‘Juhu Beach’ by Robert D. Stephens, whose images of Mumbai’s suburbs are on display at Artisans’ Centre.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 8
MUSIC Kabir Festival
The sixth edition of the annual festival dedicated to the messages of the fifteenth saint-poet will comprise music concerts, storytelling sessions and workshops that will take place across the city. The line-up includes singers such as Mooralala Marwada, Parvathy Baul, Prahlad Singh Tipaniya and Radhika Sood Nayak. There is no entry fee. See here for the schedule.
When: Friday, January 8, from 10.30am; Saturday, January 9, from 6.30am and Sunday, January 10, from 11am.
Where: At venues across the city.

ART Iftikhar Dadi and Elizabeth Dadi at Jhaveri Contemporary
‘Epic Ecologies’, a collaborative show by Iftikhar Dadi, an associate professor in Cornell University’s Department of History of Art, and his partner Elizabeth Dadi, features artworks from three series. ‘Urdu Film Series’ examines Lollywood, the Pakistani film industry headquartered in Lahore. In ‘They Make History’, historic figures are removed from their contexts and placed in invented backgrounds. ‘Efflorescence’ features the national flowers of disputed regions.
When: Until Saturday, January 9. Open Tuesday to Saturday, from 11am to 6pm; Sunday and Monday, closed.
Where: Jhaveri Contemporary, 2, Krisha Niwas, 58A Walkeshwar Road. Tel: 022 2369 3639.

MUSIC Versova Fest at Versova Metro Ground
The week-long cultural festival will feature music performances by folk music singer Nirali Kartik (Friday, January 8 at 7.30pm), tabla player Kalinath Mishra (Saturday, January 9 at 7.30pm) and Bollywood playback vocalist Smita Jain (Sunday, January 10 at 8.30pm) among others. See here for the schedule.
When: Until Thursday, January 14, from 11am to 10pm.
Where: Versova Metro Ground, Versova, Andheri (West).

PHOTOGRAPHY Mumbai North at Artisans’ Centre
Subtitled ‘An Exhibition of Contemporary Aerial Photographs of Mumbai’s Suburbs’, this show comprises black and white images of Bandra, Bhiwandi, Kandivali, Nalasopara and Vikhroli, among other neighbourhoods, by city-residing photographer and architect Robert D. Stephens. The exhibition is in conjunction with State of Architecture (see below), currently underway at the National Gallery of Modern Art.
When: Until Saturday, January 16, from 11am to 7pm.
Where: Artisans’ Centre, V. B. Gandhi Marg, near Rhythm House, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2267 3040.

SHOPPING & STYLE The Handmade Collective at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum
A Hundred Hands, a non-profit organisation that supports Indian artisans, has organised this four-day exhibition and sale of handmade items from across India such as Bidri work products, bamboo ware, beeswax balms, crochet work, pattachitra, Ikat, lacquerware, woodwork, ajrak and ahimsa silk. Tickets for Indians are priced at Rs10 per head for adults and Rs5 per head for children below the age of 13, and tickets for foreigners are priced at Rs100 per head for adults and Rs50 per head for children below the age of 13.
When: Until Sunday, January 10, from 11am to 7pm.
Where: Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, 91A, Rani Baug, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Road, Byculla (East). Tel: 022 2373 1234.

ARCHITECTURE The State Of Architecture At The National Gallery Of Modern Art
Curated by architect Rahul Mehrotra, writer and art curator Ranjit Hoskote and writer and lecturer at the Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture Kaiwan Mehta, and organised by the Urban Design Research Institute, the exhibition will explore contemporary Indian architecture as well as the history of architectural practice in the country. The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of talks as well as satellite shows at various venues. For the complete schedule, visit Stateofarchitecture.in. Tickets priced at Rs20 per head for Indians and Rs500 per head for foreign nationals. There is no entry fee for school children.
When: Until Sunday, March 20. Open Tuesday to Sunday, from 11am to 6pm; Monday, closed.
Where: National Gallery of Modern Art, Madame Cama Road, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2288 1969.

THEATRE ‘Jeeves And Wooster In Perfect Nonsense’ at the NCPA Jamshed Bhabha Theatre
Directed by Sean Foley and written by David and Robert Goodale, this Olivier Award-winning British comedy is based on events that took place in P. G. Wodehouse’s 1938 novel The Code of the Woosters. In the play, Wooster attempts to stage a anecdotal one-man show, with the help of Jeeves and his other valet Seppings. The skit is to be on his pal Gussie Fink-Nottle’s bachelor party and his aunt Dahlia’s predatory moves on a cow creamer. For more, details see here. Tickets priced at Rs2,004, Rs3,006, Rs4,008, Rs5,010, Rs6,012, Rs7,014 and Rs8,015 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Friday, January 8, Saturday, January 9 and Sunday, January 10 at 4pm and 8pm each day.
Where: Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, NCPA Marg, Nariman Point. Tel: 022 2282 4567.

THEATRE Colour Blind At Prithvi Theatre
Directed by Manav Kaul and written by Kaul, actor Kalki Koechlin and writer Dwijottam Bhattacharjee, this play, in English, Hindi and Bengali, explores the life and work of Tagore, in particular his relationship with the Argentine writer Victoria Ocampo. Tickets priced at Rs500 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Friday, January 8 at 7pm and 9pm and Saturday, January 9 at 5pm, 7pm and 9pm.
Where: Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu Church Road, Juhu. Tel: 022 2614 5917.

TALKS THEATRE Faisal Abu Alhayja at MCubed Library
The director of Palestinian theatre company Freedom Theatre will talk about his experience of practicing drama in his conflict-ridden state. The event, which is part of arts organisation Junoon’s Mumbai Local series of talks, is free. To book a spot, email mumbailocal@junoontheatre.org.
When: Friday, January 8 at 7pm.
Where: MCubed Library (Maharashtra Mitra Mandal Library), Princess Building, near Bandra Gymkhana, D’Monte Park Road, Bandra (West). Tel: 022 2641 1497.

TALKS TRAVEL National Geographic Traveller India Meetup at Title Waves
In this edition of the travel magazine’s monthly series of talks, frequent travelers Ansoo Gupta, Neil D’Souza, Vahishta Mistry and the magazine’s deputy editor Neha Dara will discuss extended travel. There is no entry fee. See the Facebook event page to register and for more information.
When: Friday, January 8 at 7pm.
Where: Title Waves, St. Paul’s Media Complex, opposite Duruelo Convent School, 24th Road, off Turner Road, Bandra (West). Tel: 022 2651 0841.

MUSIC Bhavishyavani Future Soundz at Kitty Su
Electronica collective Bhavishyavani Future Soundz’s Loopkin aka Cyril-Vincent Michaud, M.Mat aka Mathieu Josso and Spacejams aka Yohann Jamsandekar will each play sets. Tickets, priced at Rs1,500 (only entry fee) or Rs3,000 (full cover charge) per couple; at Rs2,000 (only entry fee) or Rs3,500 (full cover charge) per head for single men; and at Rs1,000 (full cover charge) per head for single women, are being sold on Kittysu.in.
When: Friday, January 8 at 10pm.
Where: Kitty Su, The Lalit, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Road, Andheri (East). Tel: 022 6104 3145.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 9
GARDENING International Flower Show at MIAL Colony
The third edition of this annual event, organised by the Mumbai International Airport and Mumbai Rose Society, will have on display a 4,000 square feet ‘vertical green wall’ as well as a variety of plants and flowers from across India, Malaysia, Thailand and Holland. There is no entry fee.
When: Saturday, January 9 and Sunday, January 10, from 9am to 8pm.
Where: MIAL Colony, next to Suba Hotel, opposite P & T Colony, Sahar Road, Chakala, Andheri (East).

FOOD & DRINK Bihari Food Pop-up in Bandra
Home cook Dolly Singh will cater a Bihari meal of matar daal; paneer kofta; sarson machhi; bharwa karela; mirchi masala; litti (savoury dough balls made of gram flour and wheat flour) with aloo chokha (potato sabzi); and ghee halua at her Bandra home. The vegetarian meal is priced at Rs1,100 per person and the non-veg at Rs1,200 per person. To reserve a spot, call 98190 38599. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Saturday, January 9 at 8pm.
Where: Bandra; the complete address will be provided to those who register.

FOOD & DRINK SHOPPING & STYLE Fitness Finds at Tangerine Arts Studio
Shop for active wear and health snacks and beverages at this two-day bazaar jointly organised by Bandra fitness venue Tangerine Arts Studio and Let’s Be Outdoorsy, a website dedicated to outdoor activities. The participants will include active wear manufacturer Athlos, protein bar sellers Eat A Whey, health snacks maker Gouri’s, cold-pressed juice brand Juicifix, yoga accessories label M.A.P. and raw foods and vegan treats supplier Yogisattva. Only cash will be accepted. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Saturday, January 9 and Sunday, January 10, from 11am to 7pm.
Where: Tangerine Arts Studio, Second Floor, Ruksana Apartments, near Puja Casa building, off Pali Hill, near Sarvodaya DVD Library and BBQ Nation, Ambedkar Road, Bandra (West). Tel: 98673 69960.

SHOPPING & STYLE The Mad Rabbit Kicking Tiger Sale at Raheja Chambers
Accessories brand Mad Rabbit Kicking Tiger (M.R.K.T.)’s architecture-influenced range of briefcases, totes, clutches, messenger bags and iPad and laptop sleeves made of faux leather and felt will be available at discounts of upto 50 per cent at this two-day sale. There’s also a buy one bag and get the second one at a 50 per cent discount offer. See the Facebook page for more information.
When: Saturday, January 9 and Sunday, January 10, from noon to 6pm.
Where: Raheja Chambers, Third Floor, same building as Benetton, Linking Road, Santa Cruz (West).

FOOD & DRINK TALKS The Food Talks at Doolally Taproom Andheri
GlutMe, a soon-to-be-launched food tech start-up and The India Diaries, a pan-India culture website have collaborated to organise a discussion called The Food Talks. Chef Ranveer Brar,  The Bohri Kitchen‘s Munaf Kapadia, home cook Amrita Rana and TV presenter Kunal Vijaykar are the panelists for their first event, which will examine ‘the journey of food from your kitchen to digital platforms’. Entry is free but via an RSVP, which you can send by emailing social@glutme.com or theindiadiaries@gmail.com.
When: Saturday, January 9 at 3pm.
Where: Doolally Taproom, C18-21, Dalia Industrial Estate, off Bhd Kuber Dreams Square, New Link Road, Veera Desai Industrial Estate, Andheri (West). Tel: 99671 02143.

MUSIC Shounak Abhishekhi + Irshad Khan at St. Xavier’s College Hall
Hindustani classical music exponents, vocalist Shounak Abhisheki and sitar player Irshad Khan, will perform solo recitals at a ‘Birthday Concert’ organised by the Indian Music Group of St. Xavier’s College to mark its 43rd anniversary. The IMG, which is made up of students of the institute, works to promote Indian classical music among the youth. Entry is free; seating on a first come, first served basis.
When: Saturday, January 9 at 3pm.
Where: St. Xavier’s College, 5 Mahapalika Marg, Dhobi Talao.

HORSE RACING Zavaray Poonawalla Triple Million at the Mahalaxami Racecourse
The most prominent of the seven evening races on the day, the Zavaray Poonawalla Triple Million will take place at 7.30pm and will feature such additional attractions as the display of the 23kg silver trophy worth a million rupees; a dedicated section for kids; and a performance by retro pop cover band The Other People. Entry charges are Rs50 (first enclosure) and Rs300 (members’ enclosure).
When: Saturday, January 9, from 4pm.
Where: Mahalaxmi Racecourse, near Mahalaxmi Railway Station, Mahalamxi.

DANCE Malavika Sarukkai at the Sivaswamy Auditorium
The bharatanatyam dancer will stage ‘Punar Drishyam’, a retrospective of her choreographies, as part of the National Centre for the Performing Arts’ week-long showcase of her work. Tickets priced at Rs100, Rs200, Rs300 and Rs500 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com. See here for more information.
When: Saturday, January 9 at 6.30pm.
Where: Sivaswamy Auditorium, The Fine Art Society, Fine Arts Chowk, R. C. Marg, Chembur.

MUSIC Mumbai Sanskriti at the Asiatic Society Library Steps
Hindustani classical music flute player Rakesh Chaurasia will perform on the first-day of this annual festival organised by the Indian Heritage Society Mumbai. ‘Panchaatmika’, a composition of five Indian classical dance forms conceptualised and choreographed by Odissi dancer Parwati Dutta and featuring bharatanatyam dancer Deepa Kartha, kathak dancer Kannagi Gosavi, kuchipudi dancer Lalitha Sindhuri and mohiniattam dancer Sujatha Nair, will be staged on the second day, Sunday. Entry is free; passes are available from the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation office on Madame Cama Road; Rhythm House in Kala Ghoda (022 4322 2701); and Maharashtra Watch Co. in Dadar West (022 2422 3011).
When: Saturday, January 9 and Sunday, January 10 at 6.30pm.
Where: The Asiatic Society Library, near Horniman Circle, Fort.

MUSIC Kumar Sanu at Phoenix MarketCity
The Hindi film playback singer and the voice behind some of the biggest Bollywood hit tunes of the 1990s will perform. Tickets priced at Rs300, Rs500, Rs750 and Rs1,200 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Saturday, January 9 at 7pm.
Where: Phoenix MarketCity, LBS Marg, Kurla (West).

MUSIC Shades at the NCPA Tata Theatre
Singer Neale Murray will render the hits of R&B legends Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder at this concert that will feature guest spots by vocalists Sharon Prabhakar, Dalip Tahil and Brian Tellis. Tickets priced at Rs300, Rs500, Rs893 and Rs1,116 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Saturday, January 9 at 7pm.
Where: Tata Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Nariman Point. Tel: 022 2282 4567.

FOOD & DRINK Cafe De Mom’s Mohalla Nights in Bandra
In the second edition of Cafe De Mom, a pop-up restaurant initiated by home cook Alka Shehzeen Siddique two months ago, guests will be treated to Mohammed Ali Road favourites such as paaya soup, naan chaap, dum gosht and falooda. The eight-course meal comprising these Ramzan specialties is priced at Rs2,000 per person. To reserve a seat, mail cafedemom@gmail.com or call 90049 80852. See  here for more information.
When: Saturday, January 9 and Sunday, January 10, at 8.30pm.
Where: Maqba Heights, Ground Floor, Pali Naka, opposite Gold’s Gym, Bandra (West). Tel: 90049 80852.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 10
OUTDOORS Trek to Karnala Fort
This day-long trek up to Karnala Fort, organised by tour company Someplace Else, will include a visit to the Karnala Bird Sanctuary. The registration fee of Rs1,350 per head includes the cost of transportation by an air-conditioned bus from and to Mumbai, breakfast and lunch. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Sunday, January 10, from 6am.
Where: The pick-up points are outside the west side of Andheri Railway Station, outside the Grand Hyatt hotel in Santa Cruz East, and outside the RBK International School on the Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road.

FOOD & DRINK The Farmers’ Market at Bhalla House
At this weekly Sunday bazaar, you can stock up on organic vegetables, fruits and lifestyle products and get a bite from stalls selling organic meals. See the here for details.
When: Sunday, January 10, from 10am to 3pm.
Where: Bhalla House, opposite St. Andrew’s Church, Hill Road, Bandra (West). Tel: 98200 89378.

PETS Woofs and Hoofs Carnival at the Royal Western India Turf Club
This annual fundraising event organised by the Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will feature a dog and cat adoption camp, activities for children, food and shopping stalls for both people and pooches, and music performances. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Sunday, January 10, from 4pm to 9pm.
Where: Royal Western India Turf Club, Second Enclosure, Mahalaxmi Racecourse, near Mahalaxmi Railway Station, Mahalamxi.

MUSIC Bengt Berger + Latif Ahmed Khan at Anandashram Hall
Swedish jazz musician Bent Berger, who has studied Indian classical music and plays the tabla and mridangam, will perform with Hindustani classical flautist Nityanand Haldipur and tabla player Sadanand Naimpalli at a concert organised by Aamad Pratishthan that will also feature a solo tabla performance by Latif Ahmed Khan.There is no entry fee.
When: Sunday, January 10 at 5.30pm.
Where: Anandashram Hall, Talmaki Wadi, near Bhatia Hospital, Tardeo.

MUSIC Shirish Malhotra at the NCPA Experimental Theatre
Western classical music flautist Shirish Malhotra will perform the works of Griffes, Desenclos and Ginastera. Tickets priced at Rs300 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Sunday, January 10 at 7pm.
Where: Experimental Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, NCPA Marg, Nariman Point. Tel: 022 2282 4567.

MUSIC Ravi Iyer at Blue Frog
Fusion-rock guitarist and composer Ravi Iyer will launch and play tracks from his new EP Raga Punch. There is no entry fee.
When: Sunday, January 10 at 9.30pm.
Where: Blue Frog, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel. Tel: 022 6158 6158.

ONGOING
ART FILM Silver Magic: Vintage Photographs of the Golden Age of Hindi Cinema at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum
An exhibition of photographer Jethalal H. Thakker’s film stills and portraits of Hindi movie actors from the 1950s and ’60s. For more details, see here. Tickets for Indians are priced at Rs10 per head for adults and Rs5 per head for children below the age of 13, and tickets for foreigners are priced at Rs100 per head for adults and Rs50 per head for children below the age of 13.
When: Until Tuesday, January 12. Open Thursday to Tuesday, from 10am to 5.30pm; Wednesday, closed.
Where: Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Kamalnayan Bajaj Gallery, Rani Baug, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Road, Byculla. Tel: 022 2373 1234.

ART Jitish Kallat at Chemould Prescott Road
The Mumbai artist’s new solo show Sightings will feature drawings, photography, sculptures and video works on the themes of “time, sustenance, sleep, along with an interplay of scales and proximities, and evocations of the celestial”.
When: Until Thursday, February 25. Open Monday to Saturday, from 11am to 7pm; Sunday, closed.
Where: Chemould Prescott Road, Queens Mansion, Third Floor, G. Talwatkar Marg, near Cathedral School, Fort. Tel: 022 2200 0211.

ART The Sovereign Forest at Max Mueller Bhavan/Goethe Institut
The video installation by artist Amar Kanwar is his response to the struggle of Orissa’s indigenous communities to protect their mineral-rich land from exploitative corporations. For a schedule of events related to the show, see here.
When: Until Thursday, January 14. Open Monday to Saturday, from 11am to 7pm; Sunday, closed.
Where: Galerie Max Mueller Bhavan, K. Dubash Marg, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2202 7542.

Atul Kochhar’s NRI will open in BKC this month.

A slew of tapas bars, a carnival-themed cafe and a Peruvian lounge are among the places slated to open in Mumbai over the next 12 months. Here’s a peek at 18 new establishments and 11 new branches:

Aalia Hospitality’s Next Venture
When: Second quarter
In August last year, Kelvin Cheung, the Chinese-Canadian chef, quit his job at Colaba restaurant Ellipsis, to return home to Toronto. He was unexpectedly back in October to work with Aalia Hospitality that runs Gangsta’s bar in Bandra and Villa 69, the restaurant and bar in Juhu. In December, Cheung along with chef Boo Kwang Kim from Chicago took over the kitchen at One Street Over, a new gastropub by Aalia in Khar. The duo will also helm the kitchen at Alia Hospitality’s new Bandra restaurant slated for a Spring launch.

Ek Bar
When: Second quarter
Delhi’s Ek Bar, run by restaurateur AD Singh’s Olive group, is headed to Mumbai. We know they’re scouting for a location in either Bandra-Kurla Complex or Bandra West and will serve cocktails by mixologist Nitin Tewari and modern Indian bar grub by chef Sujan Sarkar.

English Vinglish
When: January
TV presenter and chef Ranveer Brar will helm three kitchens this year (see Flyp@MTV and Tag Kitchen and Cellar below). The first is English Vinglish, a patisserie in Juhu that will specialise in plated Indian desserts such as pineapple shrikhand pastry; mithai eclairs and pepper and fig chutney cupcakes.

Farmer and Sons
When: January
Nico Goghawala’s European restaurant Nico Bombay in Fort, is being replaced with Farmer and Sons where the menu will focus on tapas made with local and seasonal produce.

Farzi Cafe
When: March
The Massive Restaurants-owned Farzi Cafe will serve modern Indian comfort food. You can expect to nosh on galouti burgers, dum chicken burritos, dal chawal arancini and Parle G cheesecake with rabri. The cafe, which was meant to open last year, will be located in Kamala Mills in Lower Parel.

Flyp@MTV
When: Third quarter
Fusion food appears to be the dominant trend this year. In December, MTV launched the first outpost of Flyp@MTV, a fusion cafe and bar chain, in Delhi. Mumbai is slated to get an outpost of the cafe in Lower Parel’s Kamala Mills where chef Ranveer Brar will be the kitchen in-charge. Flyp will serve modern Indian food, host stand-up comedy and music performances and have a store retailing the channel’s merchandise.

Lima
When: February
UK-based Indian chef Atul Kochhar will set up a Peruvian tapas lounge, which is located right next door to NRI, his fine-dining restaurant slated to launch in BKC this month.

Masala Bar
When: January
Serial restaurateur Zorawar Kalra of Massive Restaurants, which owns Masala Library, the fine dining Indian restaurant in BKC and Pa Pa Ya, the South-East Asian restaurant in Lower Parel, will give Bandra a sea-facing cocktail and tapas bar. Masala Bar, which is replacing Costa Coffee on Carter Road, will only operate in the evenings and have a laboratory-type set-up for resident mixologists.

Magazine Street Kitchen
When: First quarter
The folks behind Colaba fine-dining restaurant, The Table, will set up Magazine Street Kitchen, a unit for their catering business. The space will also double up as a venue for special dinners, cooking workshops and demonstrations by visiting chefs.

Mighty Small
When: Monday, January 18
Anup Gandhi, Sahil Timbadia and Nevil Timbadia, the partners at Bonobo, Jamjar Diner and Cafe Nemo, will open a carnival-themed cafe called Mighty Small within Smaaash, the multi-gaming venue in Lower Parel. In a bid to appeal to the youthful crowd that flocks to Smaaash, the cafe will have a dessert bar called The Big Fat Treat, as well as a sangria bar for grown-ups escorting young ones. Menu highlights include Koliwada popcorn chicken; Cajun fish and chips; crispy calamari; chipotle rice; double appam and curry; churros; waffle sticks; peanut butter brownie; M&M cake; Nutella and Ferrero Rocher cake; meringues; and cookie monster sundae.

MRP
When: February
After a cafe centered on board games, Mumbai will get a bar focused on drinking games such as beer pong, shots and ladders, drunken Jenga and flip cup. The Dadar pub will be helmed by Abhayraj Kohli, partner at PDT in Lower Parel and proprietor of Grandmama’s Cafe in Dadar. Patrons with a reservation will be able to avail domestic and imported liquor bottles at MRP rates.

Myx
When: February
Juhu’s somewhat stagnant drinking and dining scene is getting a boost courtesy Redbrik Restaurants, the hospitality group that launched Fable, the all-day cafe in the suburb last month. They’re giving the suburb a tapas bar called Myx that will employ molecular techniques across the food and drink menus.

NRI
When: Sunday, January 10
Chef Atul Kochhar will unveil his Mumbai debut Not Really Indian (NRI) in BKC this weekend. At the 3,000 square feet fine dining establishment, the Michelin-starred chef will serve the food of the Indian diaspora – dishes such as Caribbean mutton curry, South African bunny chow and Malaysian fish korma.

Soho Tapas Bar
When: January
Among the several tapas joints in the pipeline this year is Soho, a soon-to-be-launched Andheri bar by first-time restaurateur Mir Aga. Soho will serve small plates inspired by the food of India, Mexico, South-East Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Tag Kitchen and Cellar
When: First quarter
Ranveer Brar’s second hospitality outing this year is a 2,000 square feet restaurant that will be attached to The Amateur Gallery, which is dedicated to student art, in Kamala Mills in Lower Parel. Here, Brar will plate sharing portions of such modern multi-cuisine fare as tea smoked tofu with ponzu emulsion and deconstructed raspberry rasmalai with hibiscus air.

The Captain’s Table.

The Captain’s Table
When: Saturday, January 9
Seafood enthusiasts can look forward to regional and global preparations such as Goan prawn curry, Spanish seafood stew, tandoori lobster, fennel and crab ravioli and Malvani fish fry at the coastal restaurant by the folks behind the Me So Happi chain of casual-dining restaurants. The 80-seat BKC fine dining establishment is designed to resemble a cruise liner.

The Terrace
When: January
Silver Beach Entertainment and Hospitality, which owns the Nom Nom and Silver Beach Cafe restaurant chains, will launch a rooftop multi-cuisine restaurant and bar named The Terrace, in Juhu.

True Tramm Trunk
When: January
Redbrik Restaurants’s neighbourhood bar True Tramm Trunk will open this month. The pub will have graffiti-filled interiors and cocktails that highlight homegrown alcohol brands.

BRANCHES
29
When: April for Kandivali and August for Ghatkopar
The new branches of the chain, whose flagship opened in Kemps Corner in December 2015, will serve vegetarian dishes from each of India’s 29 states.

Grandmama’s Cafe and Grill
When: February
The second branch of the comfort food chain will open in Lower Parel. Unlike the Dadar flagship, this branch will have a bar.

Me So Happi
When: Saturday, January 9
The casual-dining multi-cuisine restaurant chain with branches in Khar and Bandra West is expanding to BKC, where they will have the same menu of bunny chow, lamb sliders, Asian meals in a bowl and Caribbean roti.

Nom Nom
When: March
The all-day, casual-dining South-East Asian restaurant chain will venture into Kala Ghoda this March. About 80 per cent of the menu will be the same as at the Bandra West and Andheri West branches.

Oye Kake
When: Third quarter
The vegetarian Amritsari restaurant chain with branches in Fort and Lower Parel will open in Andheri and Powai with the same menu.

Reunion Bar & Kitchen
When: April
Bandra will be home to the second outpost of the multi-cuisine Reunion Bar & Kitchen, which was launched in Mahim last year.

Tea Villa
When: March for Bandra West and Andheri West, August for Kemps Corner
The city will get four more branches of the Vile Parle tea salon – in Bandra, Andheri, Kemps Corner and a fourth location that is as yet undecided. In addition to serving premium teas, the cafe offers a multi-cuisine menu of vegetarian snacks and all-day breakfast.

Olive Bistro
Bandra Kurla Complex will be home to the third outpost of the casual-dining chain by the Olive Group. Like the branches at Mumbai’s International Airport and Goregaon East, this outpost will offer all-day breakfast, pizzas, sandwiches and salads.

Guppy by Ai
From August 2014 to June 2015, the city got to sample the modern Japanese fare peddled by Delhi’s Guppy by Ai, which had moved into the now-shuttered branch of Olive Bar & Kitchen in Mahalaxmi as a pop-up restaurant. Olive Group’s AD Singh, who owns Guppy By Ai, has announced that a permanent outpost of the restaurant will open in Bandra.

Sodabottleopenerwala
The Olive hospitality group is scouting for locations for the second outpost of their all-day Irani style cafe Sodabottleopenerwala, which opened in Bandra Kurla Complex in October last year. The new branch is likely to spring up in south or central Mumbai.

The Fatty Bao
Ramen lovers south of the sea link will be happy to know that The Fatty Bao, the East-Asian chain which specialises in dumplings, bao sandwiches and ramen, will expand to south or central Mumbai this year.

A big thanks to all the readers and listeners who tuned in to and loved the first episode of our fortnightly Mumbai podcast! On the second episode of The Paodcast, we dissect the food trends that dominated 2015 and give you our culinary forecast for 2016 on the Bombay Binge. Then, in The Scene, we lament the lack of music venues in Mumbai. Finally in Secret City, we talk about a little-known network of fishing ponds in the Mithi River.

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The music you hear on the podcast is from ‘Who Would Have Thought’ by Your Chin. Stream it here.

For the eighteenth (and it turns out nineteenth) episode of the Adventures of Cheap Beer, podcasters Suyash Barve, Karan Agarwal and Siddhant Mehta visited Maharaja’s, a dive and orchestra bar with The Daily Pao co-founder Amit Gurbaxani. On the episode, the quartet talk about their time at the very blue bar, which Barve and Mehta frequented as college kids, as well as short-lived beer brands Haywards Black and Indus Pride and new craft brew on the block Bira 91. Look out for the second half of the special two-part episode next week.

Maharaja’s, 42 to 46, Gowalia Tank Building, August Kranti Marg, Tardeo. Tel: 022 2389 4698. Open daily, from 11am to 3pm and from 7pm to midnight. Get directions here.

‘Ascetics preparing and smoking opium (about 1810 CE)’ on display at ‘Tabiyat’ at CSMVS. Photo: Wellcome Library London.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 15
MUSEUM EXHIBITION Tabiyat at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya
Organised by the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, the British Council and the Wellcome Collection UK, this exhibition of artworks and objects related to medical practice and health in the subcontinent is capsule of Indian medical history. Most of the exhibits are from the Wellcome Collection, a museum in London run by the medical research charity Wellcome Trust. See here for details. Tickets are priced at Rs70 per head for visitors above the age of 12, Rs20 per head for children between the ages of five and 12 and Rs300 per head for foreign nationals above the age of 12.
When: Until Monday, March 28. Open Tuesday to Sunday, from 10.15am to 6pm; Monday, closed.
Where: Premchand Roychand Gallery, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2284 4484.

MUSEUM EXHIBITION The State of Architecture at the National Gallery of Modern Art
Curated by architect Rahul Mehrotra, art curator Ranjit Hoskote and writer and lecturer Kaiwan Mehta and organised by the Urban Design Research Institute, this exhibition explores contemporary Indian architecture as well as the history of architectural practice in the country. See here for details. The show is supplemented by a series of talks as well as satellite shows at various venues. For the complete schedule, visit Stateofarchitecture.in. Tickets priced at Rs20 per head for Indians and Rs500 per head for foreign nationals. There is no entry fee for kids studying in school up to class 12.
When: Until Sunday, March 20. Open Tuesday to Sunday, from 11am to 6pm; Monday, closed.
Where: National Gallery of Modern Art, Madame Cama Road, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2288 1969.

PHOTOGRAPHY Mumbai North at Artisans’ Centre
Subtitled ‘An Exhibition of Contemporary Aerial Photographs of Mumbai’s Suburbs’, this show comprises black and white images of Bandra, Bhiwandi, Kandivali, Nalasopara and Vikhroli, among other neighbourhoods, by city-residing photographer and architect Robert D. Stephens. The exhibition is in conjunction with The State of Architecture, currently underway at the National Gallery of Modern Art (see above).
When: Until Saturday, January 16, from 11am to 7pm.
Where: Artisans’ Centre, V. B. Gandhi Marg, near Rhythm House, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2267 3040.

MUSIC Totem Pole at High Street Phoenix
This three-day music festival for teenagers will feature performances by Bangalore-residing folk-fusion rock group The Raghu Dixit Project (Friday, January 15 at 8.30pm), UK-based world music duo Kefaya (Saturday, January 16 at 5pm) and British beatboxer Bellatrix aka Belle Ehresmann among others. There is no entry fee. See here for the full schedule.
When: Friday, January 15 to Sunday, January 17, from noon to 10pm.
Where: Courtyard, High Street Phoenix, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel.

FILM Movies at the Museum at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum
Two movies will be shown as part of this series of screenings curated by filmmaker Avijit Mukul Kishore and architect Rohan Shivkumar. In Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski’s 1980 short Talking Heads, a range of people are asked who they are and want they want from life. In Czech director Ivan Passer’s 1965 film Intimate Lighting, a symphony musician travels to a village to meet his old friend, a funereal musician. There is no entry fee.
When: Friday, January 15 at 6.30pm.
Where: Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Kamalnayan Bajaj Gallery, Rani Baug, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Road, Byculla. Tel: 022 2373 1234.

FILM Head On at Prithvi Theatre
Turkish-German director Fatih Akin’s visceral film on the Turkish immigrant experience in Germany is centred on the relationship between Cahit and Sibel. Cahit, a self-destructive 40 year old, is walking the path of drugs and alcohol when he meets 20-year-old Sibel. She suggests they marry so that she can escape the stifling conservatism of her parents’ home. They get hitched and gradually fall in love. Organised by the Goethe Institut. There is no entry fee.
When: Friday, January 15 at 7pm.
Where: Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu Church Road, Juhu. Tel: 022 2614 5917.

MUSIC Gaur Baran Radhika at Sophia Bhabha Hall
Centered around the love story of Radha and Krishna and featuring music by composer Tushar Bhatia, this concert will comprise a series of kathak dances led by Shambhavi Dandekar interspersed with singing by Aditi Kaikini Upadhya, who will render such Indian classical and semi-classical forms as dhrupad, khayal, thumri, tarana, bhajan and kajri. Tickets priced at Rs400, Rs600 and Rs800 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Friday, January 15 at 7pm.
Where: Sophia Bhabha Hall, Sophia College, off Bhulabhai Desai Road. Tel: 022 2353 8550.

THEATRE The Fringe Festival at Brewbot and The Hive
This fortnight-long festival by theatre group AKvarious Productions will begin this weekend. Bayan, a series of performances in English based on works by women writers such as Karishma Attari, Apoorva Kale and Lucky Vakharia, will be staged at Andheri bar Brewbot on Friday, January 15 at 7pm. Colaba Casanova, an English adaptation of Moliere’s Don Juan, will be performed at Brewbot on Saturday, January 16 at 7pm and at Bandra venue The Hive on Sunday, January 17 at 9.30pm.

Hindi Medium, a set of Hindi sketches on topics such as film festivals, dentists and drugs, will be presented at The Hive on Saturday, January 16 at 9pm and Love, Bombs and Apples, a play in English by Iraqi playwright Hassan Abdulrazzak on three men and their discoveries, will be enacted at The Hive on Friday, January 15 at 9pm and at Brewbot on Sunday, January 17 at 7pm. In the play, a Palestinian actor learns a lesson about English girls, a Pakistani terror suspect realises where his first novel went wrong, and a young British man gets suspicious about the person he loves. Tickets priced at Rs200 per head for each event are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Until Sunday, January 31.
Where: Brewbot, Morya Landmark 1, off New Link Road, Andheri West. Tel: 022 4003 4448. The Hive, 50A Huma Mansion, next to Ahmed Bakery, Chuim Village Road, Khar (West). Tel: 96199 62969.

THEATRE 9 Parts Desire at the NCPA Experimental Theatre
Directed by Lillete Dubey and written by Iraqi-American playwright Heather Raffo, 9 Parts Of Desire spans the years between the first Gulf war and the American invasion of Iraq. Ira Dubey plays nine Iraqi women including a bohemian artist, an exiled intellectual and a mother whose daughter was killed by American soldiers. Tickets priced at Rs300, Rs400 and Rs500 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Friday, January 15 and Saturday, January 16 t 7.30pm.
Where: Experimental Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, NCPA Marg, Nariman Point. Tel: 022 2282 4567.

MUSIC Banger with Ankeina + OCDeep at Bonobo
This gig, organised by city-based artist collective Wetheppl, will feature a double-bill of British electronic music DJs and producers Ankeina aka Ian Kane and OCDeep, the duo of Cal and Sam Fandango. There is no entry fee. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Friday, January 15 at 9pm.
Where: Bonobo, Second Floor, Kenilworth Mall, Phase 2, off Linking Road, behind KFC, Bandra (West). Tel: 022 2605 5050.

MUSIC No Genres Barred with Nanok + Keykraft at Ark
Electronica DJs and producers Nanok aka Jai Vaswani and Keykraft aka Karan Jhaveri will play a variety of styles at this gig organised by Gently Altered, which aims to promote alternative forms of dance music. The cover charge is Rs2,000 per head. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Friday, January 15 at 10pm.
Where: Ark, Courtyard by Marriott, CTS 215, opposite Sangam BIG Cinemas, Andheri-Kurla Road, Andheri (East). Tel: 022 6136 9999.

MUSIC Djuma Soundsystem at Blue Frog
Norwegian tech-house DJ and producer Djuma Soundsystem, whose real name is Mikkas Skulstad, will play the club. There is an entry fee of Rs600 or cover charge of Rs1,500 per head for men; free entry for women. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Friday, January 15 at 10pm.
Where: Blue Frog, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel. Tel: 022 6158 6158.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 16
MUSIC Boiler Room at Craft
The inaugural instalment of this new electronic music gig series that will be held in the al fresco bar section of Kurla restaurant Craft will feature sets by DJ-producers Ankytrixx aka Ankit Kochar, Calm Chor aka Ashvin Mani Sharma and Helium Project aka Arijit Basu among others. Entry is free but via a guest list, which you can get on by posting an RSVP on the Facebook event page.
When: Saturday, January 16 at 6pm.
Where: Craft, First Floor, opposite PVR, Phoenix Marketcity, L.B.S. Marg, Kurla. Tel: 022 6180 2073.

DANCE Malavika Sarukkai at the NCPA Jamshed Bhabha Theatre
The bharatanatyam dancer will present a set of solo and group performances collectively titled Vamatara: To the Light. The choreography has been inspired by the motif of the lotus in Indian art. Tickets priced at Rs300, Rs460 and Rs600 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Saturday, January 16 at 6.30pm.
Where: Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Nariman Point. Tel: 022 2282 4567.

MUSIC Classic Clapton at Phoenix MarketCity
The Eric Clapton cover band, fronted by British guitarist and vocalist Mike Hall who sounds and looks like the legendary musician, will perform at the Kurla mall. There is no entry fee. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Saturday, January 16 at 7pm.
Where: Phoenix Marketcity, L.B.S. Marg, Kurla.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 17
MUSIC Udayswar with Prasad Khaparde at Prithvi Theatre
Hindustani classical music vocalist Prasad Khaparde, who has trained with singer Rashid Khan, will perform morning ragas at this instalment of Udayswar, a series of concerts organised by event company Pancham Nishad at Prithvi Theatre. Tickets priced at Rs200 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Sunday, January 17 at 7.30am.
Where: Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu Church Road, Juhu. Tel: 022 2614 5917.

FOOD & DRINK The Farmers’ Market at Bhalla House
At this weekly Sunday bazaar, you can stock up on organic vegetables, fruits and lifestyle products and get a bite from stalls selling organic meals. See here for details.
When: Sunday, January 17, from 10am to 3pm.
Where: Bhalla House, Hill Road, near St. Andrew’s Church, Bandra (West).

FOOD & DRINK The Smokie Sunday Cookout at Cafe Terra
The rooftop restaurant at the Executive Enclave hotel in Bandra West will host a cookout by three city-based home caterers in association with Project Eat, a food consultancy that organises culinary events. Sandwich specialist Pack-a-Pav will serve pao sandwiches such as the tandoori Sriracha chicken pao and mutton shammi pao; The Insomniac Cook will offer satay chicken skewers, grilled prawns with garlic butter sauce chicken wings, and grilled mushrooms; and The Hungry Cat Kitchen will prepare bacon and chicken pops, green garlic eggs and salli crostini, mirin and ginger pork with sesame rice, and Swedish apple pie. There will be a bar where you can get craft beer Bira 91 on tap, Jim Beam cocktails and house-made sangria. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Sunday, January 17, from noon to 7pm.
Where: Cafe Terra, Rooftop, Executive Enclave Hotel, Ambedkar Road, Bandra (West). Tel: 022 6696 9000.

THEATRE Adhe Adhure at the NCPA Experimental Theatre
Lillete Dubey directs and acts in this English version of Mohan Rakesh’s classic Adhe Adhure alongside Mohan Agashe, Ira Dubey, Rajeev Siddhartha, Anuschka Sawhney. The play tells the story of Savitri, a woman bogged down by an unemployed son, a rebellious daughter and an unsatisfactory marriage, who seeks meaning in relationships with other men. Tickets priced at Rs300, Rs400 and Rs500 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Sunday, January 17 at 4.30pm and 7.30pm.
Where: Experimental Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, NCPA Marg, Nariman Point. Tel: 022 2282 4567.

THEATRE Dopehri at the NCPA Godrej Dance Theatre
Hindi film actor Pankaj Kapur will return to the theatre stage with Dopehri, a solo performance in which he narrates a story he has written about Amma Bi, an old woman living by herself in a haveli in Lucknow. Tickets priced at Rs500 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Sunday, January 17 at 4.30pm and 8pm.
Where: Godrej Dance Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, NCPA Marg, Nariman Point. Tel: 022 2282 4567.

ONGOING
ART Jitish Kallat at Chemould Prescott Road
The Mumbai artist’s new solo show Sightings features drawings, photography, sculptures and video works on the themes of “time, sustenance, sleep, along with an interplay of scales and proximities, and evocations of the celestial”.
When: Until Thursday, February 25. Open Monday to Saturday, from 11am to 7pm; Sunday, closed.
Where: Chemould Prescott Road, Queens Mansion, Third Floor, G. Talwatkar Marg, near Cathedral School, Fort. Tel: 022 2200 0211.

Bungalow No.13 in Heritage Complex in Dahisar receives between 35 litres to 40 litres of milk a day. That’s about 20 times the average daily household consumption of two litres in the residential colony. The bungalow is the address of The Spotted Cow Fromagerie, an artisanal cheese-making unit run by brothers Prateeksh, 31, and Agnay Mehra, 29. When they set up the business in April last year, vans bearing giant vats of milk would roll up at their doorstep, leaving their neighbours perplexed. The Mehras source the milk from multiple local dairies to be able to generate about 100 kilos of cheese a month.

The city’s cheese addicts, us included, owe them a debt. Thanks to the siblings, we now have access to first-rate Camembert- and Brie-style cheeses the year round and no longer have to rely on visiting relatives and friends to raid Duty Free stocks for us. The French cheeses have Geographical Indication status, which means that they can only be called Camembert and Brie if they’re made in the regions they’re named after. The brothers thus describe their products as being “frightfully close to the French style cheeses” and have labeled them Camembay and Bombrie.

If you haven’t purchased The Spotted Cow Fromagerie’s cheese off the shelf at Lower Parel supermarket Foodhall or ordered it from online gourmet grocer Foodesto, you may have sampled it at one of the 30 restaurants they’re supplying to, which include The Table, and the Salt Water Cafe and Indigo Deli chains. At Woodside Inn in Colaba and Woodside in Andheri, Camembay is employed in the kale and truffle oil pizza, while The Tasting Room, the wine bar in Lower Parel, serves baked Bombrie. Their strong smelling Camembay is rich and oozy, while the creamy, semi-soft and optimally salty Brie iteration is among our favourite things to bake and fry. “Both are quite versatile,” said Pankil Shah, a partner at the Woodside chain. “I’ve used it at home for cheese and booze pairings and we cook with them in the bar.”

Our enthusiasm for the homegrown cheese took us to The Spotted Cow Fromagerie’s lair in Dahisar, where we watched them make a fresh batch of Camembay. The former Malabar Hill residents have spent six years in their tranquil Dahisar house. It has a basement, where they’ve carried out several culinary experiments. In 2013, Prateeksh Mehra began brewing small batches of beer for personal consumption. He shared the beer with fellow home brewers at social gatherings, where a platter of cheese meant for pairing with the booze was a fixture. It’s these pairings that spurred him to experiment with making his own cheese. “You can’t sustain the production of aged cheese as a hobby though, it’s too expensive,” said Prateeksh Mehra, who is also a freelance food photographer. “I got great feedback from friends, but after making the initial few batches my options were to let go of my cheese-making completely or pursue it as a business.” His brother Agnay, a former film and TV producer, and he invested their own savings and some of their family’s money to start The Spotted Cow Fromagerie.

Kaltos, a fierce-looking but docile German Shepard with an appetite for French cheese, guards their 700 square feet basement. His daily diet includes a measured snack of Camembay and Bombrie shavings, which explains his post outside the door of the cheese crypt. The air-conditioned den partially resembles a dairy, with four milk vats, buckets and numerous cheese moulding cans. It also serves as an office space equipped with a desktop computer and a printer. A three-door walk-in freezer that functions as their cheese cave takes up a chunk of the room. Here, milky 200 grams blocks are left to harden, yellow and grow bloomy rinds for a minimum of 21 days in darkness and frosty temperatures before being dispatched to stockists.

The basement reeks of curdled milk and ammonia, which is released when the cheese begins to mould and mature. At 10am, the siblings are mid-pasteurisation, humming to Tracy Chapman. They have accessorised their daily uniform of T-shirts, shorts and flip flops (the benefits of working from home) with aprons and hair nets. The room is uncluttered and commendably spotless. Their sole employee, Sarita “tai”, a slight figure, bravely ventures in and out of the freezer without layering. A thermometer, humidifier for the freezer and a ph meter (to gauge the level of acidity in the milk) are the only gadgets they’ve purchased for what is largely a hand-made operation.

Camembay and Bombrie are the focus of their production. They also make small batches of robiola, a soft-ripened Italian cheese. The brothers take turns around the kitchen, adding culture to pasteurised milk, followed by rennet, filling the coagulated milk into moulds and leaving them in the freezer to dry. The simple, non-hectic rhythm of their processes belies the labour intensiveness of the job. In trying to replicate the complex French classics as opposed to the easier-to-make spreadable fresh cheese, the siblings knowingly took a gamble.

Milk is the greatest variable in their process and requires close monitoring. “The internet gave us a skeletal recipe and method, but we have to alter the recipe based on the ingredients available to us daily,” said Prateeksh Mehra. There have been times when the milk they get is not usable at all, resulting in the loss of a day’s work. It’s the reason they maintain contracts with multiple dairies.

The short shelf-life of their preservative-free cheese – you can typically keep it refrigerated for 21 days after which it will over-ripen –  is also problematic for them. “Since everyone is so vocal on the internet especially about food, we have to tread very carefully,” said Prateeksh Mehra. “There are customers who know their cheese and those that tell us that the Camembert is too smelly (you can tell a good Camembert by its characteristic odour).” The many challenges notwithstanding, the pair is keen to persevere with the operation, which is now earning them a marginal profit. This despite the fact that at Foodhall and on Foodesto.com, the Camembay and Bombrie retail at a pricey Rs546 per 200 grams. The online grocer lists imported brands of Camembert and Brie that are similarly priced and in some cases even cheaper than The Spotted Cow Fromagerie’s versions of them. The hefty price tag of their cheese is a result of them using imported cultures and rennet and the intensity of labour and customisation they require.

Around 1pm, once the co-agulated milk is placed in moulding blocks and left for draining in the dark, odorous freezer, the Mehras emerge from the basement to feed their three turtles and themselves. The front and backyards of their three-storey bungalow are teeming with squirrels and sparrows. Sightings of venomous snakes are also common in their housing colony, which borders Borivali National Park. The brothers said they can’t imagine being reintegrated into regular jobs and city life. They haven’t however become complacent.

The duo is working on scaling up the business by selling the cheese in other cities and also plans to introduce new varieties of semi-hard cheese. “There’s a movement towards conscious eating,” said Prateeksh Mehra. “I want to be in the business, as long as it allows me to stick to the traditional, hand-made methods of making cheese.” After lunch they’re back in the freezer to “flip” the cheese, so that no trace of whey is left in the moulding containers. They’re interrupted by the sound of furious scraping against the basement door. Kaltos has come to collect his daily quota of Camembay.

In the second half of their special two-part episode with guest podcaster, The Daily Pao co-founder Amit Gurbaxani, the Adventures of Cheap Beer trio Karan Agarwal, Suyash Barve and Siddhant Mehta continue their discussion about their visit to Maharaja’s bar in Gowalia Tank. Apart from the food and service at the bar, they also talk about Mehta’s theory about whether one needs to learn how to hug, and the New Year’s Eve party they organised at Sitara Studio, which was disrupted by an unruly group of revelers who demanded the DJs play different music. Both the Adventures of Cheap Beer and The Daily Pao’s own podcast The Paodcast are produced by IndusVox Media; you can stream them here and here.

Maharaja’s, 42 to 46, Gowalia Tank Building, August Kranti Marg, Tardeo. Tel: 022 2389 4698. Open daily, from 11am to 3pm and from 7pm to midnight. Get directions here.

The Bar Stock Exchange, Colaba.

• A new outpost of The Bar Stock Exchange chain of affordably-priced bars has opened in Colaba, where it has replaced the South Mumbai outpost of Mexican restaurant Sancho’s. Here, as across the chain, the rules of share trading apply to the sale of liquor. This is the first all-day outlet that will serve a breakfast menu of eggs, sausages, sandwiches and shakes from 8am until 4pm. Open daily, from 8am to 1.30am (alcohol served from 9am onwards). The Bar Stock Exchange, Hotel Apollo, Landsowne Road, behind Regal Cinema, Colaba. Tel: 022 2281 9898.

• The city is slated to get a butter chicken-focused delivery service called Goila Butter Chicken named after its founder and chef Saransh Goila, who is also a food show host and cookbook author. Set to launch in March, Goila Butter Chicken will offer a limited menu of butter chicken, butter paneer and Indian starters and desserts. The service will initially operate between Juhu and Malad West and expand to Bandra West, Bandra Kurla Complex and Santa Cruz in August.

• Bandra’s popular salad cafe the Bombay Salad Co. has relocated to a larger space in the same area, which has a seating capacity of 40 people. It now offers an expanded salad bar selection that includes ingredients such as lamb, turkey, black beans, lentils, asparagus and sweet potatoes. The new menu also features kale and sweet potato soup; roasted vegetable soup; lentil and chickpea gluten-free wrap; Indian gooseberry and turmeric root juice; and almond milk smoothie. Open daily, from noon to 10.30pm. Bombay Salad Co., Chrisan Villa, Ground Floor, 16th Road, near Hawaiian Shack, Bandra (West). Tel: 022 2600 0270.

• Hungry Duck at Pali is a new multi-cuisine snack shop in Bandra. Their meat-centric menu features roast duck with mashed potatoes and vegetables; roast tongue; chicken sesame toast; grilled pork chops; spare ribs; lamb steak burger; ham and cheese sandwich; and Goa sausage with garlic bread. Open daily, from 11.30am to 11pm. Hungry Duck at Pali, Aruna Niwas, Shop No.3, Pali Village, near Serendipity and Janata, Bandra (West). Tel: 022 2600 5792.

• Nido, the fine-dining European establishment in Khar that shuttered last year, has been replaced by The Korner House, an all-day bar and restaurant. The bar menu lists house cocktails such as smoked whisky sour; orange and pomelo martini; spiced berry mojito; and lemongrass and ginger martini. The food selection includes chipotle lamb shortbread; nut-crusted tuna; smoked scallops; red rice risotto; coffin duck; seafood paella; and blue cheese lamb burger. Open daily, from 11.30am to 12.30am. The Korner House, Union Park, near Out of the Blue and Olive Bar & Kitchen, Khar. Tel: 022 6550 3344.

• Glocal Junction, an all-day casual-dining restaurant and lounge, has opened in Andheri. The multi-cuisine menu offers pork vindaloo sticks; BBQ spare ribs; jacket potatoes; Saoji kheema; Amritsari fish tacos; tandoori chicken risotto; tuna salad; masala chai panna cotta; gajar ka halwa; and Kolkata paan cheesecake. Open daily, from 11am to 1am. Glocal Junction, Morya Bluemoon building, opposite Citi Mall, New Link Road, Andheri (West). Tel: 022 3233 6999.

• Bombay Vintage, a fusion restaurant and bar, which recalls old Bombay through its decor, has replaced Kurry Club, the coastal restaurant in Colaba. The duo of restaurateur Suresh Bhandaary and chef Pradip Rozario, the team behind Kurry Club, have set up Bombay Vintage, where they serve an Indian fusion menu of sabudana croquettes; pao bhaji sandwich; chicken Malvan burger; kheema pasta; chicken pulimunchi; tapioca risotto; basa in gassi sauce; breakfast appam with chicken or mutton mince and fried egg; and mutton misal pao. Open daily, from 11am to 1am. Bombay Vintage, Oriental Mansion, Ground Floor, opposite Regal Cinema, next to the Phillips Antiques, Colaba. Tel: 022 6944 4123.

• Foodgasm, a health food-focused cafe, has opened in Bandra. Among the offerings are creamed spring onion soup with tofu and chives; red rice risotto with mushroom, green pea and mascarpone; pani puri stuffed with quinoa, chickpea and pomegranate; quinoa biryani; and dark chocolate whole wheat brownie. Open daily, from 7am to 11pm. Foodgasm, Shop No.4, Ankleshwar Building, near Candies, Bandra Reclamation, Bandra (West). Tel: 022 6590 7888.

• Bandra is now home to a juice bar and snack shop called GoNuts. Their juice and milkshake selection includes carrot, apple, orange and ginger juice; kiwi and pineapple juice; pomegranate juice; sitaphal milkshake; fig milkshake; and butterscotch and cashew milkshake. The food menu lists egg and paneer roll; chicken bhuna roll; tandoori chicken sandwich; chicken and cheese hotdog; paneer tikka frankie; and egg roll. Open daily, from 11am to 11pm. GoNuts, Shop No.3, Shaktiraj Co-operative Housing Society, Pali Naka, near The Baker’s Dozen, Bandra (West). Tel: 98200 07442.

Aneesh Bhasin, the founder of Hipcask, an alcohol recommendations application and site, has as many hobbies and interests as he does bottles of wines, beer and whisky. The entrepreneur, who is equally passionate about technology, food and fashion, took us through his list of essential tools, gadgets and accessories that help him live the good life. Here’s a glimpse at Bhasin’s meticulously curated collection of play things via his Instagram account:

Blow torch.

Kitchen gadgets “A blow torch is a handy tool if you want to brulee your eggs. Simply add sugar and salt to runny boiled eggs and caramelise the surface using the torch.” Get it here.

iSi 173001 Professional Cream Whipper.

Kitchen gadgets “You would have seen this at Starbucks. I use it for instant alcohol infusions. Instead of waiting weeks and months while working on home infusions, this does the job immediately. I also use it to flavour cream with bhut jolokia or BBQ sauce, which you can then garnish over eggs and other food.” Get the iSi 173001, Rs11,195, here.

Aeropress.

Coffee machine “There are several tools to make coffee. Espresso machines are great but tedious to use. The French press is simple but the filter doesn’t always work. The Aeropress has the best extraction, so you get clean coffee and it’s a very versatile coffee maker.” Get the Aeropress, Rs4,319, here.

Flying Squirrel coffee.

Coffee “You need good coffee to go with an Aeropress. Flying Squirrel and Blue Tokai are extremely bankable.” Get Blue Tokai, Rs300 onwards, here and Flying Squirrel, Rs270 onwards, here and here.

Ice cube moulds.

Ice cube moulds “Shapes are not acceptable. I don’t want a gun-shaped ice cube floating in my glass. What I do like are big, chunky squares that take longer to dilute. They work perfectly with whisky and gin.” Get it here.

Angostura Bitters.

Cocktail essentials “Bitters is like seasoning for cocktails, so just as you would add salt to food, you add bitters to a drink to elevate it. It adds a dimension.” Get bitters, Rs1,095, here.  

PolyScience The Smoking Gun Handheld Food Smoker.

Cocktail essentials “It’s essential if you’re serious about making cocktails. It really elevates whisky and rum ones for instance. It’s also great when grilling meats, especially if you don’t have a lawn for BBQ. It adds to the drama of a meal or drink. The gun comes with chips such as apple wood and you can buy an assortment of flavours. You can even use cigar tobacco and green tea to flavour your food.” Get the PolyScience smoking gun, Rs10,355, here.

Rocky Patel cigars.

Cigars “The company, Rocky Patel, was founded in 1990. I was five at the time. Imagine a cigar which is 25 years old! Similar to wines, a vintage cigar means that all tobacco came from the same year. As the cigar lights up, wood and leather notes dominate, and as it burns, the taste changes to more mocha, cedar and nutty notes. It is a very smooth cigar and what I love about it is that it’s still more of a medium body cigar so it does not get overwhelming, specially for people who are new to smoking them.” Get them here.

Sharpened pencils.

Pencils “Writing by hand is going out of fashion. I really enjoy writing with pencils, but only sharpened ones. Blunt pencils are gross. Staedtler and Apsara are my favourites. You need a complementary sharpener and the rotary blade ones minimise broken pencil points and leave you with perfectly sharpened pencils.” Get Staedtler pencils, Rs132 for a pack of 12, here, rotary blade sharpeners here; and Apsara pencils from stationery stores across the city.

Lamy fountain pen.

Pens “It’s good to revert to old ways. I love fountain nibs and the act of opening up a bottle of ink. They generally make for a better writing experience. Lamy is a good entry level brand that is accessibly priced.” Get them here.

Anemos light bulb.

Lights “Every space, whether office or home, needs the correct yellow light. I hate white light. Anemos sells the perfect bulbs with beautiful filaments. The colour temperature is perfect and there’s a gold tint to it.” Get them at Anemos, Krishna House, Ground Floor, Raghuvanshi Mills, Lower Parel. Tel: 022 2493 4306. Also at Laxmi Industrial Estate, Unit No.6/C, New Link Road, Oshiwara, Andheri (West). Tel: 022 2631 2050.

Sennheiser headphones and FiiO portable headphone amplifier.

Headphones “Sennheiser Momentum is unmatched. If you’re inclined to use earphones, the Shure SE215 is the best bet. Just like you need an amplifier for speakers, you need one for a pair of headphones too. FiiO is extremely reliable.” Get the Sennheiser Momentum, Rs14,990, here; Shure SE215, Rs7,649, here; and the FiiO amplifier, Rs4,099, here.

Bow ties “Bow ties need to be brought back. Ties are meant for school kids. I don’t understand why people wear pre-tied bow ties. I tie my own of course. Unless you’re five years old, please do not buy a pre-tied bow tie. I usually get mine from Tie Kart.” Get them, for Rs199 onwards, here.

Bespoke cufflinks.

Cufflinks “In terms of men’s fashion there are very few things that we can get customised. Regular cufflinks are boring and customising them costs practically the same. I have the Hipcask logo of a barrel and corkscrew ones in silver.” Get customised cufflinks from Estilo by calling 98200 08295.

Happy Socks.

Socks “There is an outlet of Happy Socks at the Mumbai International Airport, which is great because finally men can do some last-minute fashion shopping. Socks make for great gifts and are kind of the equivalent of lingerie for men. I think they’re a reflection on underwear. If my socks are so interesting, imagine what my underwear would be like. My mom thinks I have the socks of a teenage girl. My favourite pair are my watermelon socks. The pair is a conversation starter. Picture this: you’re smoking a cigar, you’ve worn custom cuff links, a bow tie, you’re impeccably turned out and then suddenly your green and red socks peak out.” Get Happy Socks, Rs299 to Rs699 for a pair, here.

Basis Peak.

Fitness tracker “The Basis Peak sleep and fitness tracker has the best algorithm for heart rate monitoring. You need to know what your resting heart rate is. It’s a great indicator of general health.” Get the Basis Peak, Rs19,990, here.

A work from ‘Adversary’ by Sahej Rahal, on display at Chatterjee and Lal.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22
TRAVEL BOOKS Jaipur Literature Festival
Sessions featuring British novelists Margaret Atwood, Helen Macdonald and Esther Freud, British actor Stephen Fry, Malayalam poet K. Satchidanandan, Gujarati playwright Sitanshu Yashaschandra, Indian authors Anuja Chauhan and Amish Tripathi, American photojournalist Steve McCurry and writer and festival organiser William Dalrymple will be held over this weekend. For more details and the complete schedule, see here and here.
When: Until Monday, January 25, from 10am.
Where: Diggi Palace, Shivaji Marg, Jaipur.

ART Jitish Kallat at Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation
Jitish Kallat’s show, Covering Letter, which is on display concurrently with Sightings, his show at Chemould Prescott Road, is a set of works based on a letter Gandhi wrote to Hitler in 1939 requesting him to rethink his violent campaign. The gallery is open every day.
When: Until Sunday, February 28. Open daily, from 10.15am to 6pm. JNAF will be closed on Republic Day on Tuesday, January 26.
Where: Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, M.G. Road, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2284 4484.

ART Mumbai Gallery Weekend
A number of art galleries in south Mumbai will stay open through the weekend as part of this special event that will feature openings of shows at Chatterjee & Lal, Chemould Prescott Road, Gallery Maskara, Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Lakeeren, Project 88 and Sakshi Gallery as well as walkthroughs and satellite exhibitions. For the complete schedule, see here.
When: Friday, January 22 to Sunday, January 24, from 11am.
Where: In galleries and venues in Fort, Colaba and Walkeshwar.

SHOPPING & STYLE ‘Enso: The Language Of A Printmaker’ at Artisans’ Centre
An exhibition and sale of clothes by Delhi textile designer Dhvani Behl, who uses digitally printed and woodcut handprinted material bearing nature-inspired patterns in her wares.
When: Until Sunday, January 24, from 11am to 7pm.
Where: Artisans’ Centre, V.B. Gandhi Marg, near Rhythm House, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2267 3040.

ART Jitish Kallat at Chemould Prescott Road
The artist’s new solo show Sightings is a series of drawings, video installations, sculpture and photographic works that deal with “themes of time, sustenance, sleep, along with an interplay of scales and proximities, and evocations of the celestial”. The exhibition is part of Mumbai Gallery Weekend.
When: Friday, January 22, from 6.30pm to 9pm. Until Thursday, Februay 25. This weekend, the gallery will be open on Saturday, from 11am to 9pm and on Sunday, from 11am to 5pm. Normally, the gallery is open Monday to Saturday, from 11am to 7pm; Sunday and public holidays (including Republic Day on Tuesday, January 26), closed.
Where: Chemould Prescott Road, Queens Mansion, Third Floor, G. Talkwatkar Marg, near Cathedral School, Fort. Tel: 022 2200 0211.

PHOTOGRAPHY Pablo Bartholomew at Sakshi Gallery
Photographer Pablo Bartholomew’s new exhibition 60/60 comprises portraits of artists, writers, filmmakers and poets he shot in the 1970s and ’80s. The show is part of Mumbai Gallery Weekend. For more details, see here.
When: Friday, January 22 from 6.30pm to 9pm. Until Saturday, February 20. This weekend, the gallery will be open on Saturday, from 11am to 9pm and on Sunday, from 11am to 5pm. Normally, the gallery is open Monday to Saturday, from 11am to 6pm; Sunday and public holidays (including Republic Day on Tuesday, January 26), closed.
Where: Sakshi Gallery, 6/19, Second Floor, Grants Building, Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba. Tel: 022 6610 3424.

ART Prajakta Potnis at Project 88
When the wind blows, Prajakta Potnis’s solo show, is a series of photographs and drawings in which kitchen appliances such as freezers, mixers and chopping boards are represented as components of fantastic landscapes. The show is part of Mumbai Gallery Weekend.
When: Friday, January 22, from 6.30pm to 9pm. Until Saturday, February 27. This weekend, the gallery will be open on Saturday, from 11am to 9pm and on Sunday, from 11am to 5pm. Normally, the gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, from 11am to 7pm; Sunday and Monday and public holidays (including Republic Day on Tuesday, January 26), closed.
Where: Project 88, BMP Building, Narayan A. Sawant Marg, near Colaba Fire Station, Colaba. Tel: 022 2281 0066.

ART Sahej Rahal at Chatterjee & Lal
Photographs and drawings of performance artist Sahej Rahaj enacting made-up Jedi-like characters in places such as Vasai Fort, the rock garden in Chandigarh, Rome and Sodoshima Island in Japan make up his new solo show Adversary. The show is part of Mumbai Gallery Weekend.
When: Friday, January 22, from 6.30pm to 9pm. Until Saturday, February 20. This weekend, the gallery will be open on Saturday, from 11am to 9pm and on Sunday, from 11am to 5pm. Normally, the gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, from 11am to 7pm; Sunday and Monday (including Republic Day on Tuesday, January 26), closed.
Where: Chatterjee & Lal, 01/18 Kamal Mansion, First Floor, Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba. Tel: 022 2202 3787.

MUSIC Ji Young Lim and Jong-Hai Park at the NCPA Tata Theatre
The Mehli Mehta Music Foundation, the city-based organisation that works towards the promotion and education of Western classical music, will present a concert by two South Korean instrumentalists, violinist Ji Young Lim and pianist Jong-Hai Park who will perform pieces by composers such as Stravinsky and Szymanowski. Tickets priced at Rs500 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Friday, January 22 at 7pm.
Where: Tata Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Nariman Point. Tel: 022 2282 4567.

MUSIC An Ode to Chennai at the G5A Foundation for Contemporary Culture
This three-day music festival, organised by the Hindu group to raise awareness for flood relief in the city of Chennai, will feature a recital of Marathi abhangs or devotional songs by Carnatic classical music vocalist Aruna Sairam on Friday; a jugalbandi (duet performance) by flautists Shashank Subramanyam and Ronu Majumdar who play Carnatic and Hindustani classic music respectively, on Saturday; and a concert of ghazals by singer Hariharan on Sunday. Free passes will be available from the venue between 11am to 7pm; call 022 2490 9393 to confirm availability.
When: Friday, January 22 to Sunday, January 24 at 7.15pm.
Where: G5A Foundation for Contemporary Culture, G5A Laxmi Mills Estate, Shakti Mills Lane, off Dr E. Moses Road, near Hungama Digital, Mahalaxmi. Tel: 022 2490 9393.

MUSIC FKJ at Todi Mill Social
French house music DJ Vincent Fenton aka FKJ, which stands for French Kiwi Juice, will spin a set as part of his ongoing tour of India. There is no entry fee, RSVP via Insider.in. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Friday, January 22 at 9pm.
Where: Todi Mill Social, #242, near Viva Centre and Cafe Zoe, Mathuradas Mill Compound, Lower Parel. Tel: 022 6511 0361.

MUSIC Bit of Both at Blue Frog
Bit of Both, the Delhi electronica duo of DJs, producers and former Jalebee Cartel members Ash Roy and Ashvin Mani Sharma aka Calm Chor, will launch and play tracks from their new album Prequels and Sequels. There is an entry fee of Rs600 or cover charge of Rs1,500 per head for men; free entry for women. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Friday, January 22 at 10pm.
Where: Blue Frog, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel. Tel: 022 6158 6158.

MUSIC Deep In Dance First Anniversary Party at Ark
Ankytrixx aka Ankit Kochar and Bullzeye aka Siddhanth Kapoor will be among the DJs and producers taking turns at the console during the first anniversary celebrations of Deep In Dance, the series of gigs organised by electronic dance music event company Groovearth. The entry fee is Rs500 per head; women and couples can walk in for free before 11pm. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Friday, January 22 at 10pm.
Where: Ark, Courtyard by Marriott, CTS 215, opposite Sangam BIG Cinemas, Andheri-Kurla Road, Andheri (East). Tel: 022 6136 9999.

MUSIC Heartbeat with Dada Disco at Bonobo
The Berlin-based French electronic music duo of Denis and Guillaume aka Dada Disco will play this month’s instalment of Heartbeat, Mumbai electronica collective Bhavishyavani Future Soundz’s club night at Bandra bar Bonobo. There is no entry fee. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Friday, January 22 at 10pm.
Where: Bonobo, Second Floor, Kenilworth Mall, Phase 2, off Linking Road, behind KFC, Bandra (West). Tel: 022 2605 5050.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 23
FESTIVAL Community Fest at The Hive
This two-day festival of cultural events will feature a Baul music concert by singer-songwriter Wriddh and a stand-up comedy gig by Azeem Banatwala, as well as workshops on creative writing and necklace making. For the complete schedule and to book tickets, see the Facebook event page and Bookmyshow.com.
When: Saturday, January 23, from 10am and Sunday, January 24, from 9am.
Where: The Hive, 50 A, Human Mansion, near Ahmed Bakery, Chuim Village, off Union Park, Khar. Tel: 96199 62969.

MUSIC Ballard Estate Festival 
The south Mumbai business district will turn into an entertainment zone with food and shopping stalls and cultural shows every Saturday and Sunday from this weekend until the end of May during this four month-long neighbourhood festival organised by the Mumbai Port Trust. The opening weekend will feature performances by The Liquid Bass Project, an electronica act helmed by producer and singer Sherrin Varghese, and Varghese’s Indi-pop group Band of Boys, which features vocalists Chaitanya Bhosle, Karan Oberoi and Sudhanshu Pandey, on Saturday, January 23. Maharashtrian folk band Morya and Indi-pop group Sanam will play the event on Sunday, January 24. Tickets priced at Rs150 per head per day and at Rs300 per head for both days are being sold on Insider.in. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Saturday, January 23 and Sunday, January 24, from 11am to 11pm.
Where: N. Morarji Road, Ballard Estate, Fort.

FILM LGBT ISSUES Best of Kashish – A Spotlight on Queer Cinema at Godrej India Culture Lab
This day-long event celebrating Kashish, the annual queer cinema festival held in the city, will feature short and feature-length films as well as a panel discussion titled ‘Pride and prejudice: Building alliances for a better tomorrow’ with film director Hansal Mehta, actor Nandita Das, Kashish founder Sridhar Rangayan and transgender screenwriter Gazal Dhaliwal. For the complete schedule, see here. The event is free; email indiaculturelab@godjrejinds.com to book a spot.
When: Saturday, January 23, from 11am to 6pm.
Where: Godrej India Culture Lab, Auditorium, First Floor, Godrej One (entry from the Eastern Express Highway), Pirojshanagar, Vikhroli (East).

MUSIC TRAVEL Nariyal Paani in Alibaug
Fourteen indie acts from across the country and around the world will perform at the second edition of this music festival that will be held over two days in the beachside town of Alibaug. Tickets priced at Rs2,200 per head per day and at Rs2,500 (for those under 21) and Rs3,800 (for those above 21) per head for both days are being sold on Insider.in. See here for details.
When: Saturday, January 23, from 1pm and Sunday, January 24, from noon.
Where: Morapada, Rewas Road, Alibaug.

PETS Dog A’Fair at Radio Club
This year’s edition of the annual dog fair organised by Dogs and More magazine will feature stalls offering pet food, merchandise and services. A ‘doggie personality pageant’ will be held on Sunday at 6pm. The entry fee is Rs50 per head per day. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Saturday, January 23 and Sunday, January 24, from 3pm to 9pm.
Where: The Pier, Radio Club, 157 Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba. Tel: 022 2284 5025.

MUSIC ‘My Country, My Music’ at the NCPA Jamshed Bhabha Theatre
Organised by the National Centre for the Performing Arts and Sahachari Foundation Events to mark Republic Day, which will be celebrated on Tuesday, January 26, ‘My Country, My Music’ is a concert that has been conceptualised and directed by Shankar Mahadevan. The vocalist and Bollywood composer will lead an ensemble of 22 musicians in a performance of songs in a number of Indian languages that will be interlaced with parts of Hindi film hits. Tickets priced at Rs2,290 and Rs3,435 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Saturday, January 23 at 6.30pm and Sunday, January 24 at 6.30pm.
Where: Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Nariman Point. Tel: 022 2282 4567.

MUSIC Partha Bose and Rupak Kulkarni at Nehru Centre Complex
Hindustani classical musicians, sitar player Partha Bose from Kolkata and flautist Rupak Kulkarni from Mumbai will present a jugalbandi (duet performance) at this concert organised by city-based cultural organisation Udayan. Donor passes priced at Rs200 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Saturday, January 23 at 6.30pm.
Where: Hall of Harmony, Discovery of India building, Nehru Centre Complex, off Dr. Annie Besant Road, Worli. Tel: 022 2496 4680.

COMEDY Stage Forty Twoo at Canvas Laugh Club and St. Andrew’s Auditorium
The opening weekend of this month-long comedy and music festival organised by Only Music Louder will feature six shows by stand-up comedians: LOL Sabha by Gaurav Kapoor, Sundeep Sharma, Abhishek Upmanyu, Sanjay Rajoura and Varun Grover at the Canvas Laugh Club on Saturday at 6pm. The Paunchline by Siddharth Dudeja, Rahul Subramaniam, Kunal Kamra and Anuvab Pal at the St. Andrew’s Auditorium on Saturday at 6pm. Unladylike by Radhika Vaz at St. Andrew’s Auditorium on Saturday at 8.30pm. Ha-Heart Attack by Karan Talwar, Nitin Talwar and Atul Khatri on Sunday at St. Andrew’s Auditorium at 6.30pm. You Only Laugh Once by Tushar Abhichandani, Abijit Ganguly, Zakir Khan and Nishant Tanwar at the Canvas Laugh Club on Sunday at 6pm. Timepass Talkies by Kiran Kotrial at St. Andrew’s Auditorium on Sunday at 8pm. Tickets for all shows are being sold on Insider.in. See here for the full schedule.
When: Saturday, January 23 and Sunday, January 24, from 6pm.
Where: Canvas Laugh Club, Palladium Mall, Third Floor, Phoenix Mills, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel. Tel: 90046 03115. St. Andrew’s Auditorium, St. Andrew’s College, St. Dominic Road, Bandra (West). Tel: 022 2640 1657.

MUSIC Daddy’s All Barr Jamm at Phoenix MarketCity Kurla
Delhi folk-fusion rock band Indian Ocean will headline this gig that will also feature sets by five Mumbai acts: pop-rock group The Colour Compound, hip hop outfit Bombay Bassment, blues-rock specialists Kanchan Daniel and the Beards, and electronic music DJs M.Mat aka Mathieu Josso of electronica collective Bhavishyavani Future Soundz and Jehan Johar. There is no entry fee. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Saturday, January 23 at 8pm.
Where: Phoenix Marketcity, Dublin Square, Level One, LBS Marg, Kurla (West).

THEATRE Dopehri at Sophia Bhabha Hall
In this solo performance, Hindi film actor Pankaj Kapur narrates a story he has written about Amma Bi, an old woman living by herself in a haveli in Lucknow. Tickets priced at Rs300, Rs500, Rs800 and Rs1,000 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Saturday, January 23 at 8pm.
Where: Sophia Bhabha Auditorium, Sophia College, Breach Candy. Tel: 022 2353 8550.

MUSIC Shaun Frank + Delaney Jane at Kitty Su
Fellow Canadians DJ-producer Shaun Frank and singer-songwriter Delaney Jane, who recently collaborated on the single ‘Heaven’, will perform at the Andheri nightclub. There is an entry fee of Rs1,500 or cover charge of Rs3,000 per couple; an entry fee of Rs2,000 or cover charge of Rs3,500 per head for single men; and cover charge of Rs1,000 per head for single women. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: Saturday, January 23 at 10pm.
Where: Kitty Su, The Lalit, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Road, Andheri (East). Tel: 022 6104 3145.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 24
MUSIC Pratahswar with Ramakant Gaikwad at Ravindra Natya Mandir
Pune-residing Hindustani classical music vocalist Ramakant Gaikwad will render morning ragas at this month’s instalment of Pratahswar, the series of dawn-time concerts organised by Mumbai-based event company Pancham Nishad. There is no entry fee; seating is on a first come, first served basis.
When: Sunday, January 24 at 6.30am.
Where: Ravindra Natya Mandir, behind Siddhivinayak Temple, Prabhadevi. Tel: 022 2436 5990.

MUSIC Neeraj Arya’s Kabir Cafe at Prithvi Theatre
The city-based folk-fusion rock band, which is fronted by vocalist Neeraj Arya and whose songs are based on the verses of fifteenth-century mystic and poet Kabir, will perform a morning concert, at the Juhu venue. Tickets priced at Rs400 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: Sunday, January 24 at 11am.
Where: Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu Church Road, Juhu. Tel: 022 2614 5917.

FOOD & DRINK A Bhogali Bihu Lunch at Tangerine Arts Studio
Home cook Gitika Saikia, in collaboration with food consultancy and events company Project Eat, will serve an Assamese meal featuring til gahori (sesame pork); pura gahori khorisa (pork gravy cooked with bamboo shoot and bhut jolokia); murgi lai xaak (chicken cooked with broad mustard leaves); misa maas chutney (fermented dry shrimps chutney); narikol laru (coconut laddoo); akhoi cream aru gur (puffed rice with fresh cream and jaggery), and home-brewed liquor. To reserve a seat for the lunch, priced at Rs1,800 per head, email info.projecteat@gmail.com or call 98207 07659 or 99202 30240.
When: Sunday, January 24 at noon.
Where: Tangerine Arts Studio, Second Floor, Ruksana Apartments, near Puja Casa building, off Pali Hill, near Sarvodaya DVD Library, Dr. Ambedkar Road, Bandra (West). Tel: 98673 69960.

MUSIC Twisted Paradox at Boveda
The Mumbai alternative rock band will play a mix of covers and their own material as part of Andheri venue Boveda’s new weekly series of unplugged gigs. There is no entry fee.
When: Sunday, January 24, from 8.30pm.
Where: Boveda, G04, Morya Landmark One, off New Link Road, behind Mainland China, near Infiniti Mall, Andheri (West). Tel: 022 6708 0859.

MUSIC Divine Raaga at Blue Frog
The Bangalore-based Hindi folk-fusion rock band will perform. There is a cover charge of Rs500 per head. See here for more information.
When: Sunday, January 24 at 9.30pm.
Where: Blue Frog, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel. Tel: 022 6158 6158.

ONGOING
MUSEUM EXHIBITION Tabiyat at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya
Organised by the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, the British Council and the Wellcome Collection UK, this exhibition of artworks and objects related to medical practice and health in the subcontinent is capsule of Indian medical history. Most of the exhibits are from the Wellcome Collection, a museum in London run by the medical research charity Wellcome Trust. See here for details. Tickets are priced at Rs70 per head for visitors above the age of 12, Rs20 per head for children between the ages of five and 12 and Rs300 per head for foreign nationals above the age of 12.
When: Until Monday, March 28. Open Tuesday to Sunday, from 10.15am to 6pm; Monday, closed.
Where: Premchand Roychand Gallery, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2284 4484.

MUSEUM EXHIBITION The State of Architecture at the National Gallery of Modern Art
Curated by architect Rahul Mehrotra, art curator Ranjit Hoskote and writer and lecturer Kaiwan Mehta and organised by the Urban Design Research Institute, this exhibition explores contemporary Indian architecture as well as the history of architectural practice in the country. See here for details. The show is supplemented by a series of talks as well as satellite shows at various venues. For the complete schedule, visit Stateofarchitecture.in. Tickets priced at Rs20 per head for Indians and Rs500 per head for foreign nationals. There is no entry fee for kids studying in school up to class 12.
When: Until Sunday, March 20. Open Tuesday to Sunday, from 11am to 6pm; Monday, closed.
Where: National Gallery of Modern Art, Madame Cama Road, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2288 1969.

Silken tofu and water chestnut khow suey.

Foodhall, the gourmet food store in the Palladium mall, will serve winter food throughout January. The Winter Warmers Festival features a cooking station at which visitors can sip on drinks such as peppermint mocha, apple cider, Kashmiri kahwa and hot chocolate and nosh on meals such as silken tofu and water chestnut khow suey; wild mushroom and barley broth; sweet potato and carrot gratin and winter vegetable stew; soups such as tomato and basil consomme; zucchini and bell pepper soup; black bean gumbo; chicken mulligatawny soup; and seafood bisque; and snacks such as marinated and grilled pineapple, guava, peach and apple.

There’s also a Bombay Festival counter serving meals in a bowl such as Malayan laksa with noodles; kung pao tofu or chicken; roast vegetables or smoked chicken burrito bowls; deconstructed falafel bowl and chicken rice bowl. The bakery has two new items, the basil tandoori roti and olive garlic naan, and the patisserie has such additional desserts as bread and butter pudding, apple strudel, chocolate fondant with strawberries, strawberry tart and chocolate-coated strawberries.

Among the winter condiments on sale are orange marmalade, preserves made from chestnut and mulberry, an array of dry fruit, sesame seeds and flaxseeds. In the vegetable section, patrons will find winter produce like radish, carrot, purple yam, sweet potato, sarson and ponkh.

Foodhall, Palladium Mall, Level 3, High Street Phoenix, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel. Tel: 022 3026 4581. Open daily, from 10.30am to 10pm. Get directions here.

‘The Siddhus Of Upper Juhu’ will be staged at Sophia Bhabha Hall.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 26
MUSIC JanFest at St. Xavier’s College Hall
The second day of this annual Indian classical music festival organised by the Indian Music Group of St. Xavier’s College will comprise solo recitals by three of the country’s most famous Hindustani classical musicians: santoor player Shivkumar Sharma will perform at 6am; vocalist Ajay Pohankar at 6pm; and sarod players Amjad Ali Khan and his sons Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan at 8.30pm. Tickets are being sold at the venue; call 022 2236 4548 or email img.music@gmail.com for details. See here for more information.
When: At 6am and 6pm.
Where: St. Xavier’s College, 5 Mahapalika Marg, Dhobi Talao.

BOARD GAMES Republic Day Game-athon at YWCA
Table Top India, a new company formed by a group of board game enthusiasts, will hold their first game-athon of the year. Participants can play such recent releases as Five Tribes, Istanbul and Colt Express. Tickets priced at Rs400 per head are being sold on Meraevents.com. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: From 10am to 10pm.
Where: YWCA International Centre, 18 Madame Cama Road.

SHOPPING & STYLE LataSita Pop-Up at Merri Ville
The women’s clothing brand from Kolkata will hold a day-long exhibition. See the Facebook event page or call 98303 51333 for more information.
When: From 11am to 7pm.
Where: 301, Merri Ville, 25 St. Andrew’s Road, diagonally opposite Candies, Bandra (West).

FOOD & DRINK Old Delhi Trail at The Tribe
Home cook Garima Goel, who was born and raised in Delhi, will give diners a taste of the capital’s iconic chaat items with a menu of dishes that are special to seven old Delhi locations, Chandni Chowk, Paharganj, Maliwada, Dariba Kalan, Ballimaran, Khari Baoli and Meena Bazaar. The snacks on offer will include golgappas; chole; khasta kachori; kachalu chaat; and papdi chaat. Tickets priced at Rs550 per head are being sold on Bookmyshow.com. See the Facebook event page for more information.
When: At noon and 3pm.
Where: The Tribe, Aram Nagar 1, near Daljeet Gym, opposite Dhan Building, Seven Bungalows, Andheri (West). Tel: 99308 86299.

FOOD & DRINK Winter Bengali Feast in Bandra
The next edition of Table Rhapsody, the series of pop-up meals catered by home cooks Roshni Sen and Tara Kapur, will be a Bengali repast of winter specials. The menu will feature cholar dal, shammi kebab, begun bhaja, kosher mangsho and pulao. The meal is priced at Rs1,500 per person. To reserve a seat, call 98673 62012 or 98200 06440. For more details, see here.
When: At 12.30pm.
Where: Bandra; the complete address will be provided to participants after registeration.

FILM 7Islands International Film Festival at the S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research
The tenth edition of the five-day festival will feature films about a variety of environmental issues from across the world. There is no entry fee. For the complete schedule, visit 7islands.in.
When: Tuesday, January 26, from 5pm and Wednesday, January 27 to Saturday, January 30, from 4.30pm.
Where: Auditorium, S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Bhavan’s College Campus, Munshi Nagar, Andheri (West). Tel: 022 2625 6541.

THEATRE The Siddhus of Upper Juhu at Sophia Bhabha Hall
Rahul da Cunha’s comedy is about about a middle-aged couple struggling with unemployment and the pressures of living in Mumbai. Read the review here. Tickets, priced at Rs300, Rs500, Rs800, Rs1,000 and Rs1,200 per head, are being sold on Bookmyshow.com.
When: At 7.30pm.
Where: Sophia Bhabha Hall, Sophia College, Breach Candy. Tel: 022 2353 8550.

COMEDY Aisi Taisi Democracy at St. Andrew’s Auditorium 
Lyricist and writer Varun Grover, stand-up comedian Sanjay Rajoura and folk-fusion rock band Indian Ocean’s vocalist and bassist Rahul Ram will perform their send-up of the current political dispensation as part of the ongoing Stage Forty Twoo festival. Read the review here. Tickets priced at Rs800 per head are being sold on Insider.in.
When: At 8pm.
Where: St. Andrew’s Auditorium, St. Andrew’s College, St. Dominic Road, Bandra (West). Tel: 022 2640 1657.

On the third episode of our podcast The Paodcast, we rant about Mumbai’s post-Independence architecture in The Scene; discuss healthy dabbas in Bombay Binge; and tell you about the art of church bell ringing in Secret City.

Subscribe to The Paodcast, produced by IndusVox Media, on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher and Tunein.

The music you hear on the podcast is from ‘Who Would Have Thought’ by Your Chin. Stream it here.

In January, when marathon goals and resolutions to eat more mindfully replace December’s debauchery, restaurants and F&B companies try to woo diners with supposedly healthy foods. Often the health food tag is just marketing spiel intended to capitalise on the wellness fervour that typically lasts until March or April every year. However some food services are genuine purveyors of nutritious meals. We found three such services, the founders of which advocate a way of life they have themselves adopted. This way of eating can be challenging as it involves eschewing meat, dairy, gluten, refined sugar and processed foods and even embracing raw food cooking methods (cooking without heat). To their credit, all three caterers have attempted to be inventive with a category of food that has a reputation of being bland and dull by serving up dishes such as raw pizza, zucchini pasta, quinoa sushi and cashew nut cheese minus dairy.

Sva’s Thai noodle salad.

Sva
This catering service is all about vegetables. It’s not just that Sva is a vegetarian food delivery service, but one that advocates that you should be able to taste your veggies in each dish. Their food minimises the use of salt, sauces, spices, masalas and garlic so that the flavour of the vegetables can be discerned. Sva’s vegetarian menu of dishes such as zucchini pasta; quinoa sushi; quinoa burger; corn curry with cauliflower rice; and lentil salad is reflective of founder Aditi Gaur’s daily diet. Gaur is a former marketing professional, who gave up her 9-to-5 job in 2010 after she took up Himalayan and Sivananda yoga and decided to lead a more “satvik lifestyle”. In June 2014, the yoga practitioner set up Vitalis, a food and beverage catering service run from her Juhu home. The company was renamed Sva in February last year.

Gaur eschews gluten, refined sugar and dairy. Her limited menu offers a nutritious spin on popular foods such as sushi, burgers and pasta. The “no-bread” burgers including the quinoa and spinach burger (Rs350) and the beetroot and brown rice burger (Rs350) mimic burgers in the manner in which they are assembled. In the filling quinoa burger, buns are replaced by patties of spinach-flecked quinoa that have hummus, diced peppers and sprouts squished between them. Equally healthful is the “noodle-free” Thai noodle salad (Rs325) made up of slender strands of zucchini, carrots and red peppers doused with a sweet and creamy peanut sauce.

The zucchini pesto pasta (Rs325) is a plate of crunchy noodle-shaped zucchini smeared with mild basil pesto and heaped with black olives and cherry tomatoes. The dish is decidedly low on salt, oil and garlic, ingredients typically lavished on the regular version of the Italian staple. Sva’s delicious range of flavoured nut and seed milks including the chocolate almond milk; pumpkin seed milk; and vanilla almond milk are understandably its best-selling items. The cold beverages are mildly sweetened with honey, dates or figs.
To order Sva delivers across the city via Scootsy.

Yogisattva’s raw cacao ice cream.

Yogisattva 
In March 2015, Raveena Taurani attended a yoga teacher training course in Goa at which participants were put on a 70 per cent raw food and 30 cent cooked food diet. A vegetarian by choice, Taurani unexpectedly gained muscle strength “thriving on uncooked fruit and vegetables”. This prompted her to rejig her diet upon returning to Mumbai after her seven weeks of training. In May, she travelled to Bali to hone her raw food cooking skills at a month-long course called Seeds of Life where the curriculum spanned cuisines such as Mexican, Italian and South-East Asian. In July last year, Taurani emailed her first menu of beverages to 12 friends and family members. Today, under the brand name Yogisattva, Taurani circulates a weekly lunch delivery menu to 1,500 subscribers across the city.

According to Taurani, raw food is best eaten before 4pm, after which it gets harder to digest. Her repertoire has expanded from dairy-free smoothies to inventive a la carte options such as raw pizza; raw falafels; vegan cheese; pad thai; pesto and organic veggie sandwich; zucchini pasta with pesto and avocado sauce; chia porridge; bliss balls (a snack made of ingredients like nuts, dried fruit and raw cacao) and raw ice creams. The raw pizza (Rs400 per slice) is a surprisingly tasty preparation of zucchini and flaxseed meal baked to crisp flatbread consistency in a dehydrator (a type of slow-cooking oven that maintains the temperature below 46 degrees Celsius thus preserving the nutrients in the food) for 18 hours. The pie is garnished with shredded beets, avocado sauce, raw pesto and ‘rawmesan’, a vegan cheese made with cashews. The vibrant and flavourful raw pad Thai salad (Rs370) has ribbons of zucchini and cucumber drowned in a tangy and sweet tamarind sauce and savoury almond butter. Yogisattva’s excellent raw cacao ice creams (Rs400 per 200ml jar) are among their more indulgent offerings. We tried one spiked with chilli and one flavoured with orange zest and found that the silken and creamy desserts rival some of the best milk and fat-laden ice creams in the city.

Taurani sources vegetables directly from organic farms in Maharashtra. Because she uses several imported ingredients – the cacao (unprocessed chocolate from the plant) comes from Bali and the chia and protein powders for smoothies from America – the prices of Yogisattva products are steep. Like at Sva, the food made by Yogisattva is gluten and dairy-free but it’s not vegan as it contains honey. Next week, Yogisattva will launch cooked meals in a bowl such as the Mexican quinoa bowl and pumpkin and brown rice risotto. By the end of this month, their menu will be available on Scootsy.
To order visit the Facebook page.

Vegan Bites’ raw tomatoes stuffed with herb tapenade.

Vegan Bites
Samir Pasad has been vegan for 19 years. An “eye-opening” seminar by nutrionist Vijaya Venkat motivated Pasad to convert to veganism long before it became fashionable. Pasad, who was a partner at health juice bar chain HAS until 2009, launched the dabba service Vegan Bites in 2011 to “fill the gap” and serve newly-minted vegans in the city. Vegan Bites operates as a six-day (Monday to Saturday) lunch subscription service out of Pasad’s central kitchen in Lower Parel. You can subscribe to their rotating multi-cuisine menu on a ten-day or monthly basis.

Pasad’s wife Hemali Gala helms the kitchen, while he handles the business and marketing activities. A dabba typically contains a salad, snack, curry or vegetable and juice. You can expect home-style preparations such as fada ni khichadi; jowar roti with bhindi masala; cabbage wrap; stir-fried barley rice; Indonesian curry; spinach, pear and walnut salad; mushroom risotto; herb lentil soup; corn bhel; and carrot halwa. Commendably they avoid plastic containers, delivering food in steel boxes. Our sample dabba (Rs320 for a sample meal, Rs2,700 for ten meals and Rs4,500 for a month’s subscription) comprising Indonesian curry, barley stir-fried rice and cabbage wraps, had a measured amount of salt. The crunchy, steamed cabbage contrasted the mushy filling of potatoes and peas, while the aromatic curry elevated the somewhat bland barley rice. In addition to being vegans, Pasad and Gala are also raw foodists. Their cooking is free of oil, gluten, refined sugar and dairy and their ingredients are either steamed or blended as opposed to being cooked on a flame.

In October last year, the duo launched a selection of vegan ice creams. The creamy raw cacao with cacao nibs (Rs1,250 per litre), the sorbet-like sugar-free fig and walnut (Rs1,475 per litre) and the deliciously tart and sweet strawberry (Rs975 per litre) flavours are our top picks. They also retail dips, nut butters, beverages, desserts and cakes. The list includes cashew pesto; chia seed puddings; chocolate bliss balls; sesame seed and peanut laddoos; moong dal halwa and peanut laddoos. Pasad and Gala are now working on the launch of two health-food restaurants in Bandra and Lower Parel, both slated to open by the middle of this year.
To order visit their Facebook page.

One of the enduring mysteries of the food scene in India is the success of the multi-cuisine restaurant. Rarely do joints that fall into this category produce meals that leave an impression. Usually they’re forgotten as soon as the cheque had been paid. Yet this is a thriving format. Could the reason be the Indian diner’s love of choice? A desire to be wooed by novella-sized menus and items from almost every continent? The latest such establishment to plant a flag on Mumbai’s food map is 29, which offers food from India’s 29 states. Like an airplane paperback, whose plot you will be hard pressed to remember after a flight, 29 at Kemps Corner serves up the sort of populist grub that’s somewhat gratifying but not memorable.

The vegetarian restaurant, in a quiet lane adjacent to Cumballa Hill Hospital, is brightly lit and done up in a cheery combination of colours. The chairs are upholstered in orange, blue, green and yellow and panels in the same colour scheme punctuate white walls. The sliver of kitchen visible from the dining area looks clean and well kept. The service is swift and you get a sense of being in an efficient, hygienic environment. This is not the kind of place that urges you to linger. The eatery was full on a Tuesday evening but by 10.30pm it had emptied out. From the conversational hum, we gathered that a majority of the diners were Gujarati. This implies 29 is likely to appeal to the area’s sizeable population of Gujaratis, many of whom are vegetarian and eat early out of habit.

To do justice to the menu, we ordered food from the north, south, east and west. The lal hara chaat (Rs160) from Mizoram was a mix of corn, green vatana and tomato in a sweet and sour dressing. While it had the refreshing taste and crunch of fresh produce, it was the sort of casual, hastily tossed salad routinely made at home. The punugulu (Rs110), a snack of fritters made of a rice and dal batter native to Andhra, could’ve done with more flavour and softer texture. It should’ve been crisp on the outside and soft on the inside but was uniformly stiff. The kitchen got the texture right with the malmali galouti kebab (Rs220), a platter of kebabs made of pureed rajma that had the creaminess of the meat version.

The only savoury item to truly stand out was from our home state. The hearty Maharashtrian dish dalimbi usal ani arbi amti (Rs275) is worth returning for. The dalimbi or fava beans was light and well-spiced and contrasted well with the accompanying sweet and tart arbi amti, a mush of colocassia leaves. On the other hand, the veg xacuti with Goan daali thoy (Rs275) was forgettable. The daali thoy or daal as it’s known in parts of the Konkan coast was fairly ordinary and the mix of veggies tasted more like achari veg than Goan xacuti. The chickpea-laden Kabuli biryani (Rs220), which the menu informed us was from Telengana, had the masala-heavy quality of fast food tava pulao.

The sole aspect of 29 that made us hesitatingly put aside our scepticism of multi-cuisine restaurants is that it offers a variety of regional food. The one thing the city’s foodscape lacks is adequate representation from the north east and states like Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. However, it’s clear 29’s cooks need a better education. That said, they know their deserts. The kesar malai ke laddoo (Rs80) had four saffron-flavoured spheres in two leaf cones balanced at the ends of a miniature seesaw-like contraption. The jaggery-sweetened laddoos were fresh and gorgeously creamy, and the mawa jalebi with kesar rabdi (Rs120) was a plate of crisp dark orange jalebis and luscious kesar and pista-flavoured rabdi.

Get: Dalimbi usal ani arbi amti (Rs275), malmali galouti kebab (Rs220), kesar malai ke laddoo (Rs80), mawa jalebi with kesar rabdi (Rs120).
Skip: Lal hara chaat (Rs160), punugulu (Rs110), veg Xacuti with Goan daali thoy (Rs275), Kabuli biryani (Rs220).

It is our policy to wait at least a week after an establishment has opened before we review it.

Prices exclude taxes. This review was conducted anonymously.

29, Mohammedbhai Mansion, Ground Floor, in the lane between Cumballa Hill Hospital and Shivsagar Fast Food, Kemps Corner. Tel: 022 3312 6003. Open daily, from 11am to 3.30pm and from 7pm to 11.30pm. Get directions here.

The first thing you notice about One Street Over is how Aalia Hospitality, the folks behind the venture, have successfully managed to remove all traces of the property’s previous avatars. Most recently, it was the pop-coloured Community, which did not hold any of its proposed pop-ups, and in the past it has been home to Or-G and Rehab, which were different mainly in name. If the décor at those establishments was flashy to the point of being tacky, the interiors of One Street Over are so subdued they might come off as sedate.

As our co-diner remarked, the slate walls and brown and grey seating make it look somewhat like a library. Around 11pm on a Wednesday night however, it was as cacophonous as a college cafeteria with the chatter of customers clashing with the commercial pop being streamed over the speakers. The noise levels were so high that we had to request the waiter to repeat himself at least twice. We wanted his recommendations because when a restaurant is helmed by Kelvin Cheung, the celebrated Canadian-Chinese chef credited with turning around the fortunes of Colaba restaurant Ellipsis, there is the temptation to try everything on the menu.

Cheung quit Ellipsis last year and left Mumbai in August for Chicago to set up a restaurant with his father. Instead, he returned a couple of months later to help launch One Street Over with Korean chef de cuisine Boo Kwang Kim. Aalia Hospitality clearly made an offer he couldn’t refuse because aesthetically, Ellipsis and Aalia’s establishements – they also run the multi-cuisine Villa 69 in Juhu and the Gangsta’s theme bar in Bandra – are opposites. While the food has never been the highlight of those joints, One Street Over is positioned as a gastropub.

Comparisons to Ellipsis are inevitable, more so because it’s one of those rare places where the cocktails are as impressive as the meals. For One Street Over, Aalia roped in another F&B star to draw up the drinks menu: mixologist Arijit Bose who dazzled drinkers at Delhi bar PCO before shifting to Singapore. From the few tipples we tried, we found that they weren’t quite as well executed as they are at Ellipsis. Yet, the selection, in both quantity and quality, is considerably better than most of the bog-standard bar offerings in the city.

There’s almost half a booklet of drinks to choose from. The smooth Spiced Moscow Mule (Rs550), in which ginger beer is partnered with vodka and lime, made us recall the version at Ellipsis. It was indeed ‘light and elegant’, which is the name of the section under which it’s listed. The same couldn’t be said of the similarly classified Old Cuban (Rs375) in which the Bacardi Gold rum provides a hit harder than the sparkling wine, lime, sugar and bitters blended along with it. The cocktail should be in the ‘strong and punchy’ category, which is where you will find the Kelvinator (Rs600), a potent combination of Jameson and Campari inspired by Cheung (not the refrigerator brand). The Whisky Smash (Rs400), among the ‘straight up and smooth’ options, was a refreshing merging of Jim Beam, mint and sweet and sour that felt like a whisky version of the mojito but sturdier.

The food, expectedly, triumphs. The two chefs have clearly put some thought into the vegetarian preparations. Two delicious veggies dishes, the crisp French beans (Rs450) tossed in an umami-rich, buttery soy garlic dressing, and the super-creamy burrata with carrot marinara and a garnish of fermented carrot vinaigrette and pesto (Rs750), are already big hits. The bland and austere roasted cauliflower with cashew hummus and pomegranate and mint cilantro chutney (Rs450), however, is likely to only appeal to serial dieters.

Carnivores should definitely get the artistically-plated date with bacon, leather and housemade ricotta (Rs750), a match made in culinary Tinder. The tender slices of pliant pork paired excellently with the ‘leather’, which was dates cut into thin strips. They went so well together that the smattering of ricotta and garnish of tart strawberries on the plate tasted like intruders. The General Tso’s pork with green peppers, mushroom and carrot (Rs450) was more a meat salad. The messy, flavour-packed ensemble had crisp, sweet pieces of pork tossed with other ingredients like walnuts, scallions and pineapple.

Of the mains or ‘bigs’, we ordered the fried chicken and waffle with honey maple syrup (Rs750), which was an Ellipsis favourite. The components were individually perfect; the batter-fried chicken crisp on the outside and moist inside, the waffle fluffy yet filling. Together, the sum of the savoury and sweet was somehow less the whole. For dessert, we got the brown butter malton salt chocolate chip cookies with hot chocolate (Rs500). The toasty biscuits weren’t bad but they weren’t anywhere as good as the hot chocolate, which was dark, rich and soothing.

One Street Over has been positioned as a bar but overall, the food is more memorable than the drink. The layout could fit either format, however the Top 40 soundtrack is at odds with the idea that it’s a restaurant first. There’s a risk though in trying to be two things at once, especially if the aim is to imprint the enterprise firmly on the Bandra-Khar nightlife map. This is because the prices are not as pocket-friendly as the competition in the area yet the place is casual enough to be clubbed with them.

In order to keep the crowds coming, it needs a playlist change to something more distinct (we’d recommend anything from acid jazz to nu-disco) and some supervision over the bar (we had to return a drink and spend a bit of time explaining to the management why we were sending it back). Right now, the rest of One Street Over simply isn’t on par with Cheung’s chops. Just a little over a month after opening, chef Boo and he are on version 3.0 of the menu. Given the general quality of bar food in the city, it’d be a shame for One Street Over to meet the fate of its predecessors.

It is our policy to wait at least a week after an establishment has opened before we review it.

Prices exclude taxes. This review was conducted anonymously.

One Street Over, Ground Floor, Navrang Building, near National College and Hotel Linkway, off Linking Road, Khar. Tel: 022 2600 2224. Open daily, from 6pm to 1.30am. Get directions here.

Contemporary dance choreographer Ashley Lobo’s ‘Amaara’ will be staged on Saturday a Cross Maidan.

The seventeenth edition of the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival (KGAF), the city’s longest-running neighbourhood cultural festival, will begin this weekend. This time, the festival will run longer than the usual nine days, as it is also concurrent with the Make In India festival, which will be held from Friday, February 13 to Thursday, February 18. The theme for 2016 is Crossing the Threshold. As always there will be plenty of art installations and shopping stalls to check out plus over 100 cultural events. Here are our picks of the shows, talks, tours and workshops worth attending during the opening weekend.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6
CHILDREN’S EVENTS
Book Swap for Kids
Children between four and 15 can exchange their own books with each other.
When: From 10.30am to 6pm.
Where: Front garden of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya.

Stories in the Park
A game in which kids between eight and 15 will be made to read stories written on posters and answer a quiz.
When: At 11am.
Where: Front garden of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya.

Saving the Very Last Dodo
Venita Coelho, author of Dead as a Dodo, will read from her book about a wildlife trafficker’s attempts to capture the last surviving dodos.
When: At 11.30am.
Where: Kitab Khana.

Soldiers of Soil
Eco-friendly crafts will be taught to children between four and 15.
When: At 1pm.
Where: Front garden of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya.

Seedha Sadha Serpy/Nagmodi Nagoba
Writers Rajiv Tambe and Rujuta Ghate will narrate a story in Hindi and Marathi about a snake that wants to move in a straight line.
When: At 3pm.
Where: Kitab Khana.

Animation 101
Norwegian-Canadian animator Torill Kove, who won the Academy Award in 2007 for her short film The Danish Poet, will talk about creating animation stories.
When: At 5pm.
Where: Kitab Khana.

The ‘Damru’ Music and Rhyme Workshop
Singer and playwright Isheeta Ganguly will conduct a fusion music workshop for children of all ages.
When: At 5pm.
Where: Front garden of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya.

DANCE
Lezim by Yashraj Kala Manch
A performance of the energetic Maharashtrian folk dance.
When: At 5.10pm.
Where: Cross Maidan.

Sangeetha Rajan and Urban Temple
A Odissi performance by Sangeetha Rajan, who runs the performing arts company Urban Temple.
When: At 5.55pm.
Where: Cross Maidan.

Amaara by Ashley Lobo’s Navdhara
A contemporary dance recital choreographer by Ashley Lobo, who is a judge on the reality TV talent show India’s Dancing Superstar on Star Plus.
When: At 8.50pm.
Where: Cross Maidan.

FOOD
Food Styling and Photography
Gather tips on how to make your home-cooked meals and restaurant plates Instagram-worthy in a food styling workshop by home cook and food stylist Amrita Rana, who is famous for her bacon jam.
When: At 1pm.
Where: Wisk.

Olive Oil Workshop with Ranveer Brar
TV chef Ranveer Brar will demonstrate how to prepare Indian food with olive oil. The workshop will feature recipes from his TV show The Great Indian Rasoi.
When: At 1pm.
Where: Westside.

Modern Pan Asian Cuisine: Pa Pa Ya
Sahil Singh, the chef at Lower Parel’s Pa Pa Ya, will conduct a cooking demonstration of items on the modern pan-Asian restaurant’s menu.
When: At 4pm.
Where: Westside.

HERITAGE TOURS
Fort Banking District
Conservation architects Kruti Garg and Sanaeya Vandrewala will talk about how the city became the financial capital of the country on this guided walk through the banking district in Fort. The tour will end with a visit to the Central Bank and its museum.
When: At 1.45pm.
Where: The meeting point is the HSBC building, M. G. Road, opposite Flora Fountain, Fort  at 1.30pm. 

Heritage Bus Tour
This hour-long tour in an open-top double-decker bus through South Mumbai’s heritage areas will give participants a chance to see city monuments such as the Gateway of India, Taj Mahal Hotel, High Court, University of Mumbai and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus from an elevated viewing point. One pass per person can be collected from the help desk, located near Max Mueller Bhavan on K. Dubash Marg, between 2pm and 2.15pm for the 4.30pm ride and between 2.30pm and 2.45pm for the 5.45pm ride.
When: At 4.30pm and 5.45pm.
Where: The assembly point is Gate No.4 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya at 4pm for the 4.30pm ride and 5.15pm for the 5.45pm ride.

LITERATURE
Family Ties
Raghu Karnad, journalist and author of Farthest Afield: A Story of India’s Second World War, and writer Mridula Koshy, whose second novel Bicycle Dreaming was released last week, will discuss drawing on family histories while working on their respective books.
When: At 5pm.
Where: David Sassoon Library Garden.

The Autobiography of a Goddess
Mumbai poet Priya Sarukkai Chabria and Indian-American poet Ravi Shankar will discuss the work of eighth-century Tamil poet Andal.
When: At 5.30pm.
Where: Artists’ Centre.

Homeland Tales
The authors of the book A Long Dream of Home Siddhartha Gigoo and Varad Sharma, both whom are from Kashmir, will discuss their troubled home state.
When: At 6.15pm.
Where: David Sassoon Library Garden.

Launch of Kala Ghoda – The Arts District
The book, edited by conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah, will be launched.
When: At 6.30pm.
Where: Cross Maidan.

THEATRE
What’s Up?
In this Gujarati solo show, directed by Manoj Shah and performed by Chirag Vora, a man organising a family wedding is forced to make last-minute changes just as he’s dashing to Chicago.
When: At 6.30pm.
Where: M. C. Ghia Hall.

One on One 2
In this sequel to theatre group Rage’s 2010 set of mini plays One on One, seven directors, ten writers and six actors will present eight short pieces on topics ranging from the music industry and marriage to war and Bollywood.
When: At 7pm.
Where: National Gallery of Modern Art.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7
ART WORKSHOP
Kala Ghoda Musings by Sameer Kulavoor
The graphic designer, who recently published Kala Ghoda Musings, an illustrated tribute to the neighbourhood, will conduct a sketching workshop.
When: At 5.30pm.
Where: Artisans’ Centre.

CHILDREN’S EVENTS
Book Swap for Kids
Kids between four and 15 can exchange their own books with each other.
When: From 10.30am to 6pm.
Where: Front garden of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya.

Tiger Boy!
Children’s writer Anushka Ravishankar and wildlife activist and founder of Sanctuary Magazine Bittu Sahgal will conduct a Save the Tiger poster making competition.
When: At 10.30am.
Where: Kitab Khana.

Workshop with Arzan Khambatta and Sunil Padwal
The veteran artists will teach kids to make sculptures with used objects.
When: At 11am.
Where: Front garden of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya.

Storytime with Deepa Kiran
Professional storyteller Deepa Kiran will introduce kids of all ages to folk tales.
When: At 1pm.
When: Front garden of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya.

Fire Your Mind With Science
Srijan Pal Singh, who co-wrote Reignited with former Indian president A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, will talk about the importance of science in education.
When: At 5pm.
Where: Kitab Khana.

FOOD
The Organic Local Food Movement
Restaurateurs Pankil Shah of The Pantry and Woodside Inn, Farhad Bomanjee of Kala Ghoda Cafe and Yohaan Dattoobhai of Kaboom, will discuss the use of locally grown produce in their kitchens. The talk will be moderated by Kumud Dadlani, a member of the Indian chapter of the Slow Food movement.
When: At noon.
Where: Somaiya Centre for Lifelong Learning.

The New Face of Bombay Food Producers
Yohaan Dattoobhai will be in conversation with Sanmitra Pandharpur of Offerings Farms & Natural Foods; Adrienne Thadani, the founder of Fresh and Local, a company that sets up rooftop gardens; and Prateeksh Mehra, who runs The Spotted Cow Fromagerie.
When: At 1.30pm.
Where: Somaiya Centre for Lifelong Learning.

Bhonu For Two: SodaBottleOpenerWala
Learn how to cook a Parsi bhonu from Darius Madon, head chef at SodaBottleOpenerWala, the Parsi restaurant in BKC.
When: At 4pm.
Where: Westside.

Flavours of Kala Ghoda Book Launch
To celebrate five years since food events were introduced as a section at the KGAF, the festival organising committee will launch a book called Flavours of Kala Ghoda. Compiled by Nicole Mody, the book is a collection of recipes procured from restaurants in Fort and by chefs who have given food demonstrations over five years.
When: At 6pm.
Where: Cross Maidan.

Flavours of Kala Ghoda
Journalist and food writer Vir Sanghvi, restaurateur Rahul Akerkar, food blogger Nicole Mody and food writer Antoine Lewis will talk about “mapping culinary journeys”.
When: At 7.15pm.
Where: David Sassoon Library.

HERITAGE TOURS
The Esplanade
Learn about how Cross Maidan, Oval Maidan, Azad Maidan and Cooperage once formed a vast green open space known as the Esplanade at this guided walk by conservation architects Kruti Garg and Sanaeya Vandrewala.
When: At 11.15am.
Where: The meeting point is the entrance to Oval Maidan, opposite Mumbai University, Fort at 10.45am.

Heritage Bus Tour
This hour-long tour in an open-top double-decker bus through South Mumbai’s heritage areas will give participants a chance to see city monuments such as the Gateway of India, Taj Mahal Hotel, High Court, University of Mumbai and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus from an elevated viewing point. One pass per person can be collected from the help desk, located near Max Mueller Bhavan on K. Dubash Marg, between 2pm and 2.15pm for the 4.30pm ride and between 2.30pm and 2.45pm for the 5.45pm ride.
When: At 4.30pm and 5.45pm.
Where: The assembly point is Gate No.4 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya at 4pm for the 4.30pm ride and 5.15pm for the 5.45pm ride.

LITERATURE
The Cat and the Comma by Niloufer Venkatraman
The editor-in-chief of National Geographic Traveller India will conduct a workshop on travel writing.
When: At 11am.
Where: Artists’ Centre.

Legends, Myths, Histories
Journalist Shoaib Daniyal and Shahid Amin, historian and author of Conquest and Community: The Afterlife of Warrior Saint Ghazi Miyan, will discuss Amin’s work on the eleventh-century warrior saint.
When: At 5.30pm.
Where: Artists’ Centre.

Becoming Indian
Ranjit Hoskote, art curator and the curator of the Literature section of the festival, and Jonathan Gil Harris, author of The First Firangis, will discuss how early immigrants to India adapted to local customs.
When: At 6.45pm.
Where: Artists’ Centre.

Nucleus of Creativity – Kala Ghoda – The Arts District 
Architect Rahul Mehrotra; Devieka Bhojwani, whose mother Usha Khanna used to run Samovar Café at Jehangir Art Gallery; artist and KGAF head curator Brinda Miller; and conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah, who edited the book Kala Ghoda – The Arts District, will discuss the significance of Kala Ghoda in the city’s cultural scene.
When: At 8.45pm.
Where: David Sassoon Library Garden.

MUSIC
Symphony Orchestra of India’s Children Section
Children trained by the Symphony Orchestra of India will perform a Western classical music recital under the baton of SOI music director Marat Bisengaliev.
When: At 5pm.
Where: Cross Maidan.

Amjad Ali Khan with Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan
The country’s most prominent sarod player will perform with his sons, who’ve followed in their famous father’s footsteps.
When: At 6.15pm.
Where: Cross Maidan.

Samparan
This Indian classical-fusion band, made up of tabla player Ojas Adhiya, keyboardist Vishal Dhumal, violinist Manas Kumar, flautist Ninad Mulaokar, saxophonist I. D. Rao and percussionist Gautam Sharma, plays the kind of easy listening music that’s a hit with audiences at cultural festivals.
When: At 7.50pm.
Where: Cross Maidan.

Sandhya Sanjana
The Mumbai-born singer, who now lives in London and Amsterdam, makes tunes that bring together Indian classical, jazz and rock sounds.
When: At 9.10pm.
Where: Cross Maidan.

THEATRE
Ambu and Rajalakshmi
Written by Ramu Ramanathan and directed by Gurleen Judge, Ambu and Rajalakshmi is an English play about the reunion of two cousins on the occasion of a death in the family.
When: At 5pm.
Where: M. C. Ghia Hall.

Black With Equal
In director Vickram Kapadia’s hit comedy, a building society meeting rapidly descends into a communal slanging match exposing the deep-seated prejudices held by supposedly secular people.
When: At 7.30pm.
Where: Horniman Circle Garden.

The Race Course and Other Stories
A suite of dramatic readings of short stories on Mumbai directed by Anil Chandiramani and written by Anthony Soni, Vikram Phukan, Mallika Krishnamurthy and Sunil Sharma.
When: At 8pm.
Where: M. C. Ghia Hall.

VENUES
Artisans’ Centre
Artisans’ Centre, V.B. Gandhi Marg, near Rhythm House, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2267 3040.

Artists’ Centre
Ador House, K. Dubash Marg, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2284 5939.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya
Mahatma Gandhi Road, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2284 4484.

Cross Maidan
New Marine Lines, Churchgate.

David Sassoon Library Garden
David Sassoon Library, M. G. Road, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2284 3703.

Kitab Khana
Somaiya Bhavan, Ground Floor, Flora Fountain, Fort. Tel: 022 6170 2276.

M. C. Ghia Hall
Bhogilal Hargovindas Building, Second Floor, K. Dubash Marg, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2284 4350.

National Gallery of Modern Art
M. G. Road, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2288 1969.

Somaiya Centre for Lifelong Learning
Somaiya Bhavan, near Davar’s College, Flora Fountain, Fort. Tel: 022 6170 2270.

Westside
Army Navy Building, M. G. Road, Kala Ghoda, Fort. Tel: 022 6636 0497.

Wisk
Jatia Chambers, Second Floor, V. B. Gandhi Marg, Kala Ghoda, Fort. Tel: 022 3021 3333.

Eggs Kejriwal at The Bombay Canteen.

Devi Prasad Kejriwal is frequently recalled in Mumbai’s food circles. The eggs Kejriwal is named after the Marwari businessman, who had a penchant for eggs, forbidden to him as he belonged to a staunchly vegetarian family. The story goes that Kejriwal defiantly feasted on eggs at The Willingdon Sports Club in Tardeo, of which he was a member. Kejriwal would customise his regular order of fried eggs on toast with green chillies and cheese. The club reportedly honoured his devotion to the dish by adding it to its menu. Other gymkhanas adopted the preparation soon after and bakeries, restaurants and bars have followed more recently. We sought out eggs Kejriwal across six restaurants (since clubs are closed to the general public) to find the best iteration of the gent’s favourite snack. Here, in ascending order, is our verdict:

The Bar Stock Exchange
Hotel Apollo, Lansdowne Road, behind Regal Cinema, Colaba. Tel: 022 2281 9898.
The Colaba branch of The Bar Stock Exchange opens for breakfast at 8am. The press release that followed its launch two weeks ago claimed the bar serves eggs Kejriwal. However we found that it’s an off-the-menu item and counts among the chef’s specials. Alas the recipe is so altered from the original that eggs Kejriwal is a misleading name for it. Their version has pedestrian white toast, sliced cheese, mushrooms and poached eggs bafflingly cloaked in a Burgundy-hued wine sauce. While the perfectly poached eggs and sauce work well together, this is no eggs Kejriwal.
Price: Rs140.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

SodaBottleOpenerWala
Ground Floor, The Capital, behind ICICI Bank, G Block, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (East). Tel: 022 4003 5678.
It took longer for the staff to fetch us a bottle of water than it took the kitchen at this Parsi restaurant to send out a plate of eggs Kejriwal, presumably a much-ordered item here. Promptness scored over presentation however. Our plate had runny fried eggs shoddily balanced over sauteed mushrooms and buttered pao. The cheese and chillies were scant and a blitz of salt further marred the dish.
Price: Rs195.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Jamjar Diner
J. P. Road, Aram Nagar II, opposite Palm Beach Apartments, Versova, Andheri (West). Tel: 022 2636 8880.
The Andheri restaurant’s take on the breakfast dish is unique as they serve omelettes in place of fried eggs. Alas, the dish lacked heat and they skimped on the cheese. The toasts were blotched as opposed to slathered with melted cheese and the omelette, while pleasingly fluffy, had a pitiable garnish of chillies.
Price: Rs224.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

The Nutcracker
Modern House, Dr. V. B. Gandhi Marg, opposite One Forbes, Fort. Tel: 022 2284 2430.
Adding mushroom to eggs Kejriwal is a forgiveable bastardisation, when the outcome is as delicious as it is at this Fort cafe. The combination of multi-grain toast, creamy mushrooms spiked with chilli flakes and green chillies, and cheese speckled-fried eggs is mood-altering.
Price: Rs285.
Rating: ★★★1/2

Theobroma
Cusrow Baug, Electric House, Colaba. Tel: 022 3371 6011. Also at Ground Floor, Link Square Mall, 33rd Road, near KFC, off Linking Road, Bandra (West). Tel: 91673 85251. Ground Floor, The Capital, G Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra (East). Tel: 022 2654 2696. Poornima Building, near Jaslok Hospital, off Peddar Road. Tel: 022 2351 5225. Nebula Building, Lokhandwala Market, Andheri (West). Tel: 022 2639 4834. Shop No.G8, Central Avenue, next to Kotak Mahindra Bank, Hiranandani Gardens, Powai. Tel: 98205 10069. Mehta Building, Nagindas Master Lane, Hutatma Chowk, Fort. Tel: 022 3395 6177.
You’ll have to endure a 20-minute wait while two doughnut-sized buns blanketed with a delicious blend of spiced ketchup, grated cheese and sliced green chillies are grilled to a perfect crisp. Two runny fried eggs are laid over the generous bed of cheese and bread that soak up the spilled yolks.
Price:Rs200.
Rating: ★★★★☆

The Bombay Canteen WINNER
Unit 1, Process House, near Radio Mirchi, Kamala Mills, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel. Tel: 022 4966 6666.
The all-day restaurant has been faithful to the ingredients utilised in Devi Prasad Kejriwal’s favourite breakfast. However the appetiser looks nothing like what Willingdon plated for their esteemed member. The textured snack is a visual treat with its halo of pungent coriander and green chilli chutney encircling a crunchy circular pao baked in-house. The runny yolks are obscured by a layer of cheesy egg white covering the circumference of the bun. The creamy richness of the yolks and cheese is nicely offset by the sharpness of the garnish creatively presented here as chutney.
Price: Rs250.
Rating: ★★★★★

Prices exclude taxes. 

For the nineteenth episode of their Adventures of Cheap Beer podcast, the trio of tipplers, Karan Agarwal, Siddhant Mehta and Suyash Barve journeyed to Borivali to visit popular neighborhood haunt Schumania with their guest, Ryan Thomas, who works with ad agency 22 Feet by day and moonlights as a manager for musicians like singer-songwriter Nikhil D’Souza. At the family-run Schumania, the quartet were particularly impressed by the food. Barve tells us about the episode:

“We’ve never gone as far as Borivali. In that sense, we are what you might call lazy adventurers. But Ryan Thomas has impeccable taste in quarter bars and when he recommended this one, we knew we had to visit it. And it was just as good as Ryan had promised. The bar is located right next to I. C. Colony and that means it’s almost always packed. We went there on a Tuesday night and could barely get a table. The second you try the grub, you know exactly why all those people are there. The food is some of the best we’ve had and the drinks are priced just right. Now, if only we could pick this bar up and move it somewhere south of Bandra.”

Schumania Restaurant and Bar, 8 to 10, El Plaza Apartment, I. C., Colony, Borivali (West), Mumbai. Tel. 022 2893 3587. Open daily, from 10.30am to midnight. Get directions here.

The Beer Cafe.

• Cafe Sundance, the all-day restaurant in Churchgate, has been replaced by a branch of The Beer Cafe. This outlet of the chain offers free wi-fi. The food and beer menus are the same across the branches in Kurla, Mahim, Andheri West and Andheri East. Open daily, from 11am to midnight. The Beer Cafe, Ground Floor, Eros Cinema, Churchgate. Tel: 022 6615 3510.

• Z Luxury Residences, the serviced apartments hotel in Juhu, has a new Awadhi restaurant called Jal. The menu lists paya shorba; choosa bhatti (chicken cooked in a tandoor); galouti kebab; Purane Chowk ki nihari (Lucknow-style braised lamb shanks); Awadhi gosht biryani; and Kabul-e-raan. Open daily, from 7pm to 1am. Jal, Z Luxury Residences, J. R. Mhatre Road, Iris Park, near PVR Cinema and Villa 69, Juhu. Tel: 022 6623 8888.

• The Bandra outpost of Tea Villa Cafe is slated to open by mid-February. At the vegetarian tea salon, you can nosh on pancakes, waffles, dim sum, pastas, burgers, sandwiches, one-pot meals, sizzlers and fondues. The  tea and food menu, which is the same across its branches, will feature banana and caramel waffle; peanut butter pancake; chilli cheese toast; peri peri hummus wrap; grilled mushroom burger; baked lasagne; spinach and corn sandwich; sizzling brownie with ice cream; Kashmiri kahwa; chamomile tea; rose oolong; rosehip and hibiscus tea; and lapsang souchong. Open daily, from 8am to 1.30am. Tea Villa Cafe, opposite Globus, Hill Road, Bandra (West). Tel: 98196 96402.

• The Penny Whistle Tavern, an Irish-themed pub in Juhu, which was slated for an August launch last year, opened two weeks ago. The food menu offers Guinness veggies; fried cheese sticks; short ribs; Louisiana chicken wings; Guinness shrimp; shepherd’s pie; roast duck; Irish stew; seafood pie; baked Alaska; Irish panna cotta; and date and walnut cake. Open daily, from 11am to 1.30am. The Penny Whistle Tavern, next to Juhu Residency, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu. Tel: 70450 92010.