Long and Short

Swung by Long & Short at the Intercontinental Marine drive,  one of my fav new bars a few days ago. They invited us over for a Sunday brunch to hang out with their new team led by Manas Krishnamoorthy who has arrived from The Imperial. 

The Mojito is my fav Summer cocktail and this one was on the money and i love the little jars, though they are found everywhere now, i still love em. 

the salad was a little disappointing as it just did not come together for me. a little too sweet, not enoug bitter or cheese. 

the focaccia was terrific, tasted this one and another both were kickass. 

whiskey with maple syrup, so weird it has to be tried

I was only there for a short while, the drinks are good but the food is the real star at this place. 

Long & Short

Last week i got a sneak peek at a new addition to the Bombay drinking scene. I was invited to check out a new bar which replaces the Intercontinental's Corelone. The new gastrobar is called Long and Short. Designed to be part living room, part fine dine with book shelves, photographs, couches as well as a long bar. Thankfully, they have used the open space outside and its a decent place to come smoke a cigar.

The food menu is pretty exhaustive but not confined to any particular cuisine. Greatest hits from across the world, comfort food with some twists on some popular dishes.  

The cocktail menu does a few interesting things, the Mojito (traditional and watermelon)

The spicy house flatbread was delicious, crunchy and tasty. 

The Bun was delicious and very tasty, even the non-vegetarians enjoyed it. 

the strawberry mojito. 

an interesting take on traditional whiskey cocktails, this one was mixed with whiskey, maple syrup which works way better than one would imagine. 

the puffs were amazing, super light and very tasty, a lot like the pizzas from Indigo Deli. gone almost immediately.

this was actually a nacho masquerading as a fondue. pretty good. 

the sushi was okay, not the greatest., 

terrific paneer biryani with mirchi ka salan and raita, kickass execution. 

a fat and very tasty veggie burger. 

the peach melba cheese cake was terrific, highly recommended. 

the green apple deconstruct, just what i would expect, since the crew likes to mess around with desserts. pretty terrific this one too. 

rocky road pancake mess, looks like a sundae that has been flattened. not a fan of marshmallows but people seemed to like it. 

Overall, i had a terrific time, the food was very good, they menu does not follow a specific cuisine but the theme is to do lots of street food and to play with the form and construction, since its all executed well it works well.

The drinks aren't too bad. the only thing i did not like personally was the lighting. The outdoors section is great, good place to go out and get a cigar or a smoke. 

The pricing is set not to break the bank although it is certainly not cheap. The good food, drink, price combo makes it quite a formidable entrant to the dining scene. 

Salt Water Cafe Churchgate

Intesresting times in South Bombay vis a vis food, a lot of popular brands that set up shop in bandra are beginning to find their way to town. The first of the new entrants is Salt Water Cafe which i have reviewed a few times (here) the other joints that have crossed the bridge are Sancho's and more importantly one of my fav's Mamagoto.

SWC opened doors a few days ago and a bunch of people i know were raving about it at tastings. Couldn't make it for the launch but  made it much later and was chuffed to find that they offer a breakfast at breakfast hours, the only other crew to do that in the area is Indigo Deli although SWC has more items on the menu.

in any case, the whiskey sour was highly recommended by Nikhil Merchant (@nikhil_merchant) and boy did it shine. brilliant, not to sweet and really addictive.

 

the next thing i had to have a go at was the cheese plate. from memory there was cheddar, parmesan, brie , swiss, feta and some sort of sweet cranberry. a great way to start the evening this. 

the caprese was pretty good, the bitter leaves with the sweetish dressing on the side made this work nicely.

 

the minestrone style assorted veggie soup was also pretty decent. hearty with beans and bits of pasta etc which i enjoy. 

the tomato, olive with chilli and peppers in what seemed like angel hair was good and fiery but a tad too oily.

i had the porcini, tomato and mozzarella & spaghetti. pretty on the money and a decent portion too. enjoyable.

Didn't get a chance to get a picture of the Tiramisu but i must say that it was awesome and possibly the best in the city.

Overall, i like SWC and i think this one is a tad better than the Bandra outlet, especially when it comes to mains. A good addition overall.

Hope to get there for breakfast one of these days. A meal for two without drinks should be around 2k.

The Pier

Rest : The Pier

Loc : Behind Radio Club, Colaba
Meal : Dinner

I first heard about The Pier when i received an invite to the T winnings tasting session, the invite mentioned the restaurant was as yet closed to general public. In any case, after learning on twitter that the place has good solid reviews, I thought i would check it out for myself.

The space is elegant, dimly lit with tables, booths, a large private dining area and best of all, a nice long bar.

The menu is largish and covers a lot of ground. At its heart the space is a high end bistro but the menu is more varied with and they even have some gourmet/cafe style eggs as well. 

The caiprioshka was wicked strong. 

and the bloody mary was delicious. 

they have a pretty stellar bread basket, the bread it turns out was freaking delicious as well. unfortunate that they charge for additional bread, which is a pet peeve for me. I am told they make their bread in house and unlike Serafina, their bread basket is at least worth paying for.

they do flavoured butters as well, the spicy red one is the best ! 

Mrs Jain bailed on the mushroom capuccino but i stuck to my guns and got me some French onion soup. delicious. served inside some garlic bread which you must break into. 

Mrs J ordered the stuffed portobello with cheese and broccoli. delicious, little thing this, the little side salad was pretty tasty too. 

The eggplant parmigiana with fried zucchini was pretty nifty. delicious. The scrambled eggs with truffles were bland though. 

The sundried tomato and ricotta ravioli with pesto was just something else. just stellar.. the dish had loads going on, with the pesto, the ricotta and then finally the sun dried tomato doing a little jig in my mouth. 

The cappuccino souffle with kahlua sauce was a great idea but needed just a tad more taste, the flavours were a little too subtle. not bad however. i like my soufflés and didn't mind waiting for it. 

The tiramisu was HUGE.. made me gasp when i saw it. easily enough for two people and more. Taste wise though, it could again do with a little more flavour, everything seemed a little too subtle.. hate looking for flavours.

Overall, the place is a very interesting idea. The décor  the presentation and the style is all high end. I loved their choice of bottled water.

Food wise it competes well with the Indigo Deli and Table, just needs a little more finesse which i am sure will come in the coming days. 

Their greatest strength lies however in their super aggressive pricing, which is pretty value for money, more so than most places in the area. Sing Kong last week too had competetive pricing, perhaps the restaurateurs are waking up.

Their long bar is also a plus, making it one of the few casual, restaurant+bars around Should be there Saturday night to hang around the bar and see how it goes. 

Food : 8/10
Service : 8/10
Damage : 3000 for two with a cocktail each. 

Lager Bay

Rest : Lager Bay

Meal : Dinner
Loc : Waterfeld Road, Bandra West.

Lager Bay replaced the immensely popular Zenzi a little while ago and i finally got the opportunity to check them out. I have fond memories of Zenzi, good food and one particularly debauched night out had begun here but we shall not go into details about that as this is a kid friendly blog. 

 

The place sounds like a real Burgers and Beer joint but is actually quite a generic multi cuisine menu which leans on the Italian for its mains.  

 The hummus was creamy, delicious and we immediately ordered another portion as the first one did not last very long. the toasty pita chips they were served with i am not a fan of. they should serve both the soft and hard pita because like creamy or crunchy, pulpy or pulp free, there are camps and people pick sides.

The Minestrone is one of those soups which has been utterly destroyed by people not doing it correctly here. I have had the bland tasteless version at Botticino where the chef refused to admit the problem and the over done heavy handed gujju styled version at my club. this was one was a cut above but still not the best. i guess it wasn't bad which makes it good. 

The Nachos came out cold, which was a shock, we told the server that and he was flustered and tried to ask us to go along by saying that the sauce was added later.. in any case it was sent back. They were good enough to actually make a new one 

The aglio olio was quite a hit with the table, unfortunately i only got the last few scraps and by then all that was left were garlic and pepper and some spaghetti. i found it a tad too spicy but everyone loved it.

The stroganoff was weak, all cream and veggies no taste. unfortunate. I had some decent stroganoff at Irish House, Gaylord but this does not compare at all. 

One thing restaurants need to get clear is what their menu promises and what they deliver. if it says tomato and penne i assume its anything but an arrabiata. However even as an arrabiata this failed, it was like something i would have cooked which is not saying much at all.

The veggie burger was pretty terrific. A nice big patty with sesame bun. The relish and stuff were not very good but the burger itself was quite decent. very unwieldy to eat but then i never met a burger which wasn't.

Overall, i like the decor, the main entrance section has changed greatly from Zenzi, its very casual and brightly lit, the rest of the space has not changed much. The vibe is casual and the place can get loud. The food is okay, too many hits and misses and they do have some quality control they need to work on.

The service is quick and more or less friendly if a little scatter brained. The booze is expensive, the food not so much.

Food : 7/10
Service : 7/10
Damage : 8500 for 6 with drinks.  

Yauatcha

Rest : Yauatcha
Loc : Raheja Chambers,BKC
 Meal : Lunch

After a few false starts we were finally able to make it to Yauatcha, although originally we had a table at Otto Infinito we ended upstairs and for once it was not a let down. Sundance last week was good as was Yauatcha, perhaps my luck is finally turning.

Chinese tea houses are a rarity in these parts, Yautcha opened doors a few months ago, they are the cousins of London's Michelin starred Hakkasan who also have a restaurant in Bombay. Spread across a massive floor, complete with a long bar, Yautcha is a lot more than a simple tea house. Since i am not a Chinese tea person i skipped the whole thing all together and went on to the food. 

The table service is a little weak, the chilli oil is great as is the little ginger sauce thingy, the pickled cucumber and carrots need to be sorted out, four pieces on a table of four is a little cheap... get a bigger bowl, especially since the wait for food can be a little long.

The Kiwi and something ice tea didn't look right but tasted pretty great.

Nice to see people carry Ginger Ale now, so sick of drinking Diet Coke.

The Hot & Sour soup with mushroom was not bad, good to taste, well done but it lacked a punch

The Asparagus roll tasted like a vietnamese spring roll, from the freshness standpoint. Not bad at all.

The three style mushroom cheung fun was pretty average, fell apart almost right away.

The Golden Fried Veg Puff was fantastic, all dim sum should be this good.

The Schezuan clay pot with vegetables and tofu was again not bad but lacked that strong finish, especially for a dish expected to be spicy.

The spicy vegetable fried rice was under salted and not spicy at all.

They serve flat noodles but we chose the vermicelli and it was a good choice, the noodles were excellent. No idea why they were served with tomato though. Weird.

I honestly was not expecting much from the jasmine tea cake but boy was i wrong. the base was a little too hard which made it difficult to eat but with just a hint of jasmine this was quite something.

The jaffa cake, tasted just like a jaffa cake, they got the essence just right, perfect. 

Overall, the food is not bad, a little more attention and it could be pretty great, they just need to ensure everything comes together. The food has i believe a Cantonese bent and unlike most Ch-Indian restaurants, the meal is relatively healthy and the desserts are pretty amazing.

The service needs a little work, the staff is happy to help but they get flustered easy and the food turn around was slow. While i put that down to the food being prepared as the orders come in.. i think they need  better table service to get things by.

Also, I wish they would serve even number servings of appetizers, odd numbers cause fights.The drinks menu was crazy, 700 odd bucks for a cocktail (ketel one) and 200 bucks for a ginger ale is steep. The prices on the food on the other hand was not so bad.

Food : 8/10
Service : 7/10
Damage : 7000 for 4 without drinks.