Naushijaan - Lucknowi Tehzeeb comes to Mumbai

Last week Rhea and I were invited to eat and consult at a newly opened restaurant in the eastern suburbs ... but a sudden tragedy struck and their A/C unit conked out shutting down the entire restaurant, we were disappointed and decided to make our weary way home when I remembered seeing a a new restaurant claiming to serve Lucknowi delicacies on the Kurla-Ghatkopar Rd ... we did an immediate rethink and decided to redraw the days plan of action and turn towards this new eatery. 

To add to our desires was the fact that a common friend, foodie and food writer Kalyan (The Knife) Karmakar had been giving our taste-buds sleepless nights with his posts from his ongoing Food Safari in Lucknow  :)

Naushijaan (Lazzat-e-Lucknow) - is situated just off the Kurla-Ghatkopar LBS Marg, It is a low roofed eatery with wall to wall pictures of Lucknow's Architectural Heritage, the Nawabs of Lucknow and the various dishes made and served at the restaurant. The outside of the restaurant has a Ulta-tava parantha maker cum BBQ on one side and a tava for Galauti Kebabas and Tava Chicken on the other. It is mainly a no frills, non-luxury, A/c restaurant with its entire staff imported from Lucknow.

(Naushijaan is a chain of Lucknowi restaurants originating in Lucknow with franchisees/branches in Chandigarh, Kolkata, Coimbatore and now in Mumbai.)

They seated us at a table and immediately brought a small basin  with warm water and  an ewer for us to wash our hands with. This struck a perfect note with me.

We ordered (on recommendation) - The Galouti Kebabs, The Tava Chicken, The Mutton Parda Kebab Pasanda with Ulte Tave ke Paranthe. The chicken was really nice but not spectacular. The mutton was really rich, spicy, silken in texture and extremely flavourful. The Galouti kebabs on the other hand were really spectacular, they were redolent of pure ghee and the smell of fried meat, they had a nice crisp outside with a soft melt in the mouth inside. Galoutis I have eaten in 5 Star hotels have always tasted pasty and flat on the inside, these on the other hand had definite texture, extremely soft but not a complete paste, they were beautifully well seasoned and cardamom was the single strong note amongst many subdued ones. The Parantha was the perfect accompaniment.

 By the time we finished with the kebabs and chicken we realised all we had place for was the Biryani ... the saalans would have to wait for another time.

Our friendly waiter Radhe Singh recommended both the Pullao-style in Mutton as well as the Degh-style ... we cast caution to the winds and decided to call for one of each. The both arrived looking very similar with a beautifully shiny silver varakh on top, but they both tasted completely exquisite and different. The pullao was moist (a tad cold) and had a robust taste of onions and spices. The degh-style was drier and redolent with the aroma of the spices which had permeated not just the soft juicy shank of mutton but each and every grain of rice. The degh-style was the clear winner. The word for all Awadhi rice dishes is Pullao, Biryani is a word used outside the Awadhi/Lucknowi heartland. We barely ate a third of each and parcelled the rest. 

Sadly there was no Shahi Tukda as they weren't satisfied with the bread available locally and no Shirmaal as they couldn't get the correct food colour in Mumbai!

Radhe Singh washing Rhea's hands post meal.

We were so happy with the food and the parcels we took home that  were back the next week with our friend Jubal - who had heard so much from us about the amazing food that he drove down from Nahur when he heard we were on our way there.

We tried the Chicken Tangdi (drumstick) Kebabs, which were really lovely; the Kakori Kebabs, which were dry, gamey, pasty, over-spiced and a bit weird with the Afghani Naan or Afghani Parantha. The Afghani  which was an absolute delight was a kind of bread that I have never seen or eaten in Mumbai to date. The Afghani Parantha was sublime to say the least, sweet, slightly stretchy, crisp on the outside and spongy and soft on the inside with a divine taste. I would come back just to eat this!

With the Afghani we had the saalans we had missed out the last time - Jehangiri Chicken and Mutton Majlisi.
The combination was perhaps not the best idea as the Jehangiri was a subtle flavour with hints of kewra (screw pine essence) and mace whilst the Majlisi was a robust preparation cooked in mince and charged with pepper, black elaichi, cloves and cardamom ... cardamom appears to be the favourite spice at Naushijaan and is present in all its preparations.

We had to have the Degh ki Biryani (Of course!!) and I followed it with their Phirnee. The phirnee was rich, flavourful, not too sweet, full of nuts and a cardamom pod (!), but I was a bit peeved that it was served in a small 100ml plastic vaati against the usual shallow 'V' shaped earthenware dish.

All in all Naushijaan is an experience I recommend to all lovers of good food, meat and Awadhi/Lucknowi food in Mumbai ... its a great place for great food.


9th March 2013 ... 'tis with great sadness that I have to announce here that Naushijaan shut shop late last year ... I was told they felt they were very badly located and therefore wenren't doing as well as they needed to. :-(

Punjab da Aab in Mumbai

I have been shirking my blogging responsibilities of late by claiming tiredness, too much work, heat, etc, etc, etc ... but Naushijaan at Kurla and Oye Kake at Fort just ensured that I had to get back to writing.

Well here's the blogpost on Oye Kake. 

Oye Kake is a small Punjabi vegetarian restaurant in a small bylane in Fort, just off PM Rd, right next to the venerable Yazdani Bakery. They are what at first glance appears to a slightly trendy version of the ubiquitous Punjabi Restaurant that we see all over Mumbai ... but scratch the surface a bit and you see that it's not that and has a surprising amount of depth and contemporariness. It's funky quotient is that all of it's food is vegetarian, authentically Amritsari and that their Kulchas are made in water (Aab) brought down all the way from Amritsar! 

I ate the kulchas on my last visit and can vouch for their yumminess without being quite able to discern what they have imbibed specifically from the Amritsari aab. All the kulchas are served with a small portion of some of the softest most palate exciting chhole that I have ever eaten out side a Punjabi home in Mumbai.

My student Tanvi was down from Singapore on her first holiday after her nuptials and her classmates Arti and Manish decided we needed to meetup, chit chatting took so long that Tanvi decided to stay over in Fort rather than brave the train journey to Malad ... this was all the excuse we needed and we went off to Oye Kake to dig into sum Punjabi veggie goodness.

The restaurant has a happy youthful feel with some cartoons on the walls alongside some lovely black and white pictures, chimtas. 

The Menu is printed on a thick board with the dishes on one side and a small write up about the place on the  other. We quickly ordered some chhaas for Tanvi and me, pedhewali lassi for Arti and a Pepsi for Manish.

Tanvi then evinced a desire to eat some Masala Papad and her request was our command!

We ordered Alu Paranthas, a Cheese and Garlic Naan, Palak Paneer and Rajma Chaval.

The Alu Paranthas were nothing that special -good but not superb, the Naan though was a divine experience especially gooey on the inside with explosive chunks of garlic and buttered lightly on the outside .... I could go back just to eat this! The Paneer was fresh, soft, creamy yet silken; the palak seasoned just right with tempering before being puréed - together a perfect marriage.

 The Rajma Chaval arrived in a bucket (as expected) but without much ghee ... when we asked for some we were pleasantly surprised to be immediately rewarded with a large vaati of the genuine stuff. The Rajma was cooked as only Punjabis know how, delicately spiced, tangy, cooked so soft  it dissolved on contact with ones tongue ... this was North India in all its simple culinary delights.

We finished of with kesar phirnee (dehydrated), malai kulfi (watery) and the most divine Gulab Jamuns I have eaten in quite some time. The Gulab Jamuns made up for all the other dessert disappointments and we soon called for a second round and then a third round!

The young owner of Oye Kake was there and was quick to remark that he had seen us 'diss' his Phirnee and upon checking realised something was way wrong that day. We had a pleasant conversation and I promised him that I would write about his place because I had eaten really well and yet didn't feel heavy and stuffed. So well here it is.

Oye Kake is in a small lane and parking in the day time would be a serious problem at night though its plentiful. The service is prompt, the waiters and staff smiling, quick and helpful and the owner is usually right there in his restaurant - making sure all his staff are delivering the goods.

Dum Pukht at the ITC Maratha

Rushina called me up in the last week of February asking me to join her in a Single Malt pairing with Indian Food. Alas, I was involved in archaeological field work in Mangaon Taluka and had to beg off. To make up for my disappointment she asked me to join her and a group of fellow bloggers at the ITC Maratha's newly refurbished and reopened Dum Pukht a couple of weeks later.

The cuisine of the Dum Pukht  is essentially Avadhi cuisine of the uppermost echelons. It is rich, redolent and delicious. The cuisine is predominantly non-vegetarian with Mutton being the mainstay. All the spice mixes always have one central spice that shines forth and can be easily singled out. Chicken, fish (mainly fresh water fish) and estuarine prawns are also major supporting artists in the ensemble. Dals of various sorts often cooked overnight, complex very rich desserts, sublime biryanis and a huge assortment of breads make up the cast. Vegetables are usually a part of the meat/fish dish with few solo exceptions like aubergines and okra. Their menus boast of a huge range of kebabs, salans (gravies) and other courses.

So with trusty camera in tow I zipped over to Sahar and met up with a whole host of blogger friends in the lobby of the ITC Maratha. Ever efficient Rini and Aishwarya had set up a beautiful table with some truly gorgeous handmade crockery by RAK Ceramics of the UAE. The new decor was way over the top and quite kitschy in a white and mirror way that made you feel opulent and Nawabi without being garish. Something I wouldn't do at home but wouldn't mind dining in.

As we were led to the table the bloggerazzi reached out and brought forth an impressive array of cameras .... Pranav Kacholia, Megha Goyal and Saee Koranne-Khandekar deserve special mention for their impressive cameras!

We were welcomed with traditional Awadhi greetings and as we were seated we were presented with personalised menus ... telling us that we were in for a truly sumptuous feast of near epic proportions. The china was breathtaking as was the glassware. The Dum Pukht's sommelier then informed us that he had chosen specific wines to compliment the various courses and proceeded to serve us with a lovely South African Chardonnay. When I told him I didn't much care to pair wines with Indian food he quickly got me a lovely dram of 16 yr old Lagavulin that went surprisingly well with the meal.

We started off with an array of starters. The first up was a simple chicken kebab with silver varakh (edible silver foil). This was followed by a lovely crumbed fried fillet of Bhetki (Barramundi) marinated in lemon, an influence from the Bengali past of the Awadhi dynasty. Next up was the Kakori Kebab, super soft, extremely finely minced, delicately spiced Sheeks. These were finger lickingly delicious! The next starter was a surprise. Dudiya Kabab - pan fried roundels of panir with a middle layer of spiced and mashed potatoes which were finished using a technique called Dum. This was truly an eye opener and a palette pleaser. After this were served up some very interesting vegetarian Sheeks made with lotus seed and stems and then large tikkis made with spinach and chickpeas.

The next course was a surprise. It was a shorba - an Indian soup, the soup plates were sprinkled with crisp sprouted moong (sans the seeds!!) upon which was poured a thick spicy vegetarian soup made of vegetable stock and moong dal. It was a true treat, both in texture and flavour, and a surprising winner.

The salans followed next. First up was a Jhinge ka Salan, Prawns in a yogurt gravy flavoured with fenugreek. It was an unmitigated disaster. They had used the wrong prawn, marine Tiger Prawns instead of estuarine or pond raised Bengali Golda Chingri; a salan that was neither here nor there; and lastly by overcooking the prawn till it was a block of rubber! A waste of good seafood.

As though to make up for this we were served with a lovely simple chicken cooked in a bowl with a pastry top like a pot-pie. Interestingly, as many of the bloggers pointed out, the coloured bell peppers and tomatoes in it were definitely not period.

Next up was a sublime, butter soft shank of lamb in a rich, thin gravy redolent of almonds, ghee and whole garam masalas. This dish - Shahi Nehari, was a traditional breakfast dish enjoyed by the Nawabs of Avadh. Sadly in this day and age instead of being cooked slowly in its spices over 8 hours .... the meat had been boiled separately and then mated with the gravy. The top note was one of cardamom. One wondered that if this tasted so delicious how much more astounding the slow cooked version mus have been. 

The gravy course was finished by a classic dal preparation Maash Qaliya. Suffice to say it was able to hold its own quite well amongst all the preceding stars.

All the salans were served with different flat-breads. Khamiri roti (a sourdough bread), Taftan Dum Pukht a flaky puff pastry kind, Tara Naan (a refined flour and semolina dough mixed with milk), Warqi paratha (a richer multi-layered ajwain flavoured bread), and their signature bread - the Naan-e-bah Khummach (semolina and whole wheat bread sprinkled with poppy seeds).

The next course, and one I had been waiting for, was the legendary Dum Pukht Biryani ... a dish where spiced and marinated mutton was cooked inside long grained and aromatic Basmati rice. It was an understated, divinely fragrant biryani. There were no frills and no unnecessary garnishes, it was amazingly aromatic with a gentle but firm waft of mace and kewra.  The mutton was silkily soft and the rice was fragrant yet light. It was a true classic. The Burhani Raita that accompaanied it was the perfect consort to a kingly dish.

After all this we realised the desserts were still to come! The sommelier paired them with a Hungarian dessert wine which I tasted but refused, it was too sweet for me. 


We were served the classic Kulfi which was quite nice, a Phirnee which was subtle and very classically understated and a enormous pistachio encrusted Gulab Jamun called the Shahed-e-Jam which was sadly too sweet and really not that great. 

We realised that the Dum Pukht team had overlooked the very famous dessert classic - the Shahi Tukda - a slice of leavened bread, pan fried in ghee, then dipped in sugar syrup flavored with kewra and topped with a hot layer of Rabdi (greatly reduced slightly sweetened milk) and assorted chopped nuts ... Rini and Aishwarya immediately complied with my request and we were served a very nice version of this classic. Though I must say that Jaffer Bhai's version is still the superior one!

All in all it was one of the best meals I have had this year, the company was great, the service superb, the hosting exquisite and the food really really good. Now if they only sort out the way they do their prawns and tighten up their desserts this will be the meal/restaurant to beat in Mumbai.

The Sated Bloggers!

Chandhore and Mangaon: An amazing Medieval site and the best Mango Mastani in the Konkan

Woke up at 5.45am yesterday to go for a site visit to the amazing Medieval site located at Chandhore Chambharpada, taluka Mangaon, district Raigadh. After a lovely ride past Pen we arrived at Vadkhal naka stopped for chai and some mediocre vadas and a quick washroom break. Refueled we raced for Mangaon - a small town on the Mumbai-Goa Highway (NH17) - 130km away from Mumbai. 

To those who don't know - Mangaon is just a minor pit stop on the way to Goa ... to those who know a bit more, its a great place to buy fresh veggies, black crabs, raw cashew seeds (in season) and various forest products that the Katkari tribals bring in from the surrounding forests. It is also the jumping off point from the highway to the coastal villages/medieval ports  of Mhasla and Diveagar. Halfway to Mhasla (via Morba) is the small quiet hamlet of Chandhore. Chandhore is a bit of a bizarre hamlet. They have zero crime, have never had any communal problems, celebrate all the various Hindu and Buddhist festivals together and since 1934 have done these without any caste based distinctions! The Grampanchayat has also bagged ever single incentive/award the state has to offer!! All the houses - repeat all - have attached toilets and open air defecation (something extremely common in villages) is unheard off here. To add to this is the fact that Summers in Chandhore are cool and in years past people recovering from TB were sent here for R&R as the weather is usually dry and cool throughout the year. There's tonnes of greenery and a number of old manmade lakes/tanks from the medieval period. The coast is just spitting distance away and the (now famous) seaside town of Diveagar is a hop skip and jump from Chandhore. This little village has the potential of turning into a little Hill Station enroute to Diveagar!

(click on above picture for larger picture with higher resolution)

Sometime last year, Ms Karnik's mum-in laws sister Kunda Maushi reminded her and Mr Karnik about the antiquity of the village. Ms Karnik (Director, Centre for Extra-Mural Studies, Univ of Mumbai) immediately decided that we should go have a look see and we made a quick recce along with Dr Abhijit Dandekar and were pleasantly surprised to find a group of medieval Hindu temples (plinths), a large number of Hero/Sati stones, various sculptural fragments and a large tank cut into the native laterite rock with a narrow staircase leading into it. To our absolute surprise one wall had two rectangular niches one of which held insitu a weathered basalt image of Uma-Maheshwara.

Hero and Sati stones lying scattered at the site with a battered Nandi in the background.

One of the plinths.

The niche with the image.

Uma-Maheshwara from Chandhore.

We were there yesterday to meet the representatives of the gramsabha and to acquaint them with the treasures at their doorstep. We also explained to them that this heritage needed to be understood, accepted, explained to the children and that this was something the village could not only be proud of but could show off to all the world. We got a very enthusiastic response from the gathered village elders and they welcomed our efforts to work here and help promote this unknown but important part of the heritage of India, Maharashtra, the Konkan and Chandhore.

We did a quick recce of the sites and were happy to have Dr Suraj Pandit, renowned Art Historian and Archaeologist, with us. He gave us a series of new insights into the  materials that were scattered all over the landscape. 

Dr Suraj Pandit in action at Chandhore taking a picture of a Sheshashayi Vishnu plaque which may have been from the second niche in the step-well.

Modern Temple at Chandhore

Intricate memorial pillar ... possibly from the 13th c AD

On the way out (yesterday) we stopped over to say goodbye to Kunda Maushi who promptly made us sit down to a quick snack of Rice bhakri with Dried prawns in masala and a lovely dish of slowly cooked matki (Sprouted Moong).

Our mission accomplished we decided to head back to Mumbai when I told the gang we needed to stop at Mangaon and go to Vasav to have the most amazing Mango Mastani in all the Konkan. Mr Karnik was most sceptical and since Ms Karnik is lactose intolerant they decided to give it a miss and meet an old friend whilst me, Suraj and Mr Samuel Nazareth (of AAMRAE) along with our driver Kadam decided to head off to Vasav on the Mumbai-Goa Highway at Mangaon. 

We first found Vasav 4 years ago whilst driving down to Goa and Rhea ran across and got me a thick slice of delicious Mango Icecream made sans hydogenated vegetable oil! Ever since that day whenever we drive to and from Goa we try and pick up some more of the golden goodness. The last time (this May) Rhea got me some oftheir Mango mastani and I was completely bowled over by the sweet, cold, smooth, flavouresome and absolutely delicious concoction of Mango milkshake topped with large cubes of Mango Icecream and then garnished with bits of fruit jelly. The Mango Mastani is named after Mastani, the the wife of the famous Maratha Peshwa Bajirao I.

The Mango Mastani at Vasav, Mangaon NH17

We went in and were greeted by Mr Raju Shete the owner who is a trained pharmacist and runs the chemists shop you can see behind him. This used to be a family icecream shop that was given to his youngest brother when he went off to study pharmacy, sadly the brother died very young and the shop was then handed over to the next brother who ran it for a few years before marrying and moving on to run his father in laws business. Five years ago raju decided to pick up the gauntlet, emptied out all the old machinery, brought in new tech and set the old place back on it's feet. He hasn't looked back ever since and the popularity of his product alongside the praise from Pune-ites (where Mastani has said to have been invented) has prompted him to decide upon opening a branch in Pune. The branch is all set to open end Feb early March and I wish him all success.

The menu includes such local delicacies like Fresh Tender Coconut Icecream and Caramel Icecream (which sadly never caught on in Mangaon), alongside sherbets, faloodas and icecream slices and party packs.

 Dr Pandit and Samuel Sir - Before (Above) ... During (Below and farther below :))

Kadam in action

Well sated (we had 2 rounds ;)) we got into our jeep and sped off to Mumbai via Shudha Shanti Bhavan, Vadkhal Naka and their superb Batatwadas and crunchy Kothimbir wadis .... but that's a story for another day.

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!