Food hopping again. Reviewing two more: Umame and Faaso's

So, yesterday night, we ordered food using the Faaso's App. This app allows you very easy ordering of food from one of the fastest growing chains in Mumbai, the Faaso's chain. The best thing about the food is that it is hygienically wrapped and boxed and sent to you hot and attractively displayed. The next best thing is that the food is really affordable. 

I can't say that they delivered the food from which outlet, or whether they have a central kitchen or/and a food parcel depot, as I ordered their food using their app. Seriously, friends, they are super good when it comes to hygienic packing and small addons. For example, every covered plate has a neat label stating which dish is inside. They delivered in an hour and 15 minutes from wherever they packed it and sent it to us in south central Mumbai. We had ordered a mutton biryani, a chinese noodle dish with what looked like Manchurian chicken, and a chicken kolhapuri+dal+rice+ ... etc, full meal.

The entire thing cost us only INR 650 ... that IS cool.

At the other end of the cost spectrum is a fine-dining restaurant that we discovered because we could not get bookings at some OTHER restaurant. So, we decided to go to UMAME restaurant, located inside the Eros Theatre building (Khambatta Chambers). This restaurant is owned by the famous Farookh Khambatta of the Joss restaurant  at Kala Ghoda (now that one closed about 3 years ago, and Umame lived up to its reputation very much! We ordered three items, one for each one of us (my daughters and I), and then followed it up with an awesome dessert.

We've eaten at Joss before, but this time, to be frank, the food blew us away. We were first-timers, and the steward there, one Mr. Russell, who has been with Mr. Khambatta for the past ten years (earlier at Joss at Kala Ghoda) became our guide. He suggested the perfect dishes according to our requirements. We wanted to try everything, but opted for one starter, two main dishes, a rice item and a dessert. Everything was perfect, and we came back pleased as punch. Well, we did not take any drinks, so maybe the word "punch" is inappropriate here, ha ha.

The starter was a Prickly ash-peppered snapper cut into pieces. It was really good. For the main course, we had sea-bass cooked in banana leaves and beef in the form of Prime tenderloin steak. To complement these two, Mr. Russell insisted on ordering Vietnamese fried rice, and to tell you the truth, that was just perfect.

For dessert we had something astonishingly beautiful ... and it was NOT the Big Bang stuff, but a more humble but exotic filo mille feuille with assorted berries!

Review: Katti Batti - the movie

A few days ago, I went to see Katti Batti, a new movie from Bollywood. Directed by Nikhil Advani, this is the story of a man and a woman who meet in college, and go through twists and turns in their romantic life before learning the value of each other. The lead roles in this movie are played by Imran Khan and Kangana Ranaut.

Maddy (Imran) falls for a hep Payal (Kangana - imagine the irony here!) in college, when she appears in the most outlandish outfit ever known to grace a woman (see picture below). When he asks her her name from across a glass partition, she gently lifts up her long skirt and shows him her anklet. Wow ... what an imaginative charade!

The interaction between Payal, the "neglected" daughter of Page 3 socialite parents and Maddy (Madhav), the son of the usual kind of parents is enjoyable in the first half; the songs are beautifully picturised, the dialogue is kitsch, but a few scenes are really good (e.g. when Maddy has to push his non-starting bike all across the campus with Payal sitting atop it like a queen). 

Maddy's sister (Ms Irksome) creates the most cacophony in the movie. When, one fine day, Payal leaves the five year old live-in relationship house and goes away to a place unknown to Maddy, the otherwise effervescent romeo turns into a morose Majnu, moping the world over for his lost love. His attempts to track her down finally take him to her, but the denouement comes when Payal announces the reason for her running away. Eventually, tragedy triumphs, and a sort of meaning is added to the movie. 

When all the chips have fallen in place, you feel sympathy for all the actors! 

Rating: 6 *
Running all over India.

Review: Everest - The movie

Mount Everest has always beckoned people to try and conquer it, and reaching the pinnacle of this huge mountain is often equated with the biggest accomplishment anyone can have in this world in the field of adventure and thrill, in the field of endurance, stamina, courage and absolute exhilaration. 

This is a movie based on a true story. The year is 1996, and the story traces the adventure of two teams of Everest climbers led by the expedition head, their backup teams and support and the actual travellers who have paid money to these expeditions to reach the top of Mount Everest. The two teams are led by Robert Hall (played by Jason Clarke) (Adventure Consultants) and Scott Fisher (Jake Gyllenhaal) (Mountain Madness), and they come together for synergistic reasons. Some of their climbers include a mailman (Doug Hansen - John Hawkes) who is doing this for glory, a seasoned mountaineer (Beck Weathers - Josh Brolin), and a Japanese woman (Yasuko Namba - Naoko Mori) who has already scaled 6 summits and hopes to crown her experience with this, her 7th climb, to Everest. 

This story is a thriller all right. The camera work, special effects and the narrative story are top class. There are reports that the shooting was not only done in Nepal, but at several other places in the world, including the Alps in Italy and some studios in Rome and the U.S. 

The story starts on a positive note, and continues to remain hopeful until when the climbers reach the Hillary steps, a very narrow ledge on the way to the summit, where the leaders and guides have to perform the additional duty of installing fixed ropes before the climbers can go up; then, a storm begins to grow upon the climbers. The rest of the story is the real story of how the climbers and the guides had to battle the elements to survive; many perish, and some return successfully to tell their story to their family and to the world. 

See this movie if you love to see a technically well-made movie with a strong story line. It is filmed in 3D, but the movie had few moments to justify its 3D avatar. 

Rating: 4 *
Running at: Inox CR2, Nariman Point and IMAX Wadala,

Review: K Rustom Ice creams and slushes

  Any Mumbaikar knows what I am talking about. I started visiting K. Rustom and Co. in childhood, when their trademark sandwich ice creams cost Re. 0.40 each. With the passing of years, the prices increased to 0.80, then 1.50, and so on. Today, the regular range costs Rs. 60 a piece, and the premium range goes over Rs. 80 to even up to 200 per piece.

From Google Maps

I had the occasion to go there again today, after a gap of over a year. The Parsi lady who sits at the counter does little except to collect the money and to return the change. The work is done by a staff of mostly Maharashtrian workers, who flit from one customer to another with an amazing efficiency. The guy who took my order was as efficient as any of the others. A ready reckoner of sorts is stuck on the wall behind the cashier. It gives multiples of 30, of 60, of 80, and so on.These are the prices of different units of ice creams and slushes. There are the usual ice creams, and then, there are the exotic ones. For example, you can get a lychee ice cream almost throughout the year!

I purchased 3 ice creams - a pistachio, a chocolate nut and a kesar-pista. For Rs. 180/= only. These three biscuit ice creams should be enough to share between the four of us. 

Where is this place? It is on Veer Nariman Road, the main road between Churchgate station and Pizza by the Bay. You stick to the south foot-path, passing by the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, then the Gaylord, then the Alankar and Wordell Chemists, and finally, you are there. It is the second shop in the CCI building complex. It is always open on all holidays, and also on normal days. You will always find customers here, from all classes of society. The place is small, and you won't find rest rooms, but there is a wash basin and drinking water. Small benches meant only for the weary customer waiting for his parcel adorn the side. 

Try their special ice creams and you will see why they are so popular. On most food review sites, people rave about K. Rustom and Co. Zomato has over 500 reviews, and the average rating is 4.6/5.0. The case is the same with other sites like mouthshut, burrp, etc. 

For larger parties, they even provide the ice creams in thermocol boxes (for which you need to pay a refundable deposit).

Tel. +912222821768
Timings: 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., daily
Address: Stadium House, 87, V. Nariman Road, Churchgate, Mumbai

Review: Village, The Soul of India, Cuffe Parade

As I cool my feet here in Mumbai, waiting for the next phase in my life to reveal itself, I decided to diversify my blog writing into reviewing stuff. This can be reviews of books, movies, electronic products, services, etc. etc. The idea is to share my thoughts with readers who visit my blog regularly.

Today, I am going to talk about a restaurant that my family and I visited last week. This restaurant at the World Trade Center, Cuffe Parade is known simply as The Village, and subtitled "The Soul of India".  It is one of a chain of 7 outlets in Mumbai. 

A screenshot from www.zomato.com

The way to the main door is lit up nicely, and your path is flanked by counters on the wall where they've created a village ambience. The day we went was a Sunday evening, and we expected some rush. Fortunately, there wasn't a rush. We went past the walls decorated with glass bangles, faux cow dung hanging from threads, tyres from cars and Bollywood photos and through the multi-coloured gate into the restaurant reception. A manager approached us to know how many we were, and directed us to the payment counter, where we paid the cover charges of Rs. 600 per person for an unlimited buffet-style meal.

The interior was cooled by large air-conditioners placed discreetly behind tables. There were three real trees that lofted up above us, and through a net placed between three surrounding buildings. We were actually in a modified outdoors location! Rows of serving areas lay all around us on the sides of the central, open area. We went around, examining the various items on the menu as well as the interesting decor. There are areas made to look like village locations. Thus, we have a "Billoo barber shop", a "leddies tailler" shop, and several other similar areas. We also had a "pathshala", a "baraf-gola and drinks" station, a "sweets and dosa station", a "barbeque and rotis" station, plus the usual veg and non-veg table each. Of course, there was a chaat and pani-puri stall as well. 

There was a mini "bioscope" showing various village and national mnuments on turning a lever at the top, a "mini-puppet" theatre, and, as we continued through the evening, a live dance by some of the artists, in which the audience was also invited to join, a dandiya raas with audience participation, and, finally, a mini-dahi-handi (we had gone there on the eve of Gokulashthmi) where some kids were lofted on to the shoulders of the staff members, and they were asked to break a handi filled with milk.

Food wasn't exceptional, but there was plenty of variety, with veg and non-veg options. We had fish and chicken as well as paneer and veg starters, chaat, pani-puris, dosas, jalebi, main course of chicken, mutton and vegetarian dishes, with assorted rotis, biryani and pulao. One could go and have baraf golas and flavoured drinks as often as desired. A paan store was lacking, though, and I drew the manager's attention to this, and he agreed to look into it.

The food was above average, but not exceptional, as I already pointed out earlier. However, at Rs. 600 for an unlimited meal, this is probably the best location in south Mumbai for an evening of fun.

My ratings:

Ambiance: 4/5
Food 3/5
Price 4.5/5
Service 3.5/5

Overall 4/5

Village: The Soul of India
World Trade Center, The Arcade, Courtyard 2, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai
Tel.: +912222163355/+919987131339
www.villagethesoulofinidia.com