Smokehouse Deli

PS: Shop no c-90G, Phoenix Mills Compound, 46, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai - 13

Tring: +91-22- 65619618/24933222

Click:  www.impresario.in (mother website)

In & Out: 12 noon – 12 midnight daily

Damages: Rs.2500/- for a meal for two with alcohol

Must-Order: Lemon Dill Cambodian Basa

Umami Quotient:  Sweet

One hot afternoon Mariam and I teetered dangerously close to resembling our bête noires – fro-frou Ladies Who Lunch (LWL) all thanks to Riyaaz’s newest den of gourmet iniquities Smokehouse Deli newly opened at Phoenix Mills. We shopped for shoes we didn’t need, gossiped about people we know only too well, drank sangrias while we waited for our tables and were altogether delightfully carefree and timeless, which is a rare luxury for both of us. 

Photo - Mariam Mamaji

 Bar-O-Meter

Since I had dropped in for a quick dekko of SMD during one of its opening brunches I had already sampled the Melon Mojitos and Tangerine Caipirojkas which both passed the coolness muster for this hot December. And the aforementioned Red Wine Sangria was a perfectly-pitched classic with lethal amounts of wine and especially wine-soaked fruits which had us all hazy and giggly in 20 minutes flat with a single glass! To come off our ‘high’ perch we sampled Cucumber Basil Lavender Lemonade was delightfully fresh with a hint of herb and flower and reminded us of a striped awning on a sunny porch – absolutely recommended for a post-shopping cool-off!

Photo - Mariam Mamaji

Palate

Since we always harbor honorable intentions of eating healthy, especially now with a wedding around the corner (mine!) we started off with the Baby Spinach salad with mustard onions, sesame granola and smoked chicken.  The spinach was surprisingly fresh given the wilted bundles we get to buy from the veggie vendors and the mayo had a lovely zing to it. However the mustard on the onions was merrily AWOL and the chunky and sweet granola stood out like a sore thumb . we suspect they tried a spin on caramelized walnuts often seen in fig and arugula salads but the granola was simply too sweet to mesh in with the rest of the salad. Next up was our evergreen favourite eggs – Truffle Oil Scented Scrambled Eggs with warm croissants. The dish arrived fluffy and delish with a softly flaking croissant. However we sniffed around for the truffles in vain (much like the pigs!) till we asked the waiter and realized he had misheard our order and got us the version without the truffle oil! Oink, sigh! As the we got more sated, we pulled out the big guns. For Mariam it was a gourmet spin on her favourite street food – the hotdog – with German wurstel ensconced in grain mustard and onion relish. While the sausage was beautifully smoked and married to some proper pungent mustard the mayo was a tad unnecessary and in a bout of belated guilt, we munched on the sausage sans the bun to keep some semblance of a carb count! However that went out of the window with our next order, My Boss’s Style Spaghetti. This was perhaps one of the meanest renditions of a lipsmackingly good aglio olio we’ve had a while with a generous lashing of olive oil muddled with chili flakes, and ground parmesan. We almost forgot that the waiter had muddled our order (again!) and gotten us the vegetarian version instead of the tenderloin rosemary meatballs we’d ordered it with. Aah well, the fact that we enjoyed it nonetheless is enough testament to its taste! However the piece the resistance of the main course was the Cambodian Lemon Dill Basa I had sampled during the opening brunch. The fish was unbelievably fresh and plump (a shot of fish Botox perhaps?) and accompanied very subtly with a thin layer of citrus n’ herb emulsion. While we were too full for desserts our sharp eyes spied the delish Cakes in a Jar from Country of Origin that we have reviewed earlier. A great take-home option for teatime sins we say!

Photo - Mariam Mamaji

 

Photo - Mariam Mamaji

Photo - Mariam Mamaji

 Crowd V/s Company

We simply love the design mantra of SMD! The clean wood floors, white walls and high ceilings with soft spotlights and impish line drawings running through the wall art, not to mention the sideboards with chunky white crockery all remind us of a study straight out of 19^th century Britain a la Enid Blyton/Peter Pan. And given that besides Indigo Deli there was really no other credible dining option in Phoenix Mills, the packed room on the second day of opening is proof of how sorely it fills a rather large gap.

Photo - Mariam Mamaji

 Comeback Quotient

When we want to take out-station visitors to an effortlessly stylish eatery . . . or just get together to discuss the vagaries of love and other demons you might find us sipping on our Sangrias at the corner table!

San Churros

GPS: Shop No. 11, Silver Pearl, opp. Red Box Café,  Waterfield Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai - 50
Tring Tring: +91-22- 26400044
Click:  www.sanchurro.com
In & Out: 9:00 am – 12 midnight
Damages: Rs.500/- for a meal for two
Must-Order: Azteca Hot Chocolate
Umami Quotient:  Sour

We’ve been curious about San Churros ever since it opened but equally dreading going there given the perma diet we’re on. Somehow endless chocolate wouldn’t fly past our regimens we were sure yet SC had to be sampled, diet be damned! We found the perfect opportunity on a  buzzing Saturday afternoon accompanied by two friends, one of whom was fresh down from the US and somewhat an expert on comforting n’ unhealthy chain restaurant fare!



Fist off, the menu overwhelmed us, it was all chocolate and lots of it! The descriptions and quantities transported us to middle America with humungous proportions and no regard for health or moderation. Aah well, when in Rome et al . . ! we scoured the menu and settled for the Azteca hot chocolate with cinnamon and chili and two of their signature desserts viz Berry Bizcocho with chocolate, strawberries, chocolate sauce and custard and the Churromiso (a play on tiramisu as we belatedly discovered!) a concoction of churros, whipped coffee, mascarpone, hot chocolate, cinnamon and cocoa powder. We were confident that despite the calorie overlay the chocolatey wonders would transport us into blissville. We were of course woefully mistaken.


The Azteca despite its beguiling rich thickness had a strange watery aftertaste which we found really difficuly to associate with the consistency. Also the spicy ending was perhaps too overpowering for the humid Mumbai weather. The Churromiso was a basic tiramisu, light n’ pleasant enough and not oversweet, with a churro perched dangerously across the bowl. The Bizcocho though was a sugar overload! There was a mysteriously hard layer as we dug our spoons in that refused to crack under pressure. Nougat we finally concluded as we struggled to scrape bits out. However the chocolate, nougat and custard were all robustly sweet which combined on the palate was enough to make us go off sugar for a weekend! The slight tart of the strawberries could do little to counter this overlay.


Its didn’t help as the floor manager blandly parroted ‘company policy’ of not allowing photographs of the interiors even when we mentioned would were going to writing about SC, of our own volition and expense! Typical of how brands travel the world, but local attitudes are hard to beat. However given the packed house SC was catering to, we concluded sadly that perhaps we were minorities in the SC target audience. People were evidently lapping up the deep-fried sugary delights being served. It led us to conclude that perhaps aspirational urban middle class consumers are the same worldwide. At that moment we could certainly see no difference between the American supersize-me populace and our desi folks. Hmm point to contemplate over . . .

 
We’d conclude that if you’re in the vicinity and tired of trying myriad clothes in all the export-surplus stores around, SC is perfect as a sugarfix break. The regular hot chocolate would be your best bet if not the savoury sandwiches; just remember to share the spoils if you don’t want a sucrose OD!
The authors have a personal blog called, MaDe in Umami