As I write this, there is a huge doubt about what lies ahead in the coming weeks. Will this new family tree of the virus disrupt our sovereignty in order to live our lives as we would like? Will we be able to walk, talk, meet and eat without limitations and restrictions? And by food I mean going out and visiting a restaurant. Indeed, the latest indictment of the virus took its toll on restaurants. I was told that after the unexpected first lockdown, about 20% of all catering industry just didn’t open completely. That nearly 30% of all restaurants and hotels are permanently closed, and those that are open lose up to 50%.
In the fight against these bitter, almost tragic circumstances, restaurateurs stood firm, stood firm and still applied creativity and style to renovate, reopen, maintain and launch some great eateries, and I succeeded. still spend there in 2021 with some really amazing meals. So as the end of 2021 draws closer, here’s my list of favorite places I ate in 2021. Some new, some old, but all damn worth it.
toric
Let me start with Tori in Bandra. This Latino Asian restaurant is covered in Persian carpets, has a great outdoor space, a who’s who guest list and serves a mind-boggling mix of South American and Southeast Asian food. Flavors of Thailand and Peru come together in the form of sushi, sliders, dim sum, carpaccio and ceviche.
Kyma
I am always fond of outdoor places and have always complained that Mumbai didn’t have too many open-to-the-sky restaurants where the food was good and the night was long. Perhaps it’s the muggy Mumbai summer that discourages that. But Kyma is an all-day casual eatery and bar, with alfresco dining under cabanas and a gazebo and a menu of Mediterranean and Asian dishes.
The salmon truffle cream cheese & jalapeno sushi, Philly cheese dim sum, the local style chili chicken with Manteo steamed buns, fiery wonton nachos and lemongrass creme brulee for dessert go great with a glass in one hand and a loved one on the other arm.
Mag St. Cafe
One of my favorite restaurateurs, Gauri Devidayal, whose Colaba eatery The Table is one of the best eateries in Mumbai, pioneered Magazine Street Kitchen, the city’s first-ever experimental kitchen space in Mumbai’s Old Port area. As a tribute to the good work done there, she has opened Mag St. Café, in a quaint and familiar spot on a side street off Colaba.
Mag St. Café, a lockdown project, is easy going, casual and stylish with a menu that exudes exactly the same attitude. Crispy breads, custom pizzas, Asian curries, salads, gourmet sandwiches, smoothies and delicious coffee and desserts.
Sette Mara
Sette Mara, from the Levantine cuisines of Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, Persia and Georgia, in St. Regis, Mumbai with Mediterranean and Arabic delicacies. There’s ‘The Cold Kitchen’ and ‘The Hot Kitchen’, from which crunchy salads emerge, traditional mezzes such as hummus Beiruti with paprika, parsley and roasted cumin, and hummus Phenicia with pine nuts, avocado and Z’atar and delicious muhammarah, labneh, talatouri.
Kachapuri, a classic Georgian boat-shaped cheese bread with a variety of fillings. Large plates such as whole sea bass baked in salt, Israeli couscous and mousaka. And then the time-honored oriental open charcoal grill foods like charred baby eggplant, Z’atar roasted spatchcock, joojeh kababs and other wonderfully charred meats.
zima
Speaking of which, I discovered Zima in Bandra online and then never stopped ordering from them. This is also a Mediterranean place. It is well priced, and the food is great. My favorite is their lentil soup with lemon and the Fattouch crispy lettuce with tomato, radish purslane and a fresh vinaigrette, hummus bil lahm, a creamy hummus with small pieces of baked loin and pine nuts, and my absolute favorite, the kafta lahm, a minced lamb, onion and parsley kabab, and the dynamite shrimp.
Souffle S’il Vous Plait
It’s almost impossible to get good French food in Mumbai, and then I discovered Souffle S’il Vous Plait. It’s been there for a while, but I just didn’t get around to going there.
At good old Churchgate, the oh-so-familiar street we all grew up eating, a cheery glittering interior space and curbside seating, a brightly lit, well-stocked bar with glittering Art Deco chandeliers. Young chef Vidit Aren makes meaty, intense French onion soups, chicken liver parfaits, baked cheese souffles, petit dinner rolls with organic raw honey roasts, duck confit, sea bass a la Marseille and steak frites. The pièce de résistance is of course the finale, the dessert. Fine, moist, drunken Baba au Rhum.
These were just some of the highlights of my favorite meals in 2021. You may have noticed that I haven’t mentioned any Indian or Chinese places. That’s simply because no Indian or Chinese place hit the spot for me this year.
But I have hope; hopes we will be victorious and so will the food. So all the best, happy new year and may you always be hungry for good food. Bonne Annee and Bon Apeptite.
Kunal Vijayakar is a food writer from Mumbai. He tweets @kunalvijayakar and can be followed on Instagram @kunalvijayakar. His YouTube channel is called Khaane Mein Kya Hai. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the views of this publication.
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