The Tasting Room, Mumbai

Ronak's friend Christina invited us to the Tasting Room in Lower Parel for her birthday dinner. Nestled off the main road, behind a parking lot and upstairs, we entered what felt like a well-kept secret. A perfectly weathered space with candles and warm hues. It was an evening of great food and lively conversation amongst fellow Americans, locals and ex-pats.

Indian Style

While we played it safe for most of our meals in Mumbai, we couldn't leave the city without eating at a couple local eateries. After sari shopping at Amarsons on our last day we headed farther down Linking Road to have lunch at Only Parathas. Parathas are whole wheat Indian flat-breads stuffed with various fillings- we ordered cauliflower (gobi), onion (pyaz) and potato (alu). Piping hot and delicious.

Up until this point we had miraculously made it through our trip without any bouts of "Delhi-belly"-- and were afraid to push our luck. As curious as we were to try those saucy side dishes, we decided to leave them alone rather than pay the price on the flight home.

Worth the Wait

For as long as Ron and I have lived in New York, we've each known about One if by Land, Two if by Sea. It has a reputation for being one of the city's most romantic restaurants, but also one of the priciest. NYC's Restaurant Week gave us the opportunity to eat here and enjoy their prix-fixe menu at a reasonable rate.

The Menu

Calamari a la Plancha, roasted vegetables, red peppers, capers, basil
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Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, cranberry coulis, pecans
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Grilled Bavette Steak swiss chard, pearl barley, roasted cipollini onion, beef jus
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Gianduja Mousse caramel compressed bananas, banana bread, banana bread ice cream
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Crème Fraiche Panna Cotta sable breton, citrus medley, blood orange caviar, tangerine sorbet

Forbidden Fruits

After hearing numerous accounts of people getting sick from uncooked food in India, Mumbai began to feel like the Garden of Eden-- street vendors selling rainbow-colored fruit, freshly cut and beautifully arranged over palm leaves. Tempting, yes... but supposedly one of the many forbidden foods for a western stomach.




I couldn't help but approach the fruit at our hotel with the same apprehension. Ronak repeatedly reassured me that the food in the 5-star hotels is safe to eat. This was exactly what I wanted to hear as I was longing to taste two fruits I had never seen before: mangosteen and dragon fruit. Strangely, as beautiful as dragon fruit is with its fuschia skin, the flesh is unexpectedly dry & mealy. Mangosteen on the other hand is not at all pretty, but inside its hard shell holds sweet & juicy segments that taste much like lychee.

EN Again