Say Squeeze!

Why Yellow There!

It’s difficult writing a review when the place is good. What do you say? Good food. Check. Good service. Check. Good ambience. Check. Dishy chef. Check… (Whoops!)

The newly opened Yellow Tree Café on Ambedkar Road is barely a week old but everything is mighty impressive. Their current menu’s focus incorporates Italian dishes as well as a lot of café-style food. The Yellow Tree has salads such as Nicoise, Waldrof and Caesar for Rs.165-185, and which comes highly recommended from the owner himself. Then there are sandwiches, burgers and hot dogs for Rs.195- Rs.215; meals such as Jalapeno Polenta, Lasagna, a super Sheperd’s pie, Ravioli and more. They’ve also got good ol’ Bangers & Mash and Fish & Chips, the price of the meals here are all under Rs.300. The great thing about the Yellow Tree Café is that their vegetarian selection is as tempting. And after much debate we settled for Turkey Salami, Jalapeño and Cheddar sandwich (with curly fries!) and Spaghetti Bolognaise served with grilled foccacia.

The sandwich was well filled and delicious, with a generous portion of cheddar too. And the bolognaise hit the spot… subtle, flavourful and good value for money. For dessert we had the chef’s special Rosemary Apple Struddle (though it looked like pie) with Ice Cream and Green Apple Reduction for Rs.125. Pure bliss! The Yellow Tree café also have a mean drinks menu that includes beers (pint Rs.120 for Indian brands), cocktails (Rs.275) and hot drinks. The Café spreads over two floors, the bottom one is more café while upstairs is a restaurant. Both are well done up. The ground floor area is sunshiny and happy with lovely lighting, sea green tables, white chairs and charming paintings. We definitely recommend The Yellow Tree Café.

Where: Clove at 33rd and Ambedkar Road Junction.

Contact: 22 65287800

– Glynda Alves

The fast food phase out?

The health conscious trend seems to have caught on in Bandra. A walk down by the sea-side is steadily becoming less of leisure (or eating pleasure) and more of a fitness routine.

With all the talk of what’s good and what you should, let’s take a look at its effect on the fast food and chat stalls that were once thriving on bingeing customers. Bandra’s most famous pani puri walla Ranjeet says, “The crowds have reduced, although not drastically owing to the large number of visitors from other parts of the city who still feast on the infamous chat. Locals prefer to indulge in it less often and when they do, they prefer to visit the chat stalls at the big shops as it’s perceived to be more hygienic.”

The attendant at Jai sandwich and rolls on Bandstand said, “People frequent the place just the same as our menu doesn’t serve up junk food but a quick bite that’s good enough to keep the hunger away.”

The real shift in the average person’s outlook towards a quick bite can be seen on Carter road with the juice bar concept gaining much popularity according to the owner of Razzberry. “We have on offer a selection of freshly juiced fruits and vegetables as well as certain rolls and sandwiches. Consumers these days focus on the freshness factor in everything and our juices/milkshakes are freshly prepared once a customer places an order.”

Another interesting spectacle is the little Omni vans parked at the Otter’s Club end of the promenade advertising healthy home-made food like dosas, steamed idlis etc. replacing the quintessential deep fried vada pavs; even ice slurpies these days are made from mineral water to prove a point!

The healthy options:

Leena Mogre the Director of Leena Mogre’s Fitness, gives us the low down on just why Indian fast food is bad for you and healthy options you can choose instead. She says, “Pani puri and sev puri are the main culprits in the empty calorie race. These snacks are loaded with fat (the bad kind!) thanks to the deep fried puri, the fried boondi and the fried sev.” The next on the list is the humble vada pav (groan)… Even though it’s been your friend many a late night at work, Leena says that the white bread combined with carbohydrates will just add calories and fat. She says, “People need 15% of fat in their diets. When they indulge in these foods they are increasing the bad fat level enormously. And sadly, these foods don’t provide much nutrition.”

However, there are some healthy options: Leena suggests trying pani puri by replacing the boondi with ragda and moong dal. Sukkha bhel, thepla (without the oil) and idlis are also a good option suggests Leena.

Places you should still go to:

Maharashtra Vada Pav centre: Easily one of the most popular Bandra vada pav joints. This guy stuffs the vada with loads of green, making it at least look like it’s healthy. Great chutney, good vada and excellent carbohydrate fix. Cost: Rs. 7 and Rs.8 for samosa pav. Where: Opp Jai Hind, Pali Naka

Punjab Sweet House: Dahi Kachori. We might have stumbled upon this little gem a little too late in life but we are making up for lost time. Great combination of cold dahi and crisp, sweet kachori. Cost: Rs.45 but worth it.

Where: Adjacent to Five Spice

Elco: From a street side stall to a two level eatery. It’s easy to see why Elco does so well, their pani puri is a must.

A sweet treat this Diwali

InBandra asks reader  Rachel Gurunathan to share with us a recipe that makes Diwali a real treat. Read on for a delicious (and simple!)  kheer recipe you really ought to try

PHIRNI OR KHEER (RICE PUDDING)

Ingredients:

1 cup rice

1 litre milk

1 tbsp ghee

1/2 cup condensed milk

1 cup sugar

8-10 cashew nuts fried in ghee

Saffron strands

Method:

Wash the rice properly and keep it aside for a while. Pour ghee in a pressure cooker and add little sugar to it. Add rice and mix it well. Add 2 cups of water and let it cook upto 3 whistles. Keep the cooker aside for 10 minutes and then add milk to the cooked rice. Let it boil for 5 minutes and then add sugar. Let it boil for another 5 minutes, then add condensed milk to it to make it thick. Finally add cashew nuts, garnish with some saffron strands. Serve hot or cold.

The sweetest thing

Diwali is the time for sweets galore and everybody can be seen rushing to their nearest sweet mart for a generous helping of gulab jamuns, mysorepauks, kajukatlis, halwas etc. Although the prices and the spread available doesn’t differ from place to place let’s take a look at the specialties of each sweet shop.

REGAL – Well known for their selection of international chocolates and dry fruits, Regal has a variety of dry fruit boxes as well as dry fruit sweets on sale. You can choose your own assortment of sweets and pay as per size of the package. Dry fruit boxes/ Dry fruit sweets range from Rs300 to Rs800. Gift Hampers (Baskets with an assortment of international edible products) Rs2000 to Rs4500

Where: Pali Naka, Contact: 022-26041204

CHANDU HALWAI – Renowned for their Halwa specialities, Chandu sweets has a large spread of north Indian malai and mawa sweets.

Where: Opposite National College, Linking road, Contact: 022-26426970

SWEET BENGAL – When it comes to Bengali favourites like the gulab jamun there is no better place to sample the authentic taste. The large pots of mishit doi are a great gifting option.

Where: Ambedkar road, next to the zig-zag exit, Contact: 022-26460621, 022-26460624

GHASITARAM’S – If you would like to gift sweets to loved ones in other parts of the country, Ghasitaram’s has an option available wherein you can choose from a wide range of chocolates, sweets, dry fruits and mithai hampers which will be delivered on your behalf.

Where: Opposite National College, Linking road

– Sheldon D’souza

Sandwich & Co.

Those sandwiches sure have a lot of company. The newly opened deli on Perry Cross Road might make some “banging sandwiches” (to quote a chef there) but also have a vast variety food items from all over the world. Sandwiches & Co tempts the suburban gourmands with cheeses, meats, breads and desserts.

Their namesake comes in a lot of varieties, and the vegetarians have an equally extensive list to choose from. In non-vegetarian sandwiches they’ve got an unusual but mouth watering Smoked Turkey sandwich with cranberry mayo and English cheddar for Rs.250. Other sandwiches include Egg N Bacon (bagel with cream cheese and egg n bacon salad), Country Club (ham, smoked chicken, cheddar…. It’s the mother of all sandwiches). Vegetarians can choose from Brie and Cranberry (Rs.325), Asparagus, Aioli n Artichokes etc for Rs.275. The prices might be a little steep side but with combinations like these, and the quality of ingredients Sandwich & Co is already doing well. You can also buy meats (Chorizo, Wurstel, Hams, Oak Smoked Bacon and many many more) and cheese from Blue to Buffalo here per gram. And the best part is that you can make anything you see in the deli into a sandwich. Their desserts are all made of Lindt, which explains why a cupcake costs Rs.75 and their hot chocolate comes highly recommended. The place is very nicely done up, white picket fence, lime green walls and all. It seats around 12-14 people so try to head there off peak hours to ensure you get a table. But, the location is really quiet so you could just sit in your car and have a bite.

– Glynda Alves

Masti Maharaja

“We’re all natural,” say Rishi and Pratik, owners of the latest food van on Carter Road. Masti Maharaja’s little yellow van sells only natural kulfi and rabdi’s and comes complete with a cute little bell. Even though they have been in Bandra for little over a month, they already seem to have a loyal following with walkers who want to cancel out the purpose of their stroll on Carter Road. Rishi is quick to point out that the only ingredients that go into their products are milk (Mother Dairy), nuts, sugar and dry fruits. The price is just right too at Rs.12 for a plain malai kulfi and Rs.22 for dry fruit one. Their Rabdi’s are priced at Rs. 30-65. However, if you thought you’d stop by for a quick Rabdi because you want to eat it on the go, you might have to wait 10 minutes before it can soften up. Sigh. But worth the wait. Where: Just after Otters Club

– Glynda Alves

The Big Bandra Fish Guide

Ghar ki khanna

It’s a well known fact that there are tons of eateries in Bandra, but there are just a few places that offer you genuine ‘ghar ka khanna’ , and we all move a home cooked meal. Just down from St. Andrews Church on your way through St. Pauls road, if you look to your left you’ll see this barely 7 day old tiny eatery called ‘Mikneil Caterers’. Though the place may be small they have a variety of fast food and other cuisines ranging from American Hot dog to Mutton Dhansak to Sorpatel and Goan prawn curry and even an array of salads. You can buy the fast food items right of the counter( I liked the chicken pan roll for Rs. 12, it was yummy) but for the other items they require 24hr notice. Where: St. Pauls road, Opp Toddlers Academy,

Contact: 26043719/ 9820223017.

Open wide

Why an upcoming food joint would choose such an unappetizing name is beyond us, but at least they don’t have a picture. Once you get over that, the food does seem to fare better than the name. They serve typical Bandra mac ‘fast food’ like Chicken Manchurian Rolls, Pan Rolls, Cutlets, Chicken Garlic Rolls etc all under Rs.20. Their vegetarian selection is a little less varied but as cheap at Rs.14 on average. The food here is fresh, filling but at the price don’t expect any gourmet snacks. The taste was just about all right, with the mayo being a little on the sweet side. Open Mouth also has ‘khana’ like biryani and kebabs for Rs.60. Sadly though; there were no soft drinks or water to wash down the food.  Where: Pali Naka, opposite Jai Hind

– Glynda Alves