It’s restaurant week time! Only this time you’re getting to visit Europe, taste European cuisine, savor fresh European produce, while sitting right here in Mumbai. The European Union (EU) collaborates with partner restaurants across the city to bring a three week long European food extravaganza, so that we can experience European culture through their food. And in my opinion, experiencing the local food is the only way to truly experience a new destination. Food makes us travel without budging an inch! And I experienced a culinary vacation of sorts. Read on for more. Buon Appetito!

About Tastes of Europe food festival:

The Tastes of Europe food festival kick starts with a ‘Restaurant Week’ from the 6th to 12th of September, where you get to enjoy set meals at ten different partner restaurants across the city. The meals are designed with the focus on highlighting different European ingredients. The second week is a ‘Retail Week’, where you get to taste European produce across various specialty stores, and decide what you’d like to take home. Finally, it culminates with the Annapoorna World of Food India Exhibition 2014 from 24th to 26th September in Mumbai where you can attend food seminars, celeb chef classes and a lot more.

Restaurant Week celebrations are on at a host of partnering restaurants, right from Smoke House Deli, Bandra Kurla Complex, to Olive Bar and Kitchen, Khar, to Vetro at The Oberoi, Nariman Point. The restaurants offer set meals priced at Rs. 1500/- onwards with the focus on European fare. We decided to visit Prego at The Westin Garden City, Mumbai to try out the Italian menu that everyone’s been buzzing about.

Somewhere inside High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, home to expensive brands and gourmet restaurants lies a little food haven. A place where you can get a stomach filling meal for 150 bucks a head. (No its not Subway. Or McDonald’s) A place where I ate some of the tastiest dhaba style gravies and greasy parathas. 

It was the monthly end-of-the-month Kadka for the Pet Pujaris. (Remember I had spoken about them here?) This time the place was an unassuming, unknown, unheard little joint inside the Phoenix compound. We were off to eat at the Sai Service Station staff canteen! I was a bit wary at first, but the promise of yummy, thela-type Chinese and Indian fare tempted me.

We walked up the staircase into a small, tiny room, packed with communal tables. The menu consists of a list of 30 odd items ranging from Chinese dishes such as Schezwan Fried Rice and Hakka Noodles to gravies such as Butter Chicken and Palak Paneer to rice dishes like Biryani. The best part was that the most expensive dish I remember seeing on the menu was 80 bucks, with an average price of a dish around 60-70 rupees.

I’ve eaten a dozen meals or so, at Out of the Blue (OofTB). I think they were one of the first few places to serve Italian-Continental fare in Bandra. Situated a stone’s throw away from where I stay. I used to return for their sizzlers which were perfectly sized and priced. I was back at the restaurant after a while, to try their Friday Spa Buffet Lunch. (Shameless Plug-In: Read about my previous wine tasting experience at OofTB here).

OofTB does two weekday buffet lunches: Women’s Wednesday Buffet Lunch and Friday Spa Buffet Lunch. Both are fairly reasonably priced at Rs. 395 + taxes and Rs. 495 + taxes, respectively. Mom and I decided to check the lunch buffet out, and pamper ourselves on occasion of Ganesh Chaturti (and the fact that it was a bank holiday). 

The buffet is fairly extensive with your usual suspects: appetizers, soup, salads, dips, breads, mains, desserts and even a Make-Your-Own-BBQ section in the menu. I was looking forward to getting a hand/foot massage while I ate, but the restaurant was undergoing some renovation the day we visited, so we couldn’t.

Surviving through Mumbai’s cut-throat restaurant scene is no easy task. I see old restaurants shutting down and new ones cropping up left, right, and center. It’s sad that many old classics had to shutter shop due to inflation and being unable to keep up with changing times. Thank god, for a few old classics that still remain. Everytime one visits them, it is like a little taste in history. Gaylord Restaurant in Churchgate, is one of them!

My visit to Gaylord restaurant was deep rooted in nostalgia. Established and running from the late 1950’s, stepping inside Gaylord is like time travel. It is where my father hung out with his friends post college, it is where he took my mother on dates during their courtship phase, and it is still his go-to place when he’s in that part of town. They were one of the few places to serve continental food along with regular Mughlai fare during that time. And their bakery continues to dole out some of the yummiest pastries, cakes, pies and more.

I don’t think much has changed since then. The same vintage garden chairs, long sofas and bright chandeliers make up most of the space. The same bakery stands tall next door, with the same aroma of baking bread wafting through. The same menu with the classic favourites such as Lobster Thermidore and Chicken A La Kiev. The same wait staff who have been serving there since years. The same smiling manager, Mr. Noel D’Souza who has been working there since 1987. The same chefs who have been cooking the same recipes since decades now. Which is why the food you eat today tastes just like it did years ago.

Parsi New Year or Navroze is a day of family, merriment, new clothes and delicious food. I rarely get to eat Parsi food myself, so I eagerly wait for occasion such as these, because I know my dear friend and fellow foodie Perzen aka Bawi Bride will throw open the doors of her home and feed us! I’m a fan of her cooking since she started her blog and catering kitchen. She makes the yummiest, homely, hearty Parsi food. Read about my previous experiences with Bawi Bride’s Bhonu here and here.

It was #PatetiPopUp time! A bunch of us food bloggers, food writers and food lovers gathered at her home to celebrate Pateti and bring in the new year. The menu sounded delicious- Shirinbai’s Cheese Eeda Cutlets, Saas ni Prawns, Shehenshahi Pulao and Perzen’s signature Chocolate Mousse.

The Cheese- Eeda cutlets come with a lovely back story attached, that I am far too sentimental about. The cutlets stuffed with egg and gooey cheese, are best had hot! My paternal grandmother came up with the recipe, and stuffed me with them everytime I went to visit her during summer vacations. I would eat these cutlets for all three meals of the day, and still want more. She has been unable to make them for me due to age and other health issues. The last time I visited I managed to extract her signature recipe from this tiny brown paper covered note book, filled with her recipes which she scribbled in Gujarati half a century ago.