's entered the market with their own ice-cream brand Dollops ... they soon introduced bar shaped ice-creams called Dairy Milk, 5Star and Double Decker ... though these were a great hit and chocolate ice-cream has never been the same again in India ... Dollops soon closed shop and faded away. Leaving a load of fans in mourning.

The next great thing to come out of the Cadbury stable was a lovely nutty, 'cereally', raisin filled bar coated with caramel and covered with chocolate - it was called the Picnic. Launched with much fanfare in 1998 this really most healthy of chocolates  was a hit with kids and teenagers. Sadly this too is no longer available.

In 2000 Cadbury's launched Perk followed by Ulta Perk in 2007 ... they were reminiscent of Krisp and a direct competition to Nestles KitKat.

Perk in its larger XL avatar.

Ulta Perk had a soft chocolate centre surrounded by a biscuity covering.

Through the years 2000 to 2010 Cadbury's concentrated on pushing it's bar chocolate through their brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan and through a series of very punchy adverts on the telly ... including the now famous 'Pappu pass ho gaya' thereby re-positioning their flagship brand Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate.

In 2010 Cadbury's launched a newer smoother, creamier chocolate called Cadbury's Silk ... as a diehard fan of the old school Cadbury's Dairy Milk I was originally skeptical of this new avatar was this new impostor going to get my vote? The only way to find out was to go and get myself some ... the result was a new love affair with Cadbury's ... Silk is a gorgeous sticky, slightly gooey, all round 'chocolatier' chocolate, it's smoother and has a lower melting point thus making a mess sooner than any other chocolate in India. 

But it's every bit as addictive as the girls in the bharatnatyam recital advert for the product make it seem.

This here is the link to the contest where their winner will get a Fairytale Trip to Paris for two!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/CadburyDairyMilkSilk?feature=mhee#p/u/2/HKTitpZ1JAQ

Enjoy :)

On Golden Sponge Cake

This post is dedicated to my wife - the world's greatest cakemaker.

For the record - I have an incredibly active sweet tooth coupled with an obsession for carbs and the two of these come together in their most holy union in plain ole Golden Sponge Cake.

I am an absolutely shameless glutton and a very snooty connoisseur  of Sponge cake ... Sponge Cake/Golden Sponge Cake/Plain Sponge Cake, etc -  is deceptively simple looking to cook and extremely easy to screw up. 

My wife Rhea makes some of the worlds finest sponge cake keeping alive a tradition started by her Mum ... Her mum Manisha is the first person I have met (and the only one to date) who bakes without precisely measuring her ingredients and yet manages a perfect outcome every time! Rhea has resolutely and effortlessly followed in her footsteps and her Golden Sponge Cake is a thing of beauty and of immense joy to me and all those who have eaten it. The perfect Sponge is neither too light nor too dense and is just a shade undercooked (moist) on the inside and a shade overcooked (golden and chewy crusted) on the top. Don't ask me how she does it 'coz I have no clue. Perhaps it has to do with the loads of TLC she mixes in.

You'll find her recipe here and a variation on the same here.

In this version she added some Vanilla and Cinnamon flavoured sugars that fellow blogger Vinda Dravid had given us at one of the Bloggers Meets. The hints of a lil' extra vanilla and the faint whispers of cinnamon sure enhanced an already perfect creation.

 

The Mumbai Food Bloggers Dinner at the West View Bar & Grill, ITC Grand Maratha

The title of this blog is kind of self descriptive but doesn't even skim upon the absolutely fun time we guys had there.

Rushina magically conjured up a dinner for The Mumbai Food Bloggers at the West View Bar and Grill at the ITC Grand Maratha, Mumbai on the nite of the 1st of October 2011. It was a very erudite and eclectic gathering of Vegans, Vegetarians, pro Food Writers, a Tea afficionado, Food Bloggers and a lone Caterer (namely me). We met up in the small lobby cum Wine display area of the Grill and were immediately set at ease by our host Rini Sinha (of the ITC) and her team ... the bloggers descended on the meat, veggie and salad display like paparazzi at the Royal wedding!! Oh what joy!

Rini and Rushina soon rounded us up and we introduced one another over some lovely Prosecco and some nice Gouda, Edam and what I thought was pretty weird and according to Shanky - a Provolone ... not my strong suite these Italian cheeses.

We moved on to our tables (where we were served some superb light and airy but heavenly herbed Focaccia .... in its very baking pan) and pontificated on the concept of the Grill Restaurant. The Grill is essentially a New York favourite that has permeated the entire restaurant world. A classic example would be Les Halles - Anthony Bourdain's last place of employment. A Grill is essentially a place that has a wide choice of meats (and in India veggies) which are grilled to the clients specs and then plated straight off to the table. It's essentially a meat lovers paradise.

After a bit of 'chit chat' and all around introductions we set forth to pile our plates with the choicest of meats and some of us with some veggies ... me I'm a Meateatarian and very allergic to most forms of veggies ... esp at a Grill!! Just kidding folks.

There was an amazing selection of fish, fowl and red meat along with some very nice looking German sausages. The non-veg spread included: Himalayan Trout (Maseer), Andaman Tuna, Indian Salmon (Rawas),  Snapper (Ghol), Butterflied Tiger Prawns, Chicken Legs, Beef Tenderloin, Mutton steaks, Mutton chops, Bacon and three kinds of German sausage - including Weiss Wurst. I was already in heaven!

I took my plate over to the chef and asked her to do my tenderloin medium-rare and to do with the rest of my plate of fish, prawn, chop and wurst as she deemed fit. We then turned our attention to the rather well stocked Salad Bar. I've been to the ITC's restaurants on numerous occaisons and as always there was a superb spread. Unlike many other 5Star's the ITC really does a super salad spread and their cold cuts are some of the best in India. As usual they did not disappoint. Amongst the usual suspects was a new addition - a Mulberry balsamic - and it was superb, I kicked myself for not having thought of this and filed it away for future reference.

We returned to our tables with our salads and Shanky and I got a nice glass of Sula Red to go with our greens. The cold sliced Ham was the show-stealer amongst the Salad section.

The plates soon arrived at our tables whilst Rushina marshalled the troops and warned us of a competition post Dinner. The spontaneous arrival of 20 plates had created a bit a a snarl and a small bit off confusion and the first couple of plates were kinda lost ... order was soon restored by Rini and her staff who apologised for the mis-plating(?).

We clicked and zoomed and clicked away in a frenzy before knuckling down to the eating.

The meats were superb and my tenderloin was near perfect! I was one happy puppy. The chop, wurst, prawn and the trout were also cooked to perfection. The tuna though was overcooked and very dry. The meats and fish though were very lightly spiced and whilst this appealed to me it did'nt appear to go down too well with everyone. Many of my fellow bloggers felt the fish was overcooked. My only real complaint on the other hand was with the jacket potato which had obviously beein boiled/par-boiled in advance. But considering that they had to plate for 20 of us in less than 20 minutes and that too with plates piled high this was understandable though a tad bit cheeky. Jyotika then tried her hand at some chops, prawns and veggies with her 'Papa's' spl masala mix and added a very nice twist to the taste.

After all that meat (and veggies) we circulated from table to table talking shop and catching up and before we knew it all the tables were being cleared and a small granite super-heated granite/basalt slab in a ceramic vessel/plate/case was placed before us and we were asked to quickly marinate and cook some lamb chops ... which we proceeded to do with gusto.

Team Rushina won the challenge which was judged by Chef Padmaja herself .... Team Kurush got an honourable mention in dispatches :) - Team vegan had the most fun though ;) (see pic below)

Just when we thought it was over Rini and her team brought out a small very carefully planed set of desserts keeping in mind, vegan, veggie and non-veg preferences!! The carnivores got a lovely slice of Apple Strudel, a generic Choc cake/mousse and an absolutely heavenly and fantastic Lemon Grass flavoured Creme Brule!! The Creme Brule had a delicate taste reminiscent of Summery English High Teas and with a very nostalgic trip down memory lane for the Parsi in me. Parsis have been making lemon-grass tisanes for ever and have regularly added it to tea and milk.

The very cherry on the cake was a packet of Laya-chana from Jyotika and a very pretty hexagonal box with hand made tea bags (with Shri Lankan tea in them!!) from Snighda. What a wonderful end to a funky and phenomenal dinner - Good Food, Good Company & Great Ambience.

Thank you Rushina and thank you ITC.

PS This blogpost is dedicated to my friend Gurleen - Enjoy!!