There are times when we’re all kitted out for a dining experience, ready with our pens, lens and palates to sample the best and worst in new and old joints across the city and serve you our verdict piping hot. And then there are times when we’re blindsided by a great meal when we least expect it. Maybe it’s a working lunch, a travelling bite, a shopping stopover whatever. The pen and lens might be AWOL but the palate is perma present so we owe it to you to relate our experiences, even sans the lipstick and hairspray. You could call it a Quickie of sorts! So here it is; the first of our occasional mini revues when we chance upon a gastronomic delight out of the blue. Pardon the less-than-professional picture quality and we still promise you a bull’s-eye lowdown!
GPS: Hakone Childrens Park, Hiranandani, Powai, Mumbai - 400076
Tring Tring:+91-22-65286604/65286605, +91-9321408265,/9768628258
Click: www.bijoligrill.com
In & Out: 12:00 am – 3:30pm (lunch) & 7:30 pm – 11:30 pm (dinner)
Damages: Rs.1000/- for a meal for two without alcohol
Must-Order: Chital Maacher Muitha
Umami Quotient: Sweet
It was supposed be a quick lunch with colleagues tired of the office caterer’s assembly line curries. Considering Powai is home to generic restaurant chains (Mainland China, Aroma, Chilis, Café Mangi etc etc) we had slim pickings. On a lark we decided to try out fresh Calcutta export Bijoli Grill. The thing about Bengali food is that it’s still sort of exotic for non-Bengalis (yes that’s a legit term that Bongs use for anyone not ‘one of us’!) and since 2 of the 4 of us weren’t ‘us’ they were happily ready for the variety. The 2 Bengalis of course didn’t need to be asked twice!
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| Ilish Begun Jhal Posto |
I must confess I haven’t tried BG in Calcutta despite it being a ubiquitous presence there (I much prefer the home-run Kewpies instead). So in a sense it was a virgin outing for all of us. The neat (if tiny) interiors were reassuring with slatted dark wood tables, screens and bright green crockery (albeit melamine!). The extensive menu comprised a host of Bengali starters (all deep fried!) which we avoided and dived straight into the main course. Since they had a hilsa festival on, we had to order one specialty which we did – the Ilish Begun Jhaal Posto (hilsa cooked with aubergines and poppy seeds in spicy gravy). For the uninitiated hilsa is the emperor of all Bengali fishes, a saltwater fish that comes inland to the estuaries to breed during monsoons making it a river and a sea fish. And its roe is easily better than the best caviar (or so say the Bengalis as they pop lightly fried roe balls into their mouth alongwith the afternoon drink!). The fish was superbly fresh and tender, flaking at touch and not overpowered by the rich gravy.
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| Kankrar Jhal |
For our vegetarian colleague there was Chholar Dal (Bengal gram dal with coconut slivers) and Aloo Posto (stir fried potatoes with poppy seeds). As you may have guessed poppy seeds - much to the surprise of most other Indians who consider it raw material for illegal drugs, (which it is!) – is a Bengali favourite with no food value (but plenty of drowsy value!). We quickly proceeded to other pescetarian passions with the Kankrar Jhaal (crabs in spicy curry) with juicy morsels dunked in a rich tomato onion base and finally Chital Maachher Muitha. Chital is a typically Bengali river water fish usually steamed, deboned, drained and rolled into balls with boiled potato and simmered in rich onion gravy. It’s not everyday Bengali home cooking and usually reserved for weddings and feasts instead. Since this is a fish not available in Bombay we were impressed at the freshness of the fish which elevated the preparation from a generic curry to a delicacy. The meal was rounded off by another Bengali staple, the sweet n’ sour raw mango chutney which balanced out the savoury gravies to the hilt. Though desserts had decent offerings of malpua, pithe (coconut pancakes) and mishti doi (sweet curd) we were too overloaded to even contemplate greed.
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| Chital Maachher Muitha |
The nominal bill just confirmed our second visit. Now, to just manage a half-day post lunch next time round; after meals like this, work is a laughable impossibility!