Sweetened Tea Trail At Café Zoe

Mumbai is the city where rich and poor live in harmony just few steps away from each other. 

One can eat a nice cheese toast at a street corner for just Rs20 or go across the road, enter a fancy restaurant and order a cheese toast of Rs200. The toast may taste the same, but the difference is in the use of cutlery, the plating, the ambience and the service. Moreover, you don’t see the dishes being rinsed in front of you, nor the spray of dust settling on your plate from a passing vehicle, like you witness it at a street corner.

It maybe hygienic or non-hygienic, you survive and come back with a happy smile.

This week, dodging the traffic, trying to keep my balance, I walked along the narrow dirt path inside the Mathurdas mill compound at lower Parel. The small houses on the either side of the street had pauperized and blemished facade, but a glance through some glass windows told a different successful story behind those closed doors. There are many offices and corporate houses inside the compound and there are many restaurants that cater to these elite crowds.

Café Zoe is one such venue. I would never have guessed the interior from its humble exterior of painted colorful metal chairs and ordinary narrow passage with plants begging for attention.

But once you walk in through a huge glass door, you are transported into a different world. It is a place where one can spend hours munching on food and drinks. There are wooden community tables that can be arranged to accommodate large groups for an evening supper or one can sit at leisure, alone, sipping coffee/fresh juice, stretched on comfortable sofas. The ceiling is quite high with rustic look on walls, black and white photographs relate the story of its construction. Part of the room is divided into two levels, with a small library at the upper level. The baking station and fresh juice/drinks station occupy the lower level with a small shelf covering one wall that stocks exotic sauces/pastas/books for sale.

Why would I go there in the middle of the day to a fancy restaurant in an unknown street? 

Good question! 

I was invited, courtesy Splenda, who is introducing no-calorie sweetener Splenda in Indian market. Personally speaking, I do trust Splenda and have been using it for several years, but purchasing in Mumbai is difficult sometimes. The alternate choice, bought in desperation, has not been satisfying because of the horrible bitter after-taste of different brands. Therefore I was only too happy to accept the invitation and listen to what they had to offer.

The Splenda event was coupled with ‘tea ceremony’ conducted by Radhika Batra, who took us on a tea journey from tea gardens to teacups, while Naina Setalvad, the health consultant, explained the benefits of using right brand of sweetener.

A spoonful of salad containing feta cheese, cherry tomatoes, black n green olives, lettuce n salad leaves and a dash of vinegar n olive oil was paired with Longjing tea.

As the session progressed, five exotic teas and tisane were brewed and complimented with food.

I was avoiding non-veg that day, therefore I did not taste all the dishes, but I was tempted to try the shrimp cutlets that looked crispy and appetizing. Friend informed me that it contained minced shrimps, eggs, herbs and was coated with bread crumbs.

The food was tasty and visually appetizing. Restaurant is good for pastas and cakes. Maybe some other day I might visit Café Zoe to try its shrimp cutlets and those exotic pastries.

My special thanks to Shruti Amin and Romil Zaveri for the warm afternoon.

Hot Dog Round The Corner

When travelling, it’s important to try local food and most importantly to try the street food because true essence of local food can be found in the street food.

I had my first tryst with street food was when I visited Bangkok for the first time. The air smelt of seafood and the food was very spicy and tasty. I have never forgotten that taste.

It’s my habit to try street food in every city that I visit. It could be a simple stir fries or more complicated sandwiches, or some weird dishes, but try I must. Every country has its own variety of street food.

Here in Canary Islands, most of the street food you will find at the Sunday market. On regular days, you will find near the city plaza, near the beach or closer to the church. People enjoy churro chocolate, a favorite street food and I had blog about this earlier.

Street food in Canary Islands is clean and sold in kiosk or in a vehicle. Last week I tried a hot dog by the beach at Garachico.

Now hot dog is the international dish, found in almost every country in the world. The basic method of cooking the hot dog is same. You put the hot dog in a saucepan, put little cold water and cook till it begins to boil, then let it stand for five minutes and you are ready to grill. What is different from country to country is the topping you get. While under Mexican influence you might get mango salsa and avocados, or under British spin you might get gravy infused spoonful of mashed potatoes but I kind of liked the topping at this place in Tenerife.

The couple was happy to share their recipe.

Hot dogs with the topping of mustard sauce, chili sauce and mayonnaise, a salad leaf, tomato and deep-fried onions and potato chips

Pizza at North of the Island in Tenerife

What is the difference between Samosas of India, Spring Rolls of China, and Chagio of Vietnam???, the stuffing right? ...... On the same theme, here is the new snack, with stuffing that contains a piece of white cheese, wrapped with a spinach leaf and fried in the crispy rice flour wrapping, served in the bed of sweet and sour sauce with a dash of soya sauce....imagine the taste….its yum...gone in a second leaving behind its lingering taste....but wait.....what I like the best is...er..the serving appetizer spoons...I need to buy those......

The chef said, “Its on the house, my new creation”.

He was introducing a new snack, Paquetos de quesos y espinaca con salsa agridulce and he wanted me to try it.

I gave him full marks.

I like restaurants that care for its clients and are always trying new creations and this Italian restaurant ‘Tasca Pizzeria Maracay’ gets a brownie point.

I actually went for pizza because that is what it specializes in. They have oven-roasted pizzas with great variety of combination. We ordered three kinds

Pizza cuatro quesos: Pizza with four different cheeses: Mozzarella, Parmesan, Camembert, rogurfort.

Pizza Stramboli: with tuna, ham and prawns

Pizza Vegetariana: with Mushroom, asparagus, black olives and capsicum.

The oven-roasted pizzas have their distinct burnt taste, that sets it apart from the normal ones.

Since most of the Spanish food has bland taste, I like restaurants that have good sauces to go with the meals. We ordered ‘Queso asado con dos mojos (cilantro and rojo pimientos’ which is actually roasted white cheese soaked in two sauces :coriander and red capsicum.

We also had a pretty looking salad, okay, it was not just pretty, it was delicious too. With the combination of rocket leaves, lettuce, black and green olives, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, red cabbage, basil, olive oil, it is hard to imagine it can be anything but tasty….

Tasca Pizzeria Maracay’ is an Italian restaurant in the north of the island at La Guancha in Tenerife. It has very good ambience with pine furniture and many artifacts decorating the walls. They have bamboo furniture outside in the open and on a bright sunny day, it’s a perfect place to spend an afternoon.

Dimsum- Soft, Steamed Snack

I am always confused between dimsum and Momo. In Tibet they call it Momo, in China they call it Dimsum, it’s a snack made of dough, stuffed with filling and steamed. Momo are normally with wrapper open, exposing the filling and a cheaper variety sold in carts as a street food, sometimes served with garlic sauce and soup, Dimsum, on the other hand is the closely wrapped snack, served in fancy restaurants with garlic or soya sauce. There are hundreds of recipes on this, depending on your choice of filling.

It has been many days now since I have nursed a desire to make Dimsum. In India, we have many vendors where you can just go and enjoy this snack, eating at the street vendor seems an easy way out since it is readily available. But when you travel to other countries, where it is not so common, you begin to miss what you get so easily in your town.

Like I am here in Spain, spending some time with my family and found a good reason to try my hand on this recipe. Didn’t realize there is so much effort involved till I actually sat down to make it. It’s the wapper that takes most of the time, diligently rolling out each circle and filling it. But it is worth it, if the family appreciates and enjoys the end product.

To make wrapper:

1cup flour

1/2cup warm water

1tsp olive oil

Salt to taste

The dough is made by mixing flour, water, salt, and oil till it has elastic consistency.

Keep it the fridge for one hour.

To make filling

3-4 mushrooms

1carrot

Small quantity of capsicum (red, yellow, green)

2 spring onions

4-5 finely chopped n deep fried garlic

1tsp five-spice powder

salt to taste

Mix finely chopped mushroom, carrots, red, yellow and green capsicum, spring onions, fried garlic, salt and five-spice powder. keep it aside.

Remove the dough from the fridge, knead it well, cut into small pieces, and roll into wafer thin round circles.

Stuff it with filling and steam it.

Serve with soya sauce dip

For soya sauce dip:

2tbsp soya sauce,

1tsp vinegar,

1tsp sugar

1tsp olive oil

1 teaspoon finely chopped green chilies.

Five Spice powder:

1 piece star aniseed

½ tsp. cloves

1” pc. Cinnamon

½ tsp. sauf  

½ tsp. peppercorns

Powder them and use as needed.