Sunday, May 28, 2006

Oh Calcutta Express

I just posted about a 3.5/5 restaurant. Not the kind of stuff great weekends are made of. But this weekend was great because of a 5/5 place: Oh Calcutta Express!

Oh Calcutta Express is the smaller cousin of the Tardeo Oh Calcutta that has opened at Lokhandwala. I used to frequent the tardeo one about a year and half back. So when I heard about the Lokhandwala one, naturally I was keen to visit it. For one reason or the other, it never happened upto this weekend.

I was guided in menu selection by old friends Ritu and Pranob who hail from Calcutta. I am usually content to leave myself in the hands of Ritu who is expert at ordering. More on her expertise with Joey's pizza in a later post.

Suffice it to say it was so good that I was back on Saturday evening for a second round. Surprisingly, I was welcomed with a very broad smile and comments of how good it was to see me again. I replied that it was only my second time. And I was told that they remember me from the Tardeo Oh Calcutta! I was left speechless. If a place remembers its patrons after a gap of one and half years, it speaks volumes about its service.

Oh calcutta express is smaller than its tardeo cousin and more cramped. I expected it to be noisy as a natural consequence but its not. Maybe because of the bhadralok who visit it! Service is polite and very quick.

One is served a aloo chanaa chaat as a complimentary appetiser. One can overdo it easily as its quite tasty and the folks at Oh Calcutta keep replenishing it! But then the order too arrives quickly and there is more to take the attention away.

On friday, we had some kebabs followed by Calcutta Biryani. All this was new to me as I'm used to ordering fish at Oh Calcutta. Pranob rightly commented that its a mistake to think that Bengali food is all about fish.

Its worthwhile to dwell a bit on the Biryani. There are around 80 kinds of Biryani in India according to some counts. There is a spectrum of spicier one (Hyderabadi biryani) to the lighter ones (Andhra Biryani!). The calcutta biryani redefined the lighter extreme for me. No masala but carefully selected spices. I also thought that I detected milks/khoa in it. Certainly a delicacy. I was intrigued by the presence of potato and the accompanying raita. These are there in the Hyderabadi biryani (probably the first biryani) for the change of taste from the very spicy to normal. But given how light the calcutta one is, I didn't really the see the need for change of taste. Probably, its a level of subtlety that I could not appreciate.

One can't really talk about bengali food without the sweet dishes. I had Misthi doi and it was just as expected. But the surprise was Rossogolla Payesh. I was too full on Friday to try more but on Saturday I had three helpings. Its one of the experiences which cannot be expressed fully in words. I know because I have tried doing so for last 10 mins before giving up!

Oh Calcutta express has the wow factor for almost every dish that I have tasted. Its a perfect 5 in my books. Now I have the only convince my team for a thali lunch (Rs 149 only!).

Hotel Mirador

Hotel Mirador is near Cigarette factory, Chakala.

The first things that one notices are: 24 Hr restaurant, happy hours upto 10 PM(!) and the buffet. There are a few dishes that are available 24 Hrs and not the entire menu. Makes you wonder if they just heat these and serve! The happy hours are certainly a gimmick; where else do you have a beer bottle for Rs 160! And the discount on beer is 40% which takes the effective prrice to Rs 96! The lunch buffet is Rs 225 while dinner is for Rs 375. The difference between the two is addition of one soup and one salad!!

Let's look at the food. Food spread is very nice for the buffet. For lunch there is one veg soup and a no of salads out which only one is veg. One can start off with a choice of veg and non-veg kabab followed by 1 rice and daal and again a no of main course preparations. The buffet certainly wins hands down on the spread. The food is usually well cooked but lacks the wow factor. I have been to Mirador many times now and I've never had an occassion where any item has been beyond "good". But then all items are good!

Moving on to ambience. This is really the weakest point. Its a small place and with only a few tables occupied it is very noisy. Add loud music to that and one wants to leave quickly. In the evenings, it is no different from a pub. So if you want dinner, avoid. if you want a pub, it lacks the atmosphere and is too pricey.

Service is usually good though they need to learn some intricacies. If there is a promotional offer of a free glass of wine with the first; the two glasses should not be served together.

On the whole, Mirador gets points on convenience and the buffet spread. It looses on its pricing and ambience. A 3.25.

intro

A question that bugged me when I considered blogging was what do I talk about? I've chosen to write about food because I love food, I love eating out but its largely because people already ask me about food places.

I love being in Mumbai primarily for one reason: good food. I'll use this blog to share some of my culinary adventures; largely in Mumbai but elsewhere as well. Stay tuned!