Hunger and thirst on Mutton street
This man’s stomach was thirsty and his eyes were hungry.
Photos in place of words
The longer I stay in Bombay, the less I feel I can say about it.
I’m posting more photos because I am overwhelmed by the city, her raw edges, raw honesty and dishonesty and raw people.
Everything and anything I could say would be a cliche; even a specific statement would be a generalisation in a place where everything depends.
To love or to hate or to feel passionately about this city are far from unique feelings. Who hasn’t felt what I feel about Bombay before?
I used to be confident in describing her: now I am confident that she is describing me.
Thai Paradise
My blog was silent as I was distracted with a week in Thailand. I neglected everything except my pursuit of bliss. I hope you enjoy these photos!
Butter idli and set dosa at Cafe Madras: review
Cafe Madras has been around since 1940, and around in my memory since I visited for the first time in 2010. I was brought, as most of us are, by a friend who promised me authentic South Indian food. I have spent only a few weeks in Tamil Nadu and so the authenticity is lost on me, but a visit to Cafe Madras is not wasted on anyone.
Cafe Madras is a split level restaurant at King’s Circle, Matunga. During the week it’s full of regulars, and the weekend, everyone else and their extended families. The space is small and cramped, with irregular ceilings in the upper berth. The service is without frills unless you count the acrobatics performed by some of the waiters during the Sunday rush: if you expect your dining table or even your menu card to be free of ‘chatni’, you have come to the wrong venue.
We visited Cafe Madras on a Sunday afternoon, and waited an hour to enter as a result. Once inside and settled at a tiny table upstairs, we barely reviewed the menu before a waiter told us what we’d like best. We took his word for it and watched other people shovel idlis, dosa pieces and wet rice into their mouths with their hands with relish as we waited the three and a half minutes for our food to come.
All of the food is served on stainless steel plates that are thrown onto the tables with abandon. Chatni and sambar arrive in multiple baby bowls, spilling over the edges.
Butter idli poodi is the softest idli you’ve ever eaten, drowned in young coconut chatni and fresh white butter. Set dosa is a thicker, sweeter dosa that comes with ‘gunpowder’: a powder made of chillis and salt that one mixes with ghee to dip dosa into. The onion rawa dosa was thinner, more browned and textured with holes everywhere. The food is made in big quantities (we saw vats of chatni and sambar) but unmistakeably fresh. Delicious.
To drink, we recommend the ginger fizz or fresh filter coffee for Rs 15. Cafe Madras is one of those places where you can go with a couple of friends, sit for an hour, order several rounds of dishes, and the bill will come to a few hundred rupees. Cafe Madras isn’t fine dining, but for what it is, it’s just perfect.
Breathless in Bombay
“One generation’s pleasure became a burden for another.” Murzban F. Shroff
Demystifying the Indian domestic airport–featured on The NRI
My piece on who and what you can expect to see in any Indian domestic airport: foxy air hostesses and ‘’bijnissmen’’ are guaranteed.
Another birth; a new generation (of Khar station pigeons)
A few months ago, I documented the growth of infant pigeons after they were born on our office windowsill next to Khar Station. Word must have spread in the pigeon community about the fabulous location offered by our plant-laden windowsill, as another has settled in to start her own family. Congratulations to this kabutar mother on the birth of her baby on Thursday, March 29th, 2012.
Suzette in Bandra: Review
I spend a lot of time in Bombay eating, both at home and in restaurants, and so wanted to make food a more central focus to my blog by reviewing some fun eating places and sharing recipes and food experiences. Cooking and eating are so integral to people, to communities and cultures. Food in Bombay and everywhere is sensory, social, reminiscent and meaningful.
We eat to sustain ourselves, but eating is also a ruse, a set for difficult, joyful, disappointing and exciting conversations. I take a lot of pleasure from a good meal out with friends, and even more from a coffee or a glass of wine with one friend. I love cooking in a big group as much as I love cooking alone in the Pali Naka palace.
In Bombay, millions of people go out for breakfast, for brunch, for lunch, coffee, drinks, dinner and dessert every day. Some of them go to Suzette in Bandra.
Suzette opened in Bandra a month and a half ago. just a couple of months ago: they already have one Nariman point location. Sandwiched between McCraigs and a new and shiny-signed Punjabi restaurant across from Gold’s Gym in Pali Naka, Suzette is already usually busy, and with good reason.
We visited on a sunny Sunday morning at 9:30, before the rush. Iced coffee wasn’t strong enough for my taste, but the cappucino was perfect. We ordered Suzette’s signature offerings, buckwheat crepes: one savoury and one sweet.
The apple and cinnamon filling in the sweet crepe was very nice. Though I would have preferred more pieces of apple and less of a cooked applesauce, the flavour was perfect. However, I thought the robust buckwheat flour was more complimentary to our savoury crepe: the ‘’Italie’’ with arugula, tomato and mozzarella. The Italie crepe was perfect: the arugula was mild but fresh and crisp, and the cheese perfectly stringy. The crepes are a decent size but very thin: those with big appetites (like the diners next to us) may need two crepes per person.
I think Suzette has covered an interesting niche with the buckwheat crepe concept. Many people in Bombay won’t have had buckwheat crepes before and so will experience breakfast at Suzette with a fresh palate, unjaded by real French expectations. I myself am unable to comment on the authenticity of the crepes, as I only visited France once seven years ago: I know only that they’re delicious. Suzette also offers a variety of eggs, cereals and toasts. The coffee was a standout: smooth and dark. I think that the use of simple, high quality ingredients has served Suzette well. They understand the value of ‘slow food,’ dark chocolate, real coffee and fresh fruit and vegetables.
I thought the service at Suzette was very good by any standard. Some diners in Bombay get miffed at having to pour water for themselves: I’ d rather pour water myself than have to wait for service, so was happy to have a bottle on the table. The waiter and manager both came out to check on whether we were enjoying our food.
I visit a restaurant for an overall experience, not just a food experience. Suzette is a lovely place for a weekend breakfast because it’s an easy Bandra destination, has pleasant seating both inside and outside, and has a variety of high quality food offerings. I will definitely be back at Suzette.
A Sunday fairytale in Bandra
Today began with play when a princess in a princess frock and her little brother came to visit. Starring Riddhi and Athurva.
Old school romance: Bandstand at Sunset
When I first moved to Mumbai almost two years ago, I shared a 2BHK with 6 other girls by Bandstand. It was up Kane Road, between Mount Mary Church and Shah Rukh Khan’s bungalow. I had come not directly from Canada, but from Varanasi, where women cover their heads when outside and don’t meet men’s eyes in the streets. More than the beauty or breeze of the seaside promenade, I was struck by Bandstand’s freedom.
At Bandstand, women of all ages walk around at all hours in dresses, more carefree than any women in any other part of India could be. In the early evenings, teenage couples express their love and hormones freely, meandering lower onto the rocks if they want more privacy. Chaat and chaiwalas of all sorts parade their goods on the promenade, stray dogs following them hopefully, helplessly.
At 8AM on a weekday morning, students meet and flirt secretly, having left on the guise of going to college early to study. At 5AM on a Saturday morning, when everything else is closed, other partiers can be found revelling the breeze at Bandstand. Friday night hasn’t yet ended for these young dreamers. At that same time, aunties in salwar kameez and Nike trainers are too tired for dreams and staying up late. They’re up early, attacking their Saturday morning with a brisk walk and a gossip session. For some, one day hasn’t yet ended, and for others, the next has already begun. All in the dark before dawn.
Bandstand feels like old Bollywood and is an iconic part of Bandra.
