#ExperienceTaj - Golden Dragon

Disclaimer - This is not a review of Golden Dragon. When you visit a 110-year-old hotel's 40-year-old restaurant. it's not just food that you eat; there are stories, memories and anecdotes that create an experience worth remembering.

Last week I was invited for lunch at Golden Dragon, The Taj Mahal Palace's Chinese restaurant. The idea was to introduce food bloggers/writers to restaurant's dining experience with a menu including signature dishes and regular favourites. A small group of three food writers; Romi Purkayastha of Follow The Eaten Path, Roxanne Bamboat of The Tiny Taster and me joined by Nikhila Palat - Taj Mahal Palace's Public Relation Manager and Parveen Chander - the Deputy General Manager at The Taj Mahal Palace, was hosted at this 40-year-old restaurant. 

Opened in 1973, Golden Dragon was the first restaurant to bring authentic Chinese cuisine to Mumbai. At the time when Chinese food meant Indo-Chinese or Kolkata-Chinese for us, Golden Dragon introduced Mumbaikars to Szechuan and Cantonese cuisines. A fleet of five chefs was flown in from China to get the right cooking techniques and authentic flavours. They carried their own pots and ladles and no one except those five chefs was allowed to touch them, until an Indian chef convinced them that he was worthy of cooking their food.

With stories like these, our meal started with a cup of traditional Chinese tea which was served from a pot with an unusually long spout. This peculiar pot was used to serve tea in the times of war. It allowed the server to pour tea from a distance stopping him from overhearing the private (read top-secret) conversation. Tea was followed by a dimsum platter which had a mix of signature as well as new dishes. I loved the Flaky radish dimsum - grated radish wrapped in a flaky, deep fried shell, which has been on the menu since the time Golden Dragon opened. The other favourite was the crunchy Lotus root and celery dimsum. These were lapped up with sweet chilli sauce, the best I've had in Mumbai so far. Golden Dragon has one of the best dimsum selection in the city and has a special dimsum lunch menu on Sundays. 

An open letter to Rasna

Dear Rasna,

The other day I was in a supermarket buying summer coolers when I spotted you. At first, I couldn’t recognize you between the packets of Tang and ice teas; you all looked the same to me. I think that clarifies my initial indifference; I wasn’t trying to ignore you, not deliberately at least.

In order to reunite with you I bought a packet. It had a fancy name of a foreign kind of orange; looked like you were trying hard to impress. You were never about real fruit and added vitamins. Those fads are for juice companies. You were always about fun and taste and that’s what all the kids loved about you. You were our one glass of bliss after a game of langdi-kabaddi or kho-kho in hot Sun. You were the stuff all birthday parties were made of. We never had to buy Coca Cola or Pepsi for our friends cause we knew you’ll always be there with your orange, mango, cola, khus khus and tutti frooti flavours (11 flavours in total). You were there to lift our spirits after a tough day at school; you were there to calm us down before a tough exam; you were there to make play times better and to make study times bearable. Every time we lifted a glass of you we said "I love you Rasna" aloud, and that love came straight from the heart.

Restaurant Review - Brunch 'n' Munch, Malad West

It was Sunday morning and I woke up craving a big breakfast, preferably English breakfast. Sadly, there aren't many places serving a good English breakfast in Goregaon and Malad and going to Indigo Deli burns a big hole in the pocket, especially during month end.

While I was thinking of options I remembered Chef Joel D'souza tweeting about a place in Orlem, Malad which serves English breakfast. Orlem has some very shiny gems hidden in its by-lanes and the three month old restaurant/cafe Brunch 'n' Munch is definitely one of them. Located in the same lane as Uncle's Kitchen, this restaurant is sandwiched between a tattoo parlour and a salon, all three owned by the same guy J'son D'Souza.

Date a girl who likes jalebis

Date a girl who’ll never let you eat another khatti (sour) jalebi in your life. She’ll finish pao kilo of jalebis just to taste if it's the perfect one before getting another 1 kg packed. She will brighten up at the site of hot jalebis making your world colourful, as colourful as the orange jalebis coming out of the wok of hot oil. The old Dhara (jalebiiii!) ad will be her favourite television memory. Date a girl who knows her jalebis.

A healthy, power packed smoothie - An ideal way to eat oats

I hate oats; any form, size, shape. Recently, I tried MTR's oats upma but couldn't make myself to buy it again. i feel really guilty when I see a bottle of oats sitting sealed in my kitchen. I know it's one of the healthiest breakfast options, good for heart, keeps away bad cholesterol etc etc. I was hoping that there'd be some way I can include oats in my breakfast. That's when Nikhil Merchant, blogger and food consultant, started posting a series of smoothie recipes that he makes everyday. Check them out here. I got the idea of adding oats to my smoothies from him. If you hate oats like I do try this smoothie, it's brilliant, filling and power packed. Or you can try these Genius Overnight Oats from Prachi Joshi's blog, Deliciously Directionless.

Beetroot chops recipe

Do you know how I love making bread rolls, aloo tikkis and chhole bhature on Sundays? Deep fried Indian snacks are my guilty pleasures hence I try adding healthy ingredients in my recipes. The lowers the guilt factor to a certain extent. I stuff bread samosas with seasonal vegetables or make aloo tikkis stuffed with peas. In one of the issues of BBC's Good Food India, I saw this recipe of beetroot or chukandar chops. I liked the idea and thought of trying it. The original recipe is sourced from the magazine to which I added some dry mint powder and mixed roasted seeds. I've recently grown fond of seeds (flaxseed, melon seeds, pumpkin seeds, cucumber seeds) and try consuming them on a daily basis. While I like to eat them plain, straight from the bottle, the husband throws a fit. So I sneak them in tikkis, salads etc (please don't tell him). In this recipe I used the roasted mixed seeds from Godrej Nature's Basket's Healthy Alternatives section

War of Gujarati thalis - Thackers Vs Samrat

Sometime in August last year I visited a restaurant which is now my new favourite for vegetarian, especially Gujarati food. Thackers, at Girgaon Chowpatty a favourite among the Gujaratis living around that area. In a true foodie/Gujarati spirit, the locals queue up at Thackers for lunch/dinner every weekend. The restaurant serves an a la carte menu of Gujarati delicacies along with Continental and Indian dishes but is more famous for its Thali.

A short drive away from Thackers is Samrat restaurant located near Churchgate Station. This too, like Thackers is popular among those who love Gujarati food. Apart from traditional Gujarati thali restaurant also serves regular Indian and Continental food.