On our last night in Mumbai, M & I met a couple of LJ friends, and made a few new ones too. As expected Deepa was effervescent (that holiday to Dharamshala must have done her good). With her high energy levels, she will be the ultimate back-packing companion. Deepa is super busy, but still ready to cheer everyone around. After many attempts I got Chandu to join us, and he poured his heart out about missing his be-luv-ed. He in turn invited Santanu, who had just completed his doctoral research and submitted his paper. Glad we could help him unwind. Radhika had difficulty finding a baby-sitter and could not make it 😦 Me observes, kids always get in the way, whenever you want to do fun things, no radhika?
Chandu recommended “Ankur” in Flora Fountain, just behind Fountain Sizzlers. It was a new place for me. The decor is very nice and comfortable, and on a weekday night it was not crowded. They specialize in Mangalorean-Keralite fish curries and thats what we focussed on. A variety of fish 'gashi' (spicy coconut based curry) and several variations of Cochi styled, tava-fried rawas and surmai. The fish was fresh with nary a hint of fishy smell. Fillets were very succulent, tasty and not greasy at all. The Kori-roti (which deelight explained means “chicken 'n bread”) was heavenly. The service was excellent.
The bartender however needed a lesson in how to make a simple Nimbu-Soda (Squeeze 1 lemon in a glass, half teaspoon of salt. At the customer's table, gently pour freshly opened bottle of plain soda! Thats it!) Here they served me somethng premixed behind the bar. Tasted like 'flat' tonic water. So I switched to beer!
It was truly fun meeting all the folks you only read about and comment with. Everyone should do this more often. I wish I had more time in Mumbai (or in Bangalore) to meet more folks. For that, there is always the next visit!
Our table halfway through the dinner. The dark semi-circle at the bottom of the pic is the shadow of my new lens at the widest setting, combined with the on-board flash 😦 We can bitch about this later!
Chandu savouring his bottle of Absolut Mandarin. After dinner, with the bottle safely tucked under his arm, he and Santanu got into a cab to visit a bar. I suspect this bottle extracted juicy confessions :-))
Arun Shanbhag 
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