Lucknow here I come
Mumbai to Lucknow is the next destination. A friend from my UK university is coming around to India. He asked me to join him, I thought -> why not!.
I’m gonna try and get hands on the different types of kebabs being offered. For some reason I’m getting the biryani word but i thought it was hyderabad which was famous for it. Anyways, the plan is to meet up, eat up, drink up, and explore the city. While at it, try and get a few culinary tips for the locals if there is anything to learn.
Other than that, enjoying my overpriced bad coffee at the airport. On a positive note – I recall the Indian airports being much more Shabbir than this -definitely good job handling airports, the way forward!
Sardar’s Pav Bhaji @ Tardeo
“Pav Bhaji is a Maharashtrian fast food dish that originated in Mumbai cuisine. The pav-bhaji is a spicy preparation with a mixture of vegetables, either whole or mashed, a generous dose of fresh tomatoes, a dollop of butter, optional toppings of cheese and dry-fruits and fresh fruits, consumed with warm bread gently or crispy fried in butter – an all-time, anytime favourite with Mumbaikars…Pav means bread. Bhaji in Marathi means vegetable dish. Pav bhaji consists of bhaji (a thick potato-based curry) garnished with coriander, chopped onion, and a dash of lemon and lightly toasted pav. The pav is usually buttered on all sides.”
We went for the cheese Pav bhaji, basically the traditional dish but covered with a decent amount of cheese as you can tell by the pics. As a extra bonus and perhaps a bit more tastier, a Masala Pav, it’s the same dish but premade, as in they slab the butter on the bun and add the Bhaji inside and toast it a but more, it was tasty! – I thought I would be able to eat a few buns of those, but the butter used here is clarified, has 100% of its properties and it’s for sure heavy – but worth the taste. You have to see how they prepare the Pav’s, there is a butter block on the center of a huge pan, breads are aligned on the side and they keep cleaning off with the breads the melted butter as it keeps coming out. It may sound heavy duty food, it is heavy duty food, but you must try this whenever you get the chance, it’s an iconic Indian dish.
Mumbai - Gateway of IndiaSome cows and his owner sleeping on the roadQueens Necklace - due to the shape of the lightsThe Taj Hotel
In India I am
Arrived, I’ve been trying to get the blog up and running, just been a bit lazy though by only writing in spanish at canariasagusto.com.
So its been 3 weeks now since I arrived to India and have been staying in Mumbai “the city which never sleeps” well they do say that about all cities but this one actually stays awake, bloody hell; there is no silence in this city. Be it some asshole driver honking his way through the city, a builder using tools early in the morning, monks chanting and clapping bells together at remote hours, drunk people shouting, dogs barking or a simple hiss of the alive city, you will never find a quiet place unless you’re lost somewhere. Hey this doesn’t mean it’s all thay bad, just telling you how it is.
I have been before to Mumbai, came around in 2012, hence the Taj Mahal pic you see, for those who don’t know, the palace is located in Agra -1200km from here. I was around in the monsoon season and the city gets pretty nasty, the city takes a toll from all the rain; streets get flooded, traffic increases, the humidity is extra nasty, it’s darker -the bright side was that it’s way cooler than now in summer! Om my it was waaay cooler.
It’s a summer round 38C daily, and my android phone reads – partly clouded -now these aren’t nice UK clouds with a blue sky, it’s smog, good pollution smog keeping the heat in the city and fresh airs far away from its inhabitants. Again, it’s not that bad, have you been to a desert? You will then understand that temperatures drop considerably during night, the same happens here, you will feel a 10C drop in the night, definitely cooler but you will never escape the humidity, so be ready to be sticky and wet. (No pun intended).
Apart from that it’s all good, the shock to the system was taken care of the last time I came, pollution, higiene, food, people, infrastructure is nothing like Europe, it’s pretty much a caos, but a caos which just works if you pay attention properly. Like any other city, it has its daily routines, trains leave on time, services are taken on time, food time is food time, and sleeping time is sleeping time. The odd things out would be it’s lack of lighting considering the amount of people who roam the streets, the traffic lights are useless at midnight and yep, animals like cows or dogs and sometimes pigs roam the the city.
It’s good to be in India, I was getting bored of the mundane jungle in Europe, there is no drama or spice to life there, everything is very civilised, here they are civilised too, but in a way in which people from outside are just not used too, and you are free to adapt, but some things I’m sure no one will want to become.
I will be posting more ans more as I explore the city deeper!
Fat Kong – a Chinese treat in Mumbai
This evening my sister was craving something which would get her our from her usual bland diet food. We’ve been eating indian food, so it was time to step it up to Chinese food.
We didint want to have a blow out meal so we opted for a fast food Chinese joint.
Fat Kong, conveniently located at SV road in Mumbai has been her favorite quick Chinese fix for some time, it was time for me to taste it.
At first you will might be put off by its yellow and red color, somewhat dodgy kitchen sense and road side tables, but this is Mumbai and as the locals say, the less extravagant the place, the tastier the food. Bang on!
Note – we did have to move around a few tables before deciding where to sit as the mosquitoes kept following up, good thing the waiter caught on fast and lit a mosquitos repellent incense for us.
So the food; I got myself a fried spinach and prawn dish, and to share a threaded paneer. Amazing!, I haven’t tried such delicious shrimps anywhere I have been, perhaps they are not gourmet or whatever, but dude, they were juicy, had the nice am out of chilli sauce to it and we’re sure savory. The fried spinach was good too, it pretty much resembled fried algi which Koreans and Japanese people have.
The threaded paneer was the treat though, paneer is a sort of cottage cheese, now cheese battered up with instant noodles and fried – nothing more to say, this was served with schezuan sauce which made it the icing on the cake.
All in all a great Chinese snack for those wanting to have something tasty but not looking to have a proper meal.
