Mumbai restaurants-- the melting pot of varied cuisines

Have you ever heard of a term- the hotter the weather, the spicy the food must be- and if this is what gets you hungry, visit restaurants in Mumbai, the melting pot of cuisines—where you taste no difference in street food and fine dining servings.

To top this, the city offer tourists with restaurants for breakfast options, especially if you are one who enjoys home-style cooking and believe that junk food should ideally be in the junk box and not in your tummies.

Staying true to the aforesaid term, the Kolhapuri Mutton dish personifies it. With roots that stem from Kolhapur, this dish is served at restaurants in Mumbai as well, if you are looking for a heavy morning meal option. If you are into tarts, brownies and cakes, then head off to the cafes at Mumbai. I prefer a heavy morning meal and hence, when in Mumbai, I often dig into non-vegetarian delights and this time, I tried Mutton Dhansak—a Parsi meat preparation that one must be prepared by a Parsi and eaten at a Parsi restaurant—and nowhere else.

Another dish I liked at a restaurant for breakfast, in particular, is the Sukke Mutton dish that can break anyone into pouring sweat. Meaty chunks on the bone pre-marinated overnight in malvani masala and then dry fried with onions, garlic and a dash of chillies to give it that extra spicy kick, until the meat is tender and brown can tempt anyone. Eat it with chapattis or rice flour chilla and your day is complete.

If this isn’t enough to kill your mid-day hunger pangs, Nalli Nihari is the perfect dish for you. Often termed as the ‘king of breakfast’ option, it promises to take you into another level. You may just be all charged up to battle the clones after this hearty breakfast or mid-day meal. Tender lamb shanks cooked in spicy gravy explode with flavours and when had with crispy naan, you could be well on your way to the times of the Mughal cuisine delight. 

Choosing the right glass for serving cocktails

The myriad of options in glassware can get rather overwhelming when it comes to choosing the right cocktail glasses to serve to your guests. While visiting some of the best restaurants in Bangalore I have always noticed that the silverware and glassware are both specific to the kind of food or drink being served. But, what works with what exactly was hard to figure out. I did not want to make a social faux pas by serving the right dish on the wrong platter and certainly not to the wrong palate.

After a while, it occurred to me that there is a specific pattern as to what drink goes with which glass and I researched further. If you were to understand why a certain thing is served in a particular way, it gets a lot easier than memorizing things. So, here’s a brief explanation for you to know the right way to serve the best cocktails.

Lowball

A lowball glass has a thick glass bottom and are uniformly shaped and short and stout. These are used with drinks that are poured directly into the glass and served, i.e. they don’t require mixing glasses and shakers. Besides this, drinks that are typically served with ice cubes can also be served in it. The shape and size is ideal to maintain and retain the temperature for long. Carbonated or soda cocktails are not served in these as it risks spilling due to the short size.

Highball

These are tall glasses shaped more or less like lowball. Drinks which require mixing in the glass or have an effervescent component are ideally served in these. The narrow body reduces the surface area allowing the carbonated essence to last longer. There are other variations to these such as a flute which is used with champagne and Collins glass for more fruity drinks. However, the three are interchangeable and if you don’t own one of the best restaurants in Bangalore and need it for home use, it is more practical to purchase just one.

Coup

These are stemmed glasses but round at the bowl, unlike a martini glass; and the both play pretty much the same role. Any drink served that is usually served without ice and requires stirring are served in these. The stem allows the liquid to stay unaffected from the warmth of your hand. 

Making springtime cocktails is easy

The spring season is on and who cares if the first day of spring saw a stormy weather. Spring is short lived, the sunlight appears mid-day and all of the snow-covered mountains reveal their greens in a few days. So I assume the start of spring would certainly be a fantastic day to indulge in a few best cocktails to celebrate the onset of springtime and the end of the cold winters. Loaded with the bountiful winter season citrus delight, incorporated with a lightness that is synonymous with warmer summers, this cocktail seemed an excellent choice to bid adieu to the gorgeous Delhi winter season.

This recipe comes from a few ‘best cocktails’ and guide to drinks that incorporates the use of in-season elements to derive the best of blends of traditional drinks with a twist with some of your very own original creation making entry as well. You can create a guide of cocktail recipes organized by season and refer to it each time the weather shifts.

One point I admired was that making these cocktails would certainly not hurt your budget. I cannot tell you how many cocktails I’d make with their lengthy list of unique ingredients, but the experience was worth it. When on vacation I had this wonderful Sugary Citrus Fizz cocktail at what I term is one of the best restaurants in Bangalore which made an entry in my guide book.

While this drink might be apt for the winter season, I found it perfect for our very first day of springtime. So grab some limes and oranges and celebrate with me.

For the Lemon Brulee Garnish I use a lemon slice and turbinado sugar and for the drink, 2 ounces gin, juice of 2 limes, juice of an orange, juiced of half a lemon, an ounce of any type of orange liqueur, an egg white (optional), a teaspoon of powdered sugar and 4 ounces of chilled soda water.

To make it, place the lemon slices in between layers of paper towel and delicately squeeze to take out as much juice as feasible. Place a piece of aluminium foil on a biscuit sheet; lay the lime piece on the foil and cover with the turbinado sugar. Broil momentarily until the sugar starts to brown. Turn the slice over, broil the other side and remove from the oven. Place it on waxed paper and allow it to cool down.

To Make the Cocktail, place all cocktail components except the soda water in a jar filled with ice cubes. Shake for about two to three minutes until the egg white foams into a soft meringue. Strain into a glass loaded with ice and round off with chilled soda. Layer the scooped foam from the shaker over the cocktail and finish it with a lemon ring garnish.

The best breakfast in Mumbai

Mumbai is never complete without two things—its food and the sea. The city of dreams’ pulls in crowds from across the country and its food invariably resonates with every visiting palate. Restaurants in Mumbai have worked this allure to their favour by serving out signatory dishes to each meal, like the Misal Pav for breakfast and hot banana chips for a good evening snack.

However, there’s hardly anything worth as savoury as a Vada Pav along with tender coconut water by the seaside. The Vada Pav is widely considered the best breakfast food by most natives. It’s spicy flavours mingled with tangy chutneys make it one of the most revered street foods across the world.

Breakfast in Mumbai spans a whole variety of lip-smacking dishes. If the hot flavours of the Vada Pav are not your game, something mild like the Dhokla or the Dosa is a wonderful alternative. With a demographic heritage as vast as Mumbai, you can find just about any cuisine on the planet on your breakfast table.

Mumbai caters to every palate rather amazingly. While veg lovers can look up to a great variety of rustic and urban flavours, seafood junkies would love the place just as much. Even smoked food in mumbai is one of the best around the country with a whole range to its credit. Rest assured to lay hands on some of the finest smoked bacons, hams, sausages and other smoked delicacies around the country.

Mumbai presents another wonderful opportunity to relish a whole range of snacks. Though much of it is borrowed from a strong Gujarati community, the city gives every snack a spin of its own. And that is consistent across the city as if to proclaim Mumbai’s unequivocal acceptance of cultures from across the country.