street food – baconbaba

The Misal Trail takes off

Last week at the 11 ESB PEO tasting, Prashant Kunjir and I caught up, and he proposed going out on what he likes to call a #MisalTrail. Plans were drawn up, and Pashan was selected as our first hunting ground. D-day arrived, and we met at sharp 9:30 AM (to be perfectly honest, the agreed time was 8:45 AM, but, well IST), and set out taking down some amazing joints in the area. Here’s a quick run down

Tapkir

The Special Misal. About a year back they shifted to Pashan from Sus-gaon, but they continue serving the same “thali”. Its an elaborate setup with taak, dahi, misal, pav, and a gulab jamun. Not too spicy, quite tasty.

2. Shrimaan

This one is at the other end of the road, with its entrance tucked away in the corner of a grocery shop. The tarri here is quite tasty, though I found the ratio of matki to farsaan off. Wayy too much farsaan in the initial serving. Also, the tarri and the matki had clashing flavors, so adding the matki later didn’t work out. Totasted pav added some nice flavors though.

4. Someshwar

This on was on Pashan main road, on the way from Sai chowk to the highway on the left side. Another delicious medium spicy misal, served with toasted pav. This is literally an ‘everyday’ misal, i.e., I would be happy to eat this everyday!

The tarri had a nice bit of zatka, and a flavor of star anise was noticeable, adding a lovely flavor to the misal.

Someshwar

5. Shiv Malhar

Located across the highway towards Sus gaon, this is quite a “well developed” place with a large variety of misal types. With a lot of indoor and outdoor seating, this place has a nice view as well. Coming to the misal, we had options of Puneri and Kolhapuri Misal. We quickly figured out the only difference between the 2 was that they added som spicy tarri on top of the sampal for the Kolhapuri one. Wel,, names aside, this was also superb. We were full with the previous 4 places, but couldn’t stop lapping up some more. Definitely worth a weekend visit – lots of space for kids to run around, and the Puneri misal is low on spice.

Shiv Malhar

PS: This is not an attempt at ranking any misal place. Each place had its own flavor, and we just want to appreciate each of them, while trying to understand what sets them apart.
More to come 🙂

212 All Day Cafe and Bar has launched a number of new items on their exhaustive menu. #TheBTeam was invited last night to try out some of the brilliant stuff on offer.

We started off with a round of mocktails. The Good Morning Bombay – a teetotaler’s version of the Bloody Mary, packed a punch. This chilled tomato based drink was loaded with pepper and Tabasco – to the point of tasting more like a Gazpacho than a mocktail. Delicious and refreshing, nonetheless.

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Among the other mocktails on the menu, the R&R – a strawberry lemonade, was particularly good.

First up to our table were Mrs. Beaton’s Eggs – masala scrambled eggs on a buttered bun pao, with potato slivers and a tomato hollandaise. Scrambled eggs and buttered pao is a match made in heaven, and the cheesy hollandaise added a lovely creamy note to this pairing. A must have, if down here for a snack!

Curried porridge, (aka dalia khichdi) was well made. The garnish of peanuts and edible flowers did add some sophistication to this homely meal.

The Egg Plant Bruschetta was definitely the highlight of the vegetarian fare at 212. Caramelized onions merged beautifully with the egg-plant mash, with the figs and brie adding some lovely overtones of sweet and sour flavor.

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Giving us company through this whole tirade of food were two innocuous looking dishes – the 3 Hummus Pita and the Trio of Chips and Salsa. The huge bowl of tricolored chips with the array of dips was munch heaven, and the three types hummus (Beet, edamame and burnt garlic) with the crisp pita was just perfect. Definitely order one of each for a nice long chat session here. You wont be disappointed.

IMG_20170821_202653 — Trio of Chips and Salsa

One dish that you MUST NOT MISS is the Poutine. 212 dishes out an absolutely fabulous version of this French Canadian street food. Cheesy french fries, topped with sour cream and a delicious lamb mince gravy, corn and peas (or caramelized onions, mushrooms and corn for the herbivores) was easily my favorite item on the menu. I could eat buckets of this. BUCKETS!

IMG_20170821_203010 — Shephard’s Bowl Poutine

There were two versions of prawns served to us. The Grilled Tiger Prawns were highly Instagrammable, though the tangerine sauce could have used a bit of oomph. It was underwhelming, at best. The Chettinad Prawns, on the other hand, were a revelation. The crisp coating had hints of chettinad masala. Fried with red chilli, and served with a spiced mayo, this is another highly recommended dish at 212.

IMG_20170821_205752 — Grilled Tiger Prawns

They have also added to their range of burgers and pizzas. While the Monster Chicken Burger is a sight to behold, the Chettinad Cottage Cheese Pizza with its combination of basil, curry patta and chettinad masala was quite unpalatable. The Roast Chicken Sandwich (Panini) was rather lovely, with a generous amount of melted cheese and caramelized onions.

Chettinad Cottage Cheese Pizza

Roast Chicken Sandwich

Cajun Spiced Chicken Pizza

Monster Chicken Burger

For dessert we thoroughly enjoyed the Tiramisu Eclairs. The choux pastry topped with the airy Mascarpone and coffee dust proved to be an absolute masterful dessert for coffee lovers. Its deceptive – this dessert is one of the lightest I have ever had.

Overall, the new menu items add some lovely Mediterranean and Latin influences to the already diverse menu at 212.

I was invited to be part of blogger’s table. The Usual Disclaimer applies.

Check out the lovely Bellydriven’s take on 212 here.

Tag Archives: street food

1 day. 2 hours. 3 cups of Taak. 4 intestines of steel. 5 Misals.