Indian Harvest - a review of my new favourite Indian restaurant!

If you have had your eye on my doings off late, I have been most excited about my latest venture, Masala Trails, culinary tours of India. I have also been overwhelmed with the response and encouragement of family, friends and my peers in print and online media. Masala Trails was born because I was frustrated at how selectively Indian Cuisine is showcased.

A Keith Floyd chucks every tried and tested Indian Culinary traditions around with gay abandon with handfulls of 'tyumeric' flung into curries, a Jimmy Chinn shows it complete disrespect by topping a Jowar porridge with White Truffle oil and if one was to believe Gordon Ramsay one would think real Indians eat wild boar, ant chutney and elaborately stuffed whole goat Biryanis. Don't get me wrong, I respect each of these individuals in their own right, love their shows. I don’t even blame them, Indian cuisine is so vast it would be impossible to squeeze into a few hours of airtime and one would need to resprt sensationalising a few things for TRPs. But I do feel that they could follow a few rules.

In my research for Masala Trails, I have found many a chef, home cook and restaurant that serves up unique food that comes from a keen understanding of food and ingredients, sound knowledge of the cuisine and pure unadulterated passion to put oput the best they can on a plate! Unfortunately most of the time, these iconic little restaurants never quite make it to the culinary maps of gastronomes, because they do not have investors with deep pockets to fuel marketing initiatives and PR drives. And I have just come home from lunch at one such jewel.

I was hosted by Meher and Satyen Dasondi, who describe themselves as a husband and wife duo with a collective 45 years of experience in the hospitality industry who set up ZEUS Restaurants & Allied Pvt. Ltd. (ZRAPL) to realise a lifelong dream of running a restaurant. Indian Harvest – Luxury Dining is their first (of three) planned restaurants and offers traditional, un-pretentious Indian recipes served in a contemporary fashion. 




But they are too modest, because what I saw in the two hours I spent with them was the sort of magic that can only come from strong teamwork, a passion for food that takes it to the status of art, and an eye for details that can only come from putting everything you have into the work you do.

You will rarely catch me going out to eat Indian food and you certainly would not find me going out of my way for it. But when your favourite teacher from school (who you are lucky to count amongst one of your dearest friends in adulthood), asks you to do something, you do it, no questions asked. That is what got me to Indian Harvest. That I will go back again and again, is a result of one of the most charming dining experiences I have had in a while. I eat out alot. But only superlative dining experiences make their way onto this blog. This was one. This one has an A Perfect Bite stamp of approval!

The Purple Wire - a blackcurrant slush. Please not the glass is rimmed with chaat masala which makes adds a delicious zing to every sip. I thought this could have done with a little lemon and salt in the actual drink to cut the sweetness somewhat. 

The Summer Snow - My favourite of the three drinks! This was a surprising blend of apricot and peach that was subtly spiced with fresh mint. I tasted hints of passion fruit, that I suspect came from the mixing of the two fruit.

The Indian Parakeet, the drink with the most visual OOMPH! This is strawberry layerd over kiwi and although you can mix it, I don't reccomend you do, because the two bits are best individually savoured.

Kajuwale Hare Kofte - Crisp savoury, subtly spiced green gram kofta gave way to a surprising cashew filling. And the house sauce, a thinnned down pureed Paav bhajji made the perfect pairing!

Kombdi Patra Hirvi Chutney - Take a many layered Gujarati Patra, stuff it with chicken and a green chutney like a Parsi Patra ni Machchi, batter and deep fry the whole thing and this is what you end up with. These I could have eaten all day! I missed a fresh citrussy chutney to moiten it it but not too much! I was also told that it should have come with a hirvi chutney but the red sauce came by mistake.

The Rajasthani Methi Churan Bhindi - guaranteed to make an Okra lover of the worst Bhindi hater, these are a house special of batter fried okra that are the most popular dish on the menu. It was hard to stop with a coupld of bites once I started!

Gosht Ke Dahi Barre - These jewels of mincemeat were true perfection and came carefully draped in a yoghurt sauce flavoured with a house spice mix. The combination of the subtly spiced meat and the yogurt sauce leaves an extremely addictive Umami aftertaste in the mouth. My only complaint was that I needed a little more of the yoghurt sauce to dip them in!

Paneer Makai ke Gujiana - the crisp vermacelli coating gives way to a velvetty corn studded interior, in these savoury bits of tactile splendour. They have to be the sexiest Cheese balls I have ever seen or eaten! A fruity salsa on the side is the only thing I missed! Also I LOVE how well this picture has turned out!

Tale Adraki Jhingey - Perfect perfect gingered and batter fried prawns. The golden crust gave way to succulent subtly spiced DELICIOUSLY moist prawns.

Badan Guchi - a simple mushroom soup, creamed with almond, subtly tempered with a bit of whole spice. The perfect way to progress from starters to main course. And I love the whole sprigs that delicately lean down from each dish, so elegantly unusual. Even the centrepieces at the tables are a porcelein bowl with a single heart shaped leaf peering over the side.

Marghi ni Aleti Paleti - sweet spicy chicken and liver tossed together on top of toast garnished with a scattering of salli or potato sticks. I am not a lover of Liver and Kidney, but this I could eat again and again!

Dum Hyderabadi Murg - spring chicken slow cooked in a Hyderabadi style, a family recipe that Meher inherited from her family cook. Tender chicken, slow cooked in fresh spices and her signature spice blend, made it hard to stop eating, especially when the spices left a burst of flavour in the mouth! And every main course comes with a signature house salad, on a single sesame potato and a saria, the sago wafer that is served before a Parsi wedding feast.

Aloo Makhana Chettinad - you cannot go wrong with potatoes, but this is an example of just how RIGHT you can go with them! Baby potatoes, tender shallots, crunchy makhanas tossed together in a south Indian Chettinad style gravy... addictive! I could have sat and picked out every little shallot, then the makhanas and potatoes and ended satiated only when every bit of the sauce was in my tummy!

Meher's signature Yakhni Biryani - I am one of a rare breed, an Indian that does not know why there is such a fuss made over Biryani. and if forced to eat a biryani I will RUN from oily heavily spiced versions. But Meher is especially proud of her Biryanis. because she has created each one from scratch. I tasted two, this yakhni one, that again married chicken, spices and yoghurt into a delicious Umami flavour that has seeped into the rice. The other was her Bhakalli biryani, another recipe she picked up from her family cook from Bhatkal in the south. That was also distinct. redolent of Curry leaves, fresh spices and green chillies, deliciously zingy and totally different from the Yakhni. FABULOUS.

GYAAN and INFO

Indian Harvest – Luxury Dining offers traditional & un-pretentious Indian recipes served in a contemporary fashion. The restaurant is open to non-members & all general public. Address is Indian Harvest, Gate No. 1, Acres Club, Hemu Kalani Marg, Next to Bhakti Bhavan, Chembur East, Mumbai 400071; Telephone no.: 022-65169338 022-65169338 / 65169339). Our restaurant offers 100 seats & is divided in to 2 parts – an Indian sit-down section that has 26 covers & the balance 74 are in the main hall.

Mad about Meat

Dear Rushina,

When I first moved to Mumbai, my cousins took me to Leopold café. As I relished their beef mushroom soup and beef chilly, I remember thinking Mumbai would be full of great non-vegetarian places. Imagine my utter shock when I moved to Chembur and only found vegetarian places. To be fair, I later discovered that Chembur can boast of a considerable number of great non-vegetarian places. However, in the beginning, all I saw were vegetarian restaurants. It was a dark and gloomy time for me complete with the raging monsoon rains to bear witness. Not accustomed to how big and busy the city was, my timid attempts to venture out were largely unsuccessful. And the meat lover in me grew more ravenous and rabid, leading me to throw caution to the wind. I began frequenting very shady ‘bar restaurants’ in Chembur camp on my own to devour plate upon plate of chicken and mutton!
These were desperate times and even as I succumbed to the measures they called for, I knew I was living dangerously. This had to stop soon. I needed to get my fix with less risk involved. As if the universe feared for me, serendipity intervened and one afternoon, when the rains had paused for a rest, my friends invited me for lunch at Sunny’s. Now the thing about Sunny’s, like most other great restaurants is that, it is located in the most obscure corner of Chembur. If someone doesn’t take you there, you’ll never find it. Past Chembur station, under the bridge, under another, in the midst of furniture shops, a bakery and a booze joint, a sign with Sunny’s (the logo , no prize for guesses, is a sun with rays) diffidently lets you know you’ve arrived.
My ever grateful memory must narrate my entry into this now hallowed space in slow motion. Filled with men, women, children eating all sorts of wonderful exotic looking fare, I felt at home at once as we walked past them to the ac section. It was there, that my friends introduced me to south Indian (specifically Kerela) non-vegetarian food. Until then, I always thought all south Indian was vegetarian and basically masala dosas at that. Thanks to my outraged friends from different parts of ‘south’ India, I am now aware that this is perhaps the gravest misconception I am guilty of to date, and I have gladly committed the rest of my life to atone for it.
I had my first taste of Chicken Chettinad and marvelled at the complex medley of spices that flavoured the meat. Their mutton sukkha was unlike anything I’d tasted. Thanks to Sunny’s, I left my perilous practice of eating at ‘bar restaurants’. I had somewhere safe to go every time I craved meat. Now content, I calmed down enough to explore Chembur more leisurely and found many other fabulous non-vegetarian restaurants such as Oceanic, Le Café, the restaurants around diamond garden. My newest discovery is the café at Oro spa which serves great salads.
As far as meat is concerened, I am far from sober. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. But thanks to Sunny’s, I’ve learnt to indulge in my addiction in as safe a manner as possible.

Awesome Hors D'Oeuvres

Dear Rushina,

So K’s birthday party on Saturday was an absolute success! My plan to do sushi rolls didn’t materialize as I couldn’t find nori sheets anywhere in Mumbai (and believe me, I looked EVERYWHERE). And just when I was beginning to panic, I went food shopping with you and loved your suggestion that I use rice paper sheets. With happy memories of how much I enjoyed your shitake mushroom mini spring rolls – the perfect one bite portion, I decided I’d try something similar with…shitake mushrooms. So I set off to your house on Saturday morning to raid your kitchen, picking up rice paper sheets, shitake mushrooms and your pickled green peppercorns which I had been eyeing for quite sometime now. Having stocked up on meat during a brief stop at Nature’s Basket at Warden Road the previous evening, here’s what I (and K) made for the party.
First I sliced the Shitake mushrooms and fried them in roast sesame oil.
K cut the red and yellow bell peppers into thin slices. I cut the rice sheets into four quarters, soaked each in water until they were little soft and placed two pieces of shitake, some red and yellow bell peppers and three or four peppercorns and wrapped them. Done! K was hovering so I figured I’d teach him how to roll. He learned fast and was so much better than me…now I can look forward to great rolls.
And I know what you’re going to say Rushina, me and VEG???? Don’t worry everything else had a little meat in it. We made another set of rolls but this time, we stuffed it with that lovely chicken Provencal salami you made me taste at Nature's Basket, shredded spring onions and a tiny drop of Discovery’s Tequila and Lemon sauce. I also braised spicy chicken kebabs added in honey and garnished them with Almond shavings.
I made mini toothpick skewers of fried bacon, papaya and this very hot red chilli I picked up at Ratna’s, a general store in Chembur. The evening’s final offering was the delicious pork momos K’s friends made for him (70 and all gone by 1am).
I made rice and pork curry too, but that’ll have to be another story because the food described above along with the shameless amount of alcohol that was consumed till 3 am the next morning meant that most people didn’t have any space left for dinner…or should I say breakfast.

With much affection,

Theyie