The Beer Café Now At Kamala Mills

Gone are the days when people bought a particular brand of beer and enjoyed with their friends at business meetings or at private parties, sometimes they would have in their car or in front of a liquor store. 

The whole idea has changed, and the taste buds too. It is no more a dingy bar or a closed room but now its a vibrant café. The idea is to have infused beer paired with selected finger food. To compliment the brand’s choicest beers is the carefully curated food menu with pairing across brews and food group. People are learning the taste of hard drinks from very early age and why not? If its is different from normal beer and has an exotic taste.

Everyday there are new beer joints cropping up around the city. ‘The Beer Café’ has launched its 10^th outlet in Mumbai at Kamala Mills, Mumbai prime commercial hub.

This outlet has been given vintage feel that brings forward the essence of an era that was once characteristic to the city. The café boasts of patterns and textures that are splashed with yellows and rust.

The tables are fairly separated from each other with long tables across the room for bigger groups and some dotted into cozy islands allowing privacy for smaller groups. Two LCDs on the wall completes the interiors for cricket loving fans. The vibrant music is in higher decibels leaving little space for conversations.

Offering as many as 24 beers on tap and over 50 brands from 19 countries, the largest collection of beer brands under one roof, the café is a true heaven for beer lovers.

I am not much of a beer lover, I had ordered Pepsi for self, but still I did take a sip or two from small beer glasses on the table and was quite fascinated by its taste.

Specially the black, creamy, velvety-smooth  ‘Shepherd’s Double Stout Draught’ that had burnt flavors of roasted cocoa and coffee notes. The other that I tasted was sweet and sour beer with little bitterness called “Hoegaarden Draught”. This had a strong touch of coriander with a hint of orange. I was tipsy after two sips, but looking around I found that people seemed to enjoy all the flavors.

The food was excellent. I loved the garden fresh pizza, chicken bruschetta, stadium style nachos and the flaky chicken chips. There was even veg and non-veg briyani on the menu.

The Beer café is doing for popular beverage what Starbuck is doing for coffee and soon we will have many more such Beer café all across India.

“There was no alco-beverage chain in India. Every now and then, a new fad comes in form of discotheques, nightclubs and lounge bars. But cafes remain consistent with their offerings. Socializing is now an inescapable phenomenon and these cafes serve as a perfect neighborhood meeting place for urban consumers. We saw a white space there and filled it with merging the two: beer and café. Thus, began The Beer Cafe’sjourney in April 2012, with the launch of our first outlet in Gurgaon.” Says RahulSingh, the CEO of The beer Café

And the game has just begun. 

Spinach with Mutton

When my friend asked me about different ways she can cook spinach I was tempted to tell her to ask Popeye.  I am reminded of Popeye effect that I used to read in the comic books where the pipe-smoking sailor man would burst open a a tin of spinach each time he sensed trouble. Once consumed his biceps would bulge and he could overcome all his enemies.

 But jokes aside, Spinach is the most versatile green vegetable one can cook. It blends with almost all vegetables and meat.  It is rich in iron and it is well known for its nutritional qualities. It has ability to restore energy, increase vitality and improve the quality of the blood.

I love spinach and often cook in different ways to suit my moods. there is Palak paneer (spinach with cottage cheese), there is  SaiBhaji (Spinach cooked with vegetables and lentils and makes its regular appearance on sindhi Cuisine) there is AisiBhaji (Spinach cooked with onion and tomatoes), I even use Spinach in stir fried Chinese vegetables and in soups. Have you tried the cream of Spinach soup? try it, you will love it

This week I decided to cook with mutton.

Ingredients

1tbsp ginger

1tsp black pepper

2 pods of cardamom

half kg mutton

2 tomatoes

1tsp turmeric

2tsp coriander powder

1tsp cumin powder

1 bunch clean spinach (wash in three clean water bowls)

2 green chillies

coriander leaves for garnish

Method

In a pan add 1tbsp of oil.

Add 1tbsp crushed ginger and 1 tsp black pepper and 2 pods of cardamom

Add half kg mutton

Stir and mix till it is properly coated with oil and begins to change color

Add 2 chopped tomatoes

Add salt, 1tsp turmeric, 2tsp coriander powder and 1tsp cumin powder

Mix and cook till it oil floats on the top.

Add spinach

Mix and let it cook for a minute

Add half cup water and pressure cook it upto three whistles

Garnish with coriander leaves and green chillies.

Serve with hot parathas.

A lovely Morning of Champagne Breakfast of Bonne Maman with Atout France

I love french bread, hard crust outside, and soft bread within..reminds of broon..our Indian bread, that our pav walla gets..its similar and very satisfying…but this breakfast was special, with egg omelet, ham, quiches and Bonne Maman preserves – a special invite by Atout France to enjoy the french breakfast with champagne at Sofitel BKC.

Bonne Mamam preserves are made with only finest ingredients: high fruit content, sugar and lemon juice. They are sweet and have 100 percent natural taste of fruit. I had earlier experienced the flavors of Bonne Maman at studio fifteen, where we had churned out some tasty french pastries.. You can read my post here But this breakfast was different, the preserves were used to create innovative dishes using Indian cuisine like dhokla and Maska Pav.

Normally, the fruit preserves are used over toast or cakes but here we had chef actually demonstrating a new combo of integrating our indian snack, Dhokla, with strawberry preserve.

A sandwich was made of dhokla and Bonne Maman preserve. What was more interesting was to crumble the dhoklas in nitrogen and get that frosty  and crunchy flavor. We could freeze it in the freezer too but the effect is not same as in molecular gastronomy where the flavor stays intact and yet the freshness

One more demo was on dipping the Maska Pav in egg batter, toasting on hot plate and then topping it with cream, fruits, honey and fruit preserves.

The room was filled with delicacies and we didn’t know where to start. Great morning spent with other food bloggers while we feasted on delicious breakfast.

Thank you for the the take-away gift. Now to drool over the food pictures in seasonal cookbook

Washington Apples HighTeaMeet at St. Regis Hotel

An invite by FBAI for an exclusive Washington Apples high tea meet  at St. Regis hotel on 38^th floor is something that nobody can refuse, specially not me.

I was running late, but reached in time to attend the live demo of ‘Puebla Avocado Tartare’ by Chef Himanshu Taneja.

This was followed by a talk by Keith Sunderlal – India Representative of the Washington Apple Commission who spoke of health benefits of Washington Apples. Rebecca Lyons, International Marketing Director of the Washington Apple Commission (she flew all the way down from Washington USA). She  spoke widely about different apples that are grown in the orchards on western belt of US and how they are harvested. She said “The apples don’t just fall off the tree like mangoes, or other such fruits, but they have to be hand-plucked, every single piece.” Did you know that 50% of apples are from US and 30% of Washington Apples are exported?

Whoever said “One apple a day keeps doctor away” knew the nutrient value of this fruit. It contains vitamins, minerals and fibres. It reduces the risk of Alzheimer and Parkinson’s disease., it controls blood sugar level, it is useful for treating anaemia, helps prevent cancer, facilitates digestion, the list is endless.

A dessert is a must, so we had another demo of ‘Seb Ka Chenna Payesh’

Apples, apples everywhere, as far as eyes-sight could stretch. I was attracted immediately to those shiny brass pots at the end of the room, a panipuri station and was completely bowled over by crunchy, spicy Puri stuffed with apples and vodka…yes, I loved it.

It was spicy  but very tasty, had just two then walked over to the apple drink station of sweet and sour apple juice.

Alhambra, the banquet room on the 38th floor of the hotel St. Regis had a big spread of savories and sweets, all made of one main ingredient- Washington apples. There were pies, quiches, savories, mustard broccoli quiche, Granny Smith, clove with cottage cheese sandwich, the apple jelebi, sweets, drinks and more

Did you know that apple float in water because 25% of their volume is air.

It was nice interacting with other food bloggers and got into conversation with interesting ones, some spoke of their travels and some of food photography and some simply about food blogging.  We sat by the window, 38 floors up and has bird’s eye view of Mumbai city where rich and poor live side by side, both dependent on each other for finding a better shade of comfort.

It was an lovely afternoon spend with like minded people all who loved Washington apples.

Enjoyable event indeed! Thank you FBAI for lovely afternoon.