Italian Pop Up At The Wild Asparagus Table

 The Wild Asparagus Table has been initiated by Saloni Malkani and Ananya Banerjee, and it gives opportunity to home chefs to host a pop up on international cuisine. This month, the pop up was organised by Inderpreet Nagpal of RummysKitchen at Versova . 

Although the time was fixed at 7:30pm, we reached late due to long snail ride from Bandra to Versova. But I was sharing Uber with three more friends, so the gupshup started during travelling itself braving all the traffic jam.

The party has already begun with a glass of red or white Reveilo wine in every hand. We had missed the photo sessions and lots of chatter and glimmer, but vibrant ambience still surrounded all the cheerful ladies.  

A long narrow table was set in the centre of the room to seat 17 of us. It was a comfy set up with smaller conversation groups on either side of the table. 

The party started with the welcome introductory note by Rummy on her Italian cuisine with Kerala twist and Saloni on her introduction of Reveilo wines. 

It was 10-course meal fabulously hosted by Rummy and her two pretty daughters who served us course-by-course, meticulously changing plates and cutlery. The service was better than what you would find in a five star hotel, and so much comfort. 

For those who could not attend, they missed this.

Everything was home cooked including the pasta for Ravioli and breads. The portions were served in medium size plates sufficient for one serving, and we were able to enjoy all the ten courses that appeared on our table at regular intervals. If you are drooling, I don't blame you.

The dinner went on for over two hours, enjoyable all the way. All of us were asked to wear dangling ear-rings that added excitement during photo session. 

Enjoy the video of the event here

enjoyed in the company of 

#WildAsparagusTable

#fbai 

#riveilowines 

The FBAI 

@sallonim2

@revielowines

@papadchai

@thecutchimemontable

@astraldelights

@ShitalKakad

@roopanabar

@anjbhargava

@chefshilpasethbhambri

@suskitchenbysumitra

@poojavarsshapunjabi

@sharoongidwani

@tossed_and_dressed

Fable, Italian restaurant at Juhu

My friends and me, we meet regularly, either for pot lunch or in a restaurant. A big discussion follows on selecting a venue when eating out, we normally look for place where we can chill over long conversations and enjoy good food.

Fables seemed a perfect choice this time since we were in mood for Italian cuisine.

The décor was very inviting with open fireplace for roasting Pizzas, designer tables, a wishing well and beautiful artistic windows and lamps.

Themed around books/stories/tales, (as the name fables suggests) this place is dainty and elegant. The place was full during lunch hour, specially the enclosed AC area, We chose a table at far corner where we could do gup-shup in peace.

Menu card was interesting with stories and graphics between pages. So while we decide on the choice of dishes, going through those graphics was a pure delight

We ordered Lychee-lemon grass coolers, first two and then two more because they were very refreshing.

Pizza, unfortunately was very disappointing. The crust was okay (grilled under open fire) but the topping had no taste at all, no herbs, less salt and it was soggy

But the winner was the salad that had perfect blend of sweet and sourness. It was quinoa and barley salad with mixed lettuce, onions, cherry tomatoes in chilli maple dressing.

It would have been better, had we ordered just french fries, the chilie and cheese on the fries did no justice at all.....

Service is good. I asked waiter to bring me the most attractive dessert and he brought me this cheesecake with raspberry sauce. Loved it.

The restaurant is reasonably priced but service tax(15%) and service charges(20%) spikes the bill up to 35%.

Calling home service seems to be a better option. We save on the service charges

But dining in a restaurant has its own charm. The stories flow fluently  and there is no hassle of running to the kitchen every two minutes and missing the conversation in bits and pieces.

Would I go back to this restaurant again? I am not sure…