The gems of South Bombay vol 2 - Piccadilly

Lebanese is one of the most popular cuisines around the world, and not without reason. Lebanon's Mediterranean location and climate and Levantine origins and varied cultural influences have made its food naturally agreeable for people across the world. The Lebanese diaspora has brought its cuisine to wherever they have gone - Europe, the US and far flung places like Australia and even South America. Lebanese fast food joints with their inviting Shawarmas are as common in several countries in Europe as McDonalds and KFCs.

India has not been left untouched by the Lebanese restaurant phenomenon either. Shawarma joints started appearing in Bombay sometime in the 90s and the trend seems to have continued. Some of these are even chains operating in several Indian cities. However, as far as I'm concerned, the benchmark for Lebanese food has been set very high. While I've not been to Lebanon, three months in Europe as a student meant a lot of Lebanese food on the road. The best of the lot was, in fact, in Toulouse where I stayed - right across the street from our apartment. It was called 'El Dayaa' and was owned by Lebanese immigrants from Tripoli. I even wrote a post about it on this blog here.

Most Lebanese joints in Bombay leave a lot to be desired. This is especially true if you've eaten Lebanese in an 'authentic' restaurant abroad.  While most of these new restaurants seem to have worked on middle-eastern interiors and have fancy sounding Arabic names, the Shawarmas and Shish Tawouks are as Lebanese as Chicken Manchurian is Chinese. There is one exception though, one restaurant that pre-dates all its mediocre peers in the city. Lebanese is just one of the cuisines served here - the others being Iranian and European - yet it is what the restaurant is most known for. Not surprisingly, it is located in South Bombay and is the second restaurant to be featured in the ongoing series.

Piccadilly sits right at the mid-point of Colaba Causeway, opposite Electric House and the iconic Cusrow Baug. Hidden behind a row of hawkers, it's really easy to miss.

 Unfortunately, I have not been able to gather enough information on the history of the restaurant. Post 26/11, bars and restaurants in Colaba have turned extremely security-conscious (understandably) and I was reprimanded by the owner after taking the above picture as I entered the place one evening. I obviously couldn't quiz him about the origins of his restaurant after that.

I do know that Piccadilly was started many decades ago by Iranian immigrants and was much like some of the many Irani cafés in the city. Somewhere down the line, the menu was modified to cash in on the trend of western backpackers making Colaba Causeway a port of call on their trip through the country. Lebanese was one of the cuisines introduced during the revamp and the restaurant has never looked back since and is even featured on Zomato's 'legendary' collection.

I have been to Piccadilly many many times, and have tried a lot on their substantial menu, which spans several cuisines, Lebanese, Iranian and Western being the main ones. But for this post, I'll focus on the Lebanese food at Piccadilly - after all, that is what got it a spot on the series.

The Shawarma rolls are understandably the biggest draw at Piccadilly. The sandwiches are served with Chicken and Mutton Shawarma fillings inside a Pita wrap with Hummus, garlic sauce and fries. This is what the Mutton Shawarma sandwich looks like.

 
The sandwich is as good as it is simply because it is a sum of great parts - great pita bread, great hummus, great garlic sauce and obviously well-marinated roast meat. Once you've tried the Shawarma at Piccadilly, the others in the city will pale in comparison, that's for sure. It also scores extra points for the pickled cucumber, beetroot and chilies served with each portion!
 

Most of what is served as a sandwich at Piccadilly can also be enjoyed as a 'meal on a plate'.  This is a large portion of grilled meat served with garlic sauce, hummus, fries, salad and Khaboos bread. The pick of the lot is the Mutton Kebab plate.

 
Shawarmas and Kebabs are not all that you can eat at Piccadilly. Dazaz Mahashi is the Lebanese version of Biryani. But while most Biryanis are served with either chicken or lamb, this rice dish has both! It's diced chicken and mincemeat with brown sauce marinade in basmati rice, and it’s neatly served like this!
 

What I've described in this post is just some of the delectable Lebanese fare served at Piccadilly, but Iranian and Western portions of the menu are equally good - Zereshk Polo (Berry Pulao) and Baked Chicken being the must-haves.

Does sound like it's worth a visit no? So do like me when in Colaba and grab a window-side table at Piccadilly!

The address, reviews and addition info in the link below.

https://www.zomato.com/mumbai/piccadilly-1-colaba

The gems of South Bombay: Pradeep Gomantak

Working in South Bombay has its pains and its perks. Commuting time is long given its location at one end of the city. The rise of Lower Parel and BKC has made its office spaces less sought after. Having said that, 'Town' as it is popularly known, still retains a certain charm. Its British era buildings and heritage quarters make it a prettier part of the city than its northern counterparts. Several bars and pubs provide it with plenty of after-work entertainment options. It also has, in my opinion - and with that we come to the point - the best eating places in the city.

Town has always been home to a large number of restaurants. Many of these came into existence to cater to the needs of people working in its many offices. While these served staples, many others focused on fine dining given that South Bombay is also home to famously affluent residents called 'townies'. In recent times, some locations in the suburbs - Bandra in particular - have challenged South Bombay's undisputed title of the city's premier food district. Bandra has matched, and in some cases surpassed Town in bringing new cuisines and trendy eating places to the city. But when it comes to restaurants that deserve to be called 'institutions' - ones that serve faultlessly authentic cuisines at affordable prices and have stood the test of time (some are a century old) - Town wins hands down. Its countless hole-in-the-wall eateries serve cuisines as varied as Mughlai, Parsi and Keralite at affordable prices and definitely tip the scales in favor of South Bombay.

I have been working at Nariman Point for the past year and a half. Needless to say then that I've made full use of the opportunity to tick a lot off my bucket list. The list however is quite long and there are still some 'hidden gems' yet to be uncovered. But while the quest is on, I've covered enough to feature the best in a series of posts. I'm calling these 'The gems of South Bombay' and they are mostly blink-and-miss restaurants in the bylanes of Fort, Colaba, Kalbadevi and beyond. I've tried to cover various cuisines and restaurants in different parts of Town.

First on the list is a tiny restaurant in Fort called Pradeep Gomantak Bhojanalay. Gomantak cuisine is poorly understood, despite being fairly popular in Bombay. It is often described as having origins in coastal Maharashtra and is confused with Malvani cuisine. Let me set the record straight. Gomantak food comes from Goa and is the cuisine of the state's Hindu community. It differs from the more famous Goan Catholic cuisine in its use of tamarind and Kokum instead of vinegar and the absence of pork and beef among other things. Being a Goan Hindu myself, this is comfort food for me. In fact this blog was started after a particularly memorable visit to the legendary 'Anantashram Uphaar Griha', a Gomantak restaurant which unfortunately no longer exists.

Gomantak eateries were once very common in several neighborhoods of Bombay. They typically seat less than 30 people and the look is characterized by marble-top tables and menus scribbled on chalkboards. Meals are served on stainless steel plates and the Thali called 'Taat' in Konkani is the most common order. Over the years, many Gomantak restaurants (Anantashram being the prime example) have shut down for reasons like rising costs and shortage of suitable labor, while others like Highway Gomantak and Dadar Gomantak have been forced to adapt to changing times and in the process have ended up losing some of their authenticity. Few that remain offer the quintessential Gomantak canteen experience. Pradeep Gomantak Bhojanalay, situated in a small lane in Fort, is one of these. Started more than forty years back to cater to the then rapidly growing office crowd, the tiny restaurant has stood the test of time. Owned and operated by Mr. Amonkar and his family, the place sees long queues for weekday lunches, partly because of its limited seating capacity, but also due to its well-deserved popularity. So if you don't fancy waiting in a queue for an hour, its best to visit for dinner or on the weekend. This is what I did when I got there for dinner on a Monday night. As far as restaurants are concerned, Pradeep Gomantak defines the word small. It has barely six tables and can squeeze in a maximum of 30 people with great effort. The decor (or lack of it) has 'Gomantak Khanaval' written all over it! From the folding wooden door at the entrance and the sunmica topped tables to the open kitchen and the small wash basin in the corner, the look and feel of the place is as authentic as it gets.

As expected, dinner time was more relaxed at Mr. Amonkar's restaurant and I had only three other people for company. Gomantak eateries are known for their meat as well as fish preparations. While the norm is to order the Thali, individual portions of meat curry and fried/curried fish are also served. The menu in true Khanaval (traditional canteen) style, was scribbled on a chalkboard.

One look at the prices and you know that you have to eat at a place like this to realize how countless other restaurants in the city cheat you when it comes to serving fish.

I wanted to try fish as well as meat, so I ordered the Mutton Thali and a portion of fried pomfret. The Thali arrived quickly and was the typical Gomantak 'Taat'. It had two small mounds of rice, a mutton curry, two chapatis, green chutney with chopped onions and lemon, a plain curry to go with the rice and a bowl of the customary Solkadi. This is what it looked like.

The mutton was cooked to perfection and had meat, fat and bone in perfect proportion. The curry for the rice is a common feature in the Gomantak Thali and is typically called Surva. The version served at Pradeep Gomantak is special because, while it is not served with fish, fish skin and bones are used to make it. This may not sound very appetizing, but it does give the curry a great flavor and you realize this when the first morsel mixed with rice goes down.

The pomfret arrived when I was half done with the Thali and was medium sized and fried whole.

There was something I had learned while eating at Anantashram once and it came in handy here. I had not touched the chutney, onions and lemon and had saved these for the pomfret. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the onions and squeeze the lemon in. This and the green chutney is the perfect accompaniment for Goan style fried fish. The pomfret was super fresh, certainly better than what is served at most self-proclaimed 'seafood restaurants' that use the tag to rip a hole in your pocket. Finshing the meal with the Solkadi, I burped with satisfaction only a hearty meal like this can bring.

With very few of its kind surviving in Bombay, Pradeep Gomantak Bhojanalay is doing a great job of keeping the cuisine alive in the city and ensuring that the Gomantak Khanaval tradition survives. It is especially important for us Goenkaars, for whom its victuals are comfort food. I hope the Amonkar family keeps the restaurant going in its current authentic and undiluted form for many generations to come. Kudos!

If you find yourself in the Fort area close to mealtime, make sure you drop in. Here is its listing on Zomato for the address, additional information and reviews.

http://www.zomato.com/mumbai/pradeep-gomantak-bhojanalaya-fort

For more gems from South Bombay, watch this space!

River Ferries and Mango Trees

There are experiences, and then there are experiences. Like traveling through Europe as a student. Like going to Morocco on a hastily made plan (visa rejection notwithstanding). Like trekking through an unbelievable Himalayan landscape to get to Roopkund! And then there is this.

First some background. My family belongs to Goa, both mom and dad. Usually that makes people go "Wow, that's awesome! Do you have a house there?” Unfortunately my ties to Goa are more tenuous than that. My grandparents moved to Bombay in the 1950s. In fact my mother was born and raised in Bombay. As a consequence I have no immediate family in Goa. In fact, the closest relatives there are mom's cousins and dad's. Which is why my trips to Goa are like those of any other tourist. Is there an ancestral village house to go to? Well on dad's side, it no longer exists, everything has been sold off long back. On mom's side though, the story is a bit different, and that's where it gets interesting.

Premanand Mahambare is my mother's cousin. My mother's father and his father were brothers. He lives on Chorao Island in North Goa which is mom's ancestral village. He and his wife were teachers at Dayanand High School on the island, where he was also the principal. In addition, he was also the Sarpanch of his village panchayat for 15 years. The interesting bit is that he continued to cultivate the ancestral land through all this. The rice fields were too much work so they were converted into a coconut grove more than 20 years back. But horticulture continued and in addition to the existing mango and cashew trees, Premanand mama planted several different fruit and vegetable trees over the years and made sure the orchard did not fall into decay.

A milestone was reached in early 2008 when a group of farmers on the island approached mama with the idea of forming a farmers' club to improve profitability of their agricultural activities and to have better access to government schemes. The project was called 'Chorao-Madel Farmers' Club' and was started with the support of NABARD, Central Bank of India and TERI. The first product to be sold through the club was milled red kernel rice cultivated organically by farmers on the island. It was made available at several supermarkets in North Goa under the 'Chorao Island Farmers' Club' brand. The response was phenomenal and the rice continues to be produced and marketed till date. Next came Goa's favorite variety of mangoes - the Mancurad. Chorao is famous for growing these and mama has several trees in his own orchard. In the 2010 mango season, Mancurad mangoes harvested on the island were marketed by the club under the brand 'Aamcho Chorao Mancurad' ('Aamcho' means our/ours in Konkani and the pun is obviously intended). The success of this product came as no surprise - Mancurad mangoes are very popular in Goa - and the profitability of direct marketing was a revelation. The 'Aamcho Chorao Mancurad' brand today is the flagship of the Chorao-Madel farmers club.

More products were marketed as time went by, and with the help of the supporting agencies, new techniques of organic farming were introduced to the island's farmers. The club went from strength to strength and its success was rewarded in 2010 when NABARD recognized it as 'Goa's Best Farmers' Club' for 2009-2010. Recognition of success came from beyond Goa as well with mama bagging an award from the Ministry of Agriculture in New Delhi in 2010 for his efforts with the club! He was also featured in a coffee table book published by the ministry called 'Harvest of Hope'.

I had been to Chorao a few times before, but never during the mango season. I had also never stayed there. So, while I knew how awesome the place was and how gorgeous it looked, I had never quite had the experience of a summer harvest. The time when you can pick mangoes off the trees to eat, the time when the jackfruit and cashew trees also bear fruit. So, after years of hearing about mama's exploits and even reading about it online, this summer was when I finally decided to do this. Spend three days in the ancestral village picking mangoes, roam in the orchard and generally have an awesome time.

So on a hot May afternoon, I finally got off a taxi from Goa airport at Ribandar and met Premanand Mahambare at the jetty. Chorao is an island in the Mandovi river and to get to it, one has to take the ferry. It can also be reached by road but that's a much longer route. As you approach the island, the sight of dense mangroves greets you. That's the 'Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary'. It gets a lot of migratory birds in the winter and morning boat tours are quite popular with birdwatchers! After the ferry ride, it's a 15 minute drive and we reached just in time for lunch. Smita Mahambare (my mami) is a very good cook and I ate my fill. Before I could get off the table, a plate with 4 mangoes was put in front of me. I looked at my cousins who were already smiling, then at mami. And she says, "You came to eat mangoes rite?" The plate looked like a challenge at first, but not when I dug in. These Mancurads can send any Alphonso packing! This is what they looked like.

In the evening, it was time to go pick some mangoes. This is what I came here to do after all. So me, mama and my cousin Ankita set off with these improvised contraptions. They are long bamboo poles with baskets (similar to basketball baskets) attached at the end. The orchard is pretty big and in addition to the Mancurad, there are other varieties of mango and a very long list of other trees. Let me try to summarize all that is grown on the property. I will probably leave something out, but here goes.

- Jackfruit
- Cashew
- Jamuns (don't know what they're called in English)
- Guava
- Coconut
- Breadfruit
- Lemon
- Starfruit
- Tamarind
- Kokum (that's what is used to make the Goan solkadi)
- Pepper
- Pineapple
- Banana

Picking the mangoes was fun, but it does get tiring hauling that tool after a while. Here is me doing it.

Some of the trees in the orchard are very old. One in particular stands out for being the largest and oldest on the property. It is said that when my grandfather and his brothers were growing up here, the tree was as big as it is now, which means its approximate age is 150! It has a fallen branch and still produces huge quantities of mango every year. Here's me and my cousin Ankita with 'Big Daddy'.

After an hour's work in the orchard, here is what we managed. Mouth-watering?

The reason why these are so good is that cultivation is as organic as possible. While some fertilizer is definitely used, no artificial insecticide is sprayed on the fruit. Instead, pheromone traps are used to get rid of the fruit flies. No other bullshit like ripening agent or coloring agent is used either. The ripening process is totally natural. So none of the artificial/chemical taste one gets from mangoes bought in city markets these days.

The mangoes, once picked, are stored in the attic on the top floor of the house, and once ripe enough, are packed in boxes bearing the farmers' club brand name and shipped off for sale.

The evening was spent in the open space at the back of the house, devouring some of the 'harvest'. In addition to the mangoes, we had also picked some cashews and one of the locals helped bring down a couple of jackfruits (these are heavy and it's quite a task).

Let me stop here for some well-deserved praise for the quality of the produce. Chorao is, even in this day and age, a fairly isolated location. Being an island, it has remained protected, not from every development (there are all the comforts of banks, ATMs, electricity, paved roads and even internet) but from industrialization and heavy vehicular traffic at least. That has kept pollution of the air, water and soil away. Add to this the years of hard work that people like Premanand mama and other farmers on the island have put in and the organic farming techniques. No surprise then, that every piece of fruit that I dug into was fit for a regal dining table.

The next day saw some guests from the other side of mama's family and they are very fond of what we call jamuns (not sure what the English word is for that). So off we went into the orchard again. The jamuns are picked in a different way. The trees are pretty tall and the fruits grow high up in the branches. A long bamboo pole with a hook is latched to a branch and you then give it a vigorous shake. And then it just rains jamuns!! Picking the fallen jamuns from the ground is less than fun, with the red ants crawling on one's hands and feet. But when this is what you've got to show for it, who's complaining?

Over the next two days, I basically struggled to keep track of how much of the produce from the orchard ended up in my plate and in what form. The breadfruit from the tree outside the balcony was used to make chips that were served at lunch. The seeds from the jackfruit we devoured appeared in a curry. Juice from the cashew fruit called 'neera' (this is later fermented and distilled to get feni) came in a big bottle one evening. And the list goes on.

Three days are not enough to be able to fully absorb all the sights and sounds and tastes of a place like this. I tried to experience as much of it as I could. And I have splendid memories and a really awesome Instagram album to show for it. Not to mention the box of Mancurad mangoes that I brought back and am still enjoying!

This post would not be complete without thanking the people who made this trip memorable by being such great hosts. Mama and his family made this an unforgettable experience and it's all down to their enthusiasm - in the middle of entertaining several other guests and right in the middle of mango season and all the business of it. Here they are!

Clockwise from top left - Premanand Mahambare (uncle), Aditi Prabhu (cousin), Pramila Mahambare (grand aunt), Smita Mahambare (aunt), Ankita Mahambare (cousin) and yours truly.

Thank you so much!!

p.s. For more information on the farmers' club and to order their mangoes (they deliver only within Goa), visit http://www.thechoraofarmers.com