Winter Cuisine at Punjab Grill

I like this new trend of sharing the chef table with other foodies. The food talks are interesting so are the variety of food offered during the meals. This Saturday, I attended the launch of winter menu at Punjab Grill.

 Why winter menu?

There is a tight link between food and our hormones and this can be noticed in our seasonal cravings. In winter, there is craving for comfort food that is generally high in fats and carb. Plants start converting their starches into sugar. The cold-sweetening occurs in many cold-tolerant vegetable plants like beets, carrots, and root vegetables. 

Mumbaites don’t experience the vast difference in climate change but the drop in temperatures to as low as 13 degrees is good enough reason to pamper one self and deviate from normal cuisine.

Punjab Grill understands that, it is all dressed up for this winter session.

There is a great selection of drinks, mocktails and cocktails, to choose from. Normally the drinks have a slice of lime and salt dust on the rim, but here I was staring at a bright green chili on my drink. 

This restaurant has a class of its own.

I ordered ‘Mast Guava’ a cocktail that contains Vodka, Guava, tobasco, coriander leaves and ..er..guess what else?.hmmmn…can't believe my luck!..finely chopped green chilies..now…that was a complete nirvana!

There is a surprise element in the presentation with every serving. When the men in black approached our table with serving dishes, we stopped midway in our conversation to see what was on the tray behind the smoking glass lid, under the metallic conical cover, in those porcelain cups. We craned our neck to get the view before it even reached our plates.

I don’t much like vegetarian food, therefore my vegetarian serving was just a spoonful of each dish for taste. The winter vegetables are sweetish, not my kind of food. However, I loved matured Kaanji carrot juice served in earthen pots that had a strong flavors of mustard seeds. The sweet potato and star fruit tossed in sweet and sour tamarind, a chaat I have never tasted before, but it was something different (not sure if I liked it) and one needs to develop a taste for it. ‘Sarson da Saag’ bright green fragrant vegetable is ‘must have’ vegetarian dish.

But the non-vegetable was commendable. I especially like the ‘Tabak Maaz’,  and ‘Methi Chicken Tikka.  The succulent lamb ribs simmered in fennel-flavored milk were cooked just right, so soft that it melts in the mouth on first bite. Grilled ‘Chicken Tikka’ infused with fenugreek leaves was a pleasant delight. I didn’t enjoy the ‘Bheja Masala’ that had an over powering taste of Garam masala.

The ‘Winter Bread Basket’ was interesting assortments of Makki di roti, Bajra di roti and Palak di roti. They tasted delicious when laced with blob of white butter and pinch of ajwain infused Gurh.

I was happy that the service was slow. It gave us time to relish every dish, enjoy the varied flavors of each dish. The ambience of the restaurant is seductive. The beautiful Sufi music in the background, the twinkling lights on the trees above, and comfortable cushions on low sofa under the open starry sky added to the romance of the evening. The mood was set. There was enough time to socialize and familiarize with other foodies. We enjoyed sharing notes on wine, snacks and food culture of other cities.

By the time, the dessert arrive, we were friends chatting away.

Together we relished the sweet flavors of ‘Gurh Wale Chawal’ rice flavored with black cardamom, garnished with curled coconut strips and ‘Bajre Ki Choori’ The grandma style rotis and jaggery crumble that brought back the memories of my yearly visits to my maternal uncles house during my growing up days.

And Finally the famous 'Paan Shot'

I had heard about this Paan shot from my friends and I was eagerly waiting for it to arrive. Mixture of betel leaves with paan masala, all crushed together to make a concentrate drink. In one gulp, I emptied the glass, its cool fragrant taste gliding down my throat.

Verdict: Highly recommended for people who enjoy good Indian cuisine.

Where: Punjab Grill

Juhu Shopping Centre, Unit No24


Opp Criticare Hospital


9th Gulmohar Road,

Juhu, Mumbai – 400049 


Tel: +(91)-(22)-42433100, 42433101, 42433102

The Winter season is ushered in from 14th January and continues till end of February 2014.

Quenching with Summer Drinks

Instant karma are the cocktails? Or so they say...Good Karma or bad karma, taste decides, if you like it then good Karma but if you hate it then bad

But when you chance upon the mixing techniques to enjoy the drink to perfection then its going to be only good Karma, right?

Well this Thursday, I got an invite to attend the workshop on ‘Mocktails and Bartending’ by mixologist Ameya Sharma at Nature’s basket at Bandra.

Beginning of the month, my shopping was overdue at this store and I needed to fill up my larder, this was the perfect timing for attending this workshop as well.

So before my tedious shopping of organic fruits, vegetables, cheese and sauces, and surf the shelves for something new, I could do for some drinks.

Nature's Basket has one small inner room where hard drinks are stocked on regular days, this is the room where workshops are normally held. Until last year, we watched demonstrations as standees, crowding around the table, but over the time it is getting more organized. There were twelve chairs in three rows plus another six plastic stools. A big LCD TV in one corner and four assistants for helping with serving and attending to the comfort of the audience and the host. The table was laden with different kind of juice packets, syrups and fresh fruits, cutlery, mixing jugs, muddler, strainers, cocktail shakers, measuring cups, glasses and many other accessories.

Word spreads fast, because the room was full, with hardly any space to move. The men who had come early to get the best seat, had to sacrifice their comfort for late comers, especially women who expected this service. The recipes of the drinks were handed out to all those present and it listed all the items that would be demonstrated during the evening. The session began with the short introduction of the accessories that are useful during mixing of drinks.

There is the way to shaking the cocktail shakers, “Shake it like so, on the side above your shoulders” he said showing the right direction "so as not to wet yourself during mixing of the drinks".

Volunteers from the audience were invited to replicate the method demonstrated by host, and one by one, the drinks were mixed to make it visually appealing and then poured into tiny glasses for tasting.

Beside the various drinks he also demonstrated different ways the glass of drink could be garnished: a curled lime rind, a fan shaped apple slices hinged on a tooth-pick, the salting of the rim. It made interesting visual impact.


After every demo, we were given a shot to taste


I am not sure how many such shots I took but I came home in a very pleasant mood.

Some of the one which I liked

Orange Julius

Mix and blend........ 

120ml orange juice

60ml milk

3-4 chunks fresh orange chunks

30ml vanilla syrup

30ml fresh cream

10 ice cubes

The taste was sweetest milky flavor

The Pom Pom

Mix and blend........ 

300ml apple juice

½ cup chopped apples

½ cup chopped pineapples

½ cup chopped peaches

30ml blood orange syrup

7-8 ice cubes.

There was a sweetish sour, crunchy taste of fruits from the tiny bits that had escaped during double straining of the juice

Off Shores

Mix and blend........ 

5-6 coriander leaves

8-10 mint leaves

6-8 drops Worcestershire sauce

2-3 drops tobacco

60ml guava juice

Pinch of salt

3 scoops of ice cubes.

This tasted like panipuri, sweet, sour and spicy

Many people asked different recipes for various drinks and Ameya patiently shared his recipes. My cousin had tipped me to ask the recipe of Pinacloda

And he obliged

Mix and blend........

Pineapple juice 120ml

Fresh cream 30ml

Coconut cream 30ml

Vanilla rum 30ml

White rum 60ml

image source

But looking at the ingredients I agree its High-CalAlcoholic Beverage to Avoid