In Mumbai, there are a growing number of restaurants that serve cuisines from all over the world. Many of these restaurants Indianized their cuisines to suit the Indian palate (heavier spices), which is understandable since there aren’t many expats in Mumbai to cater to. Fortunately for me, I have discovered restaurants that stay relatively true to the authentic flavors of the international cuisines.
Mexican Food
I don’t really see Mexican restaurants in Mumbai, which is expected because Mexico is on the other side of the world. I’ve been to multi cuisine restaurants that serve nachos, but the nachos would either taste like Indian food (which isn’t bad actually) or just subpar (doesn’t taste Indianized or good). Luckily I came across Sancho’s last month, which serves Mexican food and Tex-Mex. The owner of Sancho’s is an Indian who used to be a cook on a cruise liner that traveled all the time to Mexico. Sancho’s claims that many of the ingredients have been imported from Mexico to preserve the authentic Mexican flavors.
The first dish we ordered was fiesta nachos (yellow corn tortilla chips, refried beans, cheese sauce, pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream, olives, and jalapenos):
These fiesta nachos are aptly named because they were a party in my mouth. I especially liked the crispness of the tortilla chips.
Priam ordered a Brazilian tenderloin burrito with refried beans, Mexican rice, pico de gallo, and sour cream:
I thought that it tasted so-so; the Brazilian tenderloin wasn’t as tasty as the beef burritos I’ve had in the US.
In other news, four days ago the government of Maharashtra banned the sale or possession of beef; those who are caught can be jailed for five years and fined 10,000 rupees (about 160 US dollars): http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/beef-banned-in-maharashtra-5-yrs-jail-rs10000-fine-for-possession-or-sale/
This means that these international restaurants would no longer have access to beef.
I initially asked for the chocolate mole chicken, but the waiter persuaded me not to get it because it is too sweet. This was surprising to me because from my previous experiences in the US, chocolate mole chicken has an earthy smoky flavor that isn’t sweet. The waiter advised me to get the green mole chicken instead, which contained roasted pumpkin seed, green tomatoes, green chilies, coriander, onion, garlic, and oregano:
Unfortunately this dish was a bit on the bland side.
For dessert, we ordered cajeta flan with milk caramel sauce:
While the taste and texture of the flan wasn’t what I was expecting (I expected it creamy pale yellow with browned caramelized sugar on top), it was still good in its own right. I prefer the flans in the US though. I have never seen whipped cream paired with flan before, but in this case they complemented each other well.
Overall, I would eat at Sancho’s again because the nachos alone are good enough for me to revisit.
French Food
I found my ultimate favorite dessert crepe place in Mumbai, and the name of this cafe is Suzette. It’s actually the only place I know of that makes crepes, so I’m happy that they do a good job. I think the owner is French because when I asked a question that the Indian employees couldn’t answer, they called over a French guy to talk to me. This cafe is across the street from a gym that I joined in January, so I’ve eaten here three times already.
This was my Nutella, strawberry, and banana crepe:
The texture and flavor of the crepe was incredibly good, and I’ve always been a big fan of Nutella, strawberries, and bananas.
This was the homemade salted butter caramel I took home:
I love salted caramel and butter, so needless to say I found this delicious. The texture was also perfect (I think that the French really nailed down the art of making perfectly textured desserts). While the instructions on the label said to consume the salted caramel within 30 days once opened, the French guy explained that the French actually can keep it for up to a year. He decided on this conservative expiration date because of the humid hot weather in Mumbai and just in case the salted caramel is stored improperly.
The savory items I tried at Suzette weren’t as great as the dessert crepes, but they were good nevertheless.
I had a mushroom and mascarpone cheese crepe:
I’m not a fan of this buckwheat crepe because it tasted like diet food (perhaps to cater to the gym goers across the street). The texture and flavor of the buckwheat crepe were not as appealing as the dessert crepe, and the mushrooms and mascarpone cheese were bland.
The buckwheat crepe came with a side of salad (I picked the orange salad):
I had expected the salad to contain lettuce with some orange ingredients, not to be 100% orange. Nevertheless, the carrots and oranges were very refreshing and tangy.
I’ve tried two of Suzette’s entree sized salads, both of which I liked better than the buckwheat crepe but not as much as the dessert crepe. The salads were great because Suzette didn’t skimp on all the good stuff (I don’t like salads that consist mostly of lettuce and hardly anything else).
This was my grilled chicken salad with roquette, pan-seared potatoes, cheddar, boiled eggs, and mustard dressing:
This was my spicy salmon Thai salad with chili powder, cherry tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, and fresh Thai herbs in a lime, ginger, and sesame oil dressing:
Soon after I placed my order, I doubted my decision because I realized I had just ordered Thai food at a French restaurant in India. While the Thai salad predictably didn’t taste Thai at all, I was still happy with my salad because of the abundant salmon in it. I couldn’t taste the lime, ginger, or sesame oil dressing because the soy sauce was incredibly overpowering:
It’s been a long time since I’ve had soy sauce, so I was fine with this. This dish was probably made according to French tastes because despite being named spicy Thai salad, it was not spicy at all.
Suzette offers smoothies for the health-conscious:
This smoothie contained kale, apple, pineapple, cucumber, ginger, and mint, and it tasted like your typical healthy green smoothie in the US.
This smoothie consisted of pomegranate, pineapple, and lime, and it’s not bad either:
The 100% Arabica expresso next to it was very bitter, just the way I like it.
Pizza
I’ve had Domino’s pizza in Mumbai, and it tasted just as unspectacular as Domino’s in the US, the difference being that they offer typical Indian toppings like paneer and corn. I decided to try out two more pizza joints: Di Napoli and Pizza Express.
At Di Napoli, we first ordered the watermelon feta appetizer:
Because I’ve had better watermelon feta in Mumbai, I felt that the execution of this dish could have been better. The watermelon and feta chunks were too big and separate from each other, so they did not blend together as well as they should.
We also had mozzarella cheese balls wrapped in prosciutto with grilled artichokes and cherry tomatoes:
This dish was pretty good (I also really like prosciutto and mozzarella cheese).
Di Napoli claims to have the best hand-tossed Italian pizza in Mumbai, but unfortunately the pizza was a let-down:
Although the name of this pizza was Salame Piccante (imported spicy chorizo, onion, arugula, mozzarella), it really should be renamed as Salad Pizza because I felt like I was eating a salad and a pizza at the same time. Perhaps Di Napoli is trying to cater to the health-conscious crowd, but if that’s the case, I’d just order a salad. The arugula sitting on top of the pizza didn’t blend with the other ingredients at all, and eating a slice was very awkward because the arugula tend to fall off with every bite. Even worse, there was hardly any chorizo on the pizza. I love chorizo, and unfortunately I could barely taste it on this pizza.
Pizza Express overall was much better. They also claim to serve the best Italian pizzas, although they originally started in England. Since I went with a large group, I was able to sample three pizzas and a dough ball appetizer.
This was the dough ball appetizer:
The dough balls (bread) were nice and soft, but the highlight was the garlic butter. I love garlic, and the butter was very garlicky.
My most favorite pizza was the American pizza (pepperoni and mozzarella):
I’m not saying this because I am an American; I really did think that the flavors were spot on and the texture just right. In fact, I initially didn’t want to order this pizza because the ingredients seemed too few and boring, but I’m glad Priam ordered it. I’d come back to Pizza Express just for this pizza.
The other two pizzas were okay:
Etna (spicy sausage, jalapeno peppers, speck ham, emilgrana cheese) – This pizza was the second best of the three. The base was a little too thin and crispy for my taste and the flavors were not as appealing as the pepperoni and mozzarella, but overall it’s not bad.
La Reine (ham, mozzarella, olives, button mushrooms) – The flavors of this pizza were alright. I wouldn’t reorder this one.
Pan-Asian Food (other than Indian)
There are many pan-Asian cuisine restaurants in Mumbai, but so far I have found most of them not that great (jack of all trades, master of none). However, there is one pan-Asian restaurant that I really like: Busaba. I like Busaba because literally everything I have tried there were bursting with great flavors. I don’t know if the food is necessarily authentic, but it is tasty for sure. On the weekdays, Busaba has an unlimited lunch menu that differs from day to day at a relatively reasonable price (700 rupees, or about 11 US dollars). I decided to go on a Thursday when there was a holiday. The unlimited lunch menu is like a cross between an a la carte menu and a buffet; you pay a set price for an unlimited amount of food, but you can’t physically see the food ahead of time.
The first dish was salt and pepper prawns with onion, garlic, and chili:
The second dish was juicy Tibetan chicken dumplings with red chili sauce:
The third dish was sushi with asparagus and pickled vegetables:
I didn’t expect to like this dish because it didn’t have any seafood and looked like it had too much rice, but surprisingly it was very flavorful and delicious.
The fourth dish was basically Asian flavored french fries with chili and scallions, and it was perfectly crispy and way better than regular french fries:
The fifth dish was Korean sweet potato noodles with spinach, carrots, red peppers, and sesame:
The sixth dish was Indonesian stir-fried vegetables with peanut sauce, onions, and tofu:
The seventh dish was sauteed vegetables with black bean, chili, and ginger:
Needless to say, I was stuffed by this point. The host had even tried to accommodate me by instructing the cooks to cook only half the usual portions, but my stomach is not -that- big. Consequently, when the waiter told me that the main courses were yet to come, I considered calling it quits. However, I was curious about the rest of the food, so I continued eating.
Entree clockwise from the bottom left: Vietnamese sizzling fish (coconut juice, tamarind, onions), rice, yellow Thai coconut curry with chicken and basil, vegetable tossed noodles, and Cambodian curry (potato, shallots, baby corn, lemongrass).
I would like to go to Busaba again on a different weekday so that I can sample other dishes, and preferably with at least one other person so that I do not feel uncomfortably stuffed for the rest of the day.
American Foodie in Mumbai 