St. Patrick’s Day at Irish House. Mumbai

Sunday, 16th of March is St. Patrick’s Day, and what could be better than to celebrate it in total Irish style? The Irish House, a classic Irish Pub in Mumbai &Pune will be celebrating St.Patrick’s Day bought to you by Jameson by partying all day long with  party goers. Loosen up your belts and be ready to celebrate in true Irish way!

St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day is a cultural and religious holiday on 17th March celebrated in the memory of St. Patrick. What began as a religious feast day for the patron saint of Ireland has become an international festival celebrating Irish culture with parades, dancing, special foods and a whole lot of green

The Irish House Celebration
Irish House, one of South Mumbai's much loved hang outs at High Street Phoenix, celebrates Ireland's most popular festival St. Patrick's Day.The Irish House will be having an all day party at all their respective outlets Kalaghoda, High Street Phoenix, Kurla and Pune. It will be chock-a-blocked with thrilling events marked with great food, amazing music, live band performances and the famous Irish tradition of drinking with friends. Here is a list of events planned at The Irish House on the St. Patrick’s Day, 16 March 2014.

Get Geared up for the best Live Band performance - The Irish House presents its live gig with award winning band Sky rabbit (Band of the year) performing live from 9pm onwards at Kala Ghoda, bringing the Irish House down with their music.

Not only this, At a Day-long Carnival on the 16th, you can participate in various competitions like:

1.     All day Happy Hours on “All Things Irish”:  Looking for a place to get nasty, make way for all day Happy Hours on “All things Irish” All day happy hours are valid on everything Irish like Murphys, Magners , Baileys, Jameson & Irish cocktails and you can avail the buy-one-get-one-free offer on the house.. Come and Get drunk the Irish Way!

Where: The Irish House at Kalaghoda, High Street Phoenix, Kurla and Pune
Time: All Day

1.     Man v/s Burger Challenge:  If you are a complete foodie, don’t shy away from participating in Man v/s Burger Challenge, where you can aim to finish off a 3.7 lbs burger in 20 Minutes. One can choose between Chicken/Lamb/Falafel burger with a juicy burger patty, glazed with Jameson sauce served with fries and slaw.  A true foodie, who finishes the burger within 20 minutes, gets it completely on the house.

Where: The Irish House at Kalaghoda, High Street Phoenix, Kurla and Pune
Time: 12 pm to 3 pm

Cost:Rs 599/-

2.      Belly Busters: All you can drink beer until nature call (No diapers allowed). Keep drinking as much as beer till your belly burst into natures call.

Where: The Irish House at Kalaghoda, High Street Phoenix, Kurla and Pune
Time: 3pm to 5 pm

Cost: Rs 799/-

3.      Sundowner:Come experience craziness with Dj Karan Desai in Mumbai and DJ AbhishekMantri in Pune with a whole new avatar for everyone who unfortunately missed the last one.

Where: The Irish House at High Street Phoenix and Pune
Time: 5pm to 7pm

4.      Chug-o-lympics: Try your hand at Chugging 3 beers are fast as you can. Exciting prices for first 3 contenders.

Where: The Irish House at Kalaghoda, High Street Phoenix, Kurla and Pune
Time: 7pm to 9 pm

Cost – Rs 450/-

Other events include Boozy Sunday Roast from 12pm to 3 pm at all outlets, Karaoke Championship , Cornholefrom 3 pm to 5 pm at Pheonix Mills and Beer Games + Pub Quiz Championship at Kalaghoda and Pune.

Phoenix Mills, Kurla and Pune Outlets will have resident House DJ Pumping beats to lift up the Irish spirits post 9pm. Not to be missed is the face painting, Green beer & Green Cocktailpitchers, Platters at all their outlets. A lot of spot prizes to be won.And don’t forget, take all green clothes from your wardrobe as the dress code is green, inspired from the Shamrock!Green tops, green dresses, green shorts, anything works!We’ll paint your face green too. Just shout out for the face painter J

So come and celebrate the day in true Irish spirit at The Irish House!!!

Where: THE IRISH HOUSE LOWER PAREL, KALAGHODA, KURLA, PUNE

When: 16^th MARCH 2014, 12NOON – 1AM

Dress code: GREEN

TOTAL EVENT SCHEDULE

	LOWER PAREL	KG	KURLA	PUNE
12-3PM	Man vs Burger
	Boozy Sunday Roast
3-5PM	Belly busters	Belly busters	Belly busters	Belly busters
	Corn Hole
	Karaoke Championship	Pub quiz		Beer Games, Chug o lympics
5-7PM	Sundowner – DJ Karan Desai		Pub Quiz	Sundowner – Abhishekmantri till 9pm
	Manchester United v/s Liverpool
7-9PM	Chug-o-lympics	chug-o-lympics	Chug– o-lympics
	Tottenham v/s Arsenal
9PM-closing	House DJ	SKY RABBIT*	House DJ	House DJ

Masala Library, BKC, Mumbai

When science gets to your plate and food becomes your religion

(I apologize but this review is going to be long, and this is when I tried keeping it short. Don’t judge me, but I dare you to dine there and not rave about the place for the rest of your life!)

Want to eat- Heard of Vada Pao, Sev Puri, Mushroom Soup, Jalebi and Mutton Chaamp. Regular dishes, right? Now picture a Vada pav inside out, maharastrian lehsuni chutney which, as the name says stuffs the pao inside the vada or a Jalebi caviar, saffron glaze, pistachio rabri which reshapes the Jalebi and presents it in the form of a caviar; every dish has an element of surprise in it which keeps you wondering how creative the next course will be! We won’t get much into explaining the examples here, but we are ready to hear you out if you go to Masala Library and not learn a thing or two about Indian cuisine version 2.0

Where to go- A stand-alone, luxury, fine dining restaurant by the much-acclaimed father-son duo Zoravar and Jiggs Kalra. This is Masala Library’s flagship outlet at Bandra-Kurla Complex, right opposite Sofitel Hotel.

Who to go with-Let’s stay you should take here someone you are trying to impress. Your mother-in-law, father in law, boss, client, angry girlfriend or someone with who you have been trying to go on a date for days. The visually appealing and lusciously gratifying food will work wonders on your partner’s mood and seriously, it will be all smooth sailing after that!

What to order- We gorged on their 9-course Chef’s tasting menu, which had traces of every speciality on the menu both for our vegetarian and non-vegetarian preferences. We started with the amuse bouche Sev puri on the go, and moved to Braised mutton chaamp, maple and kokum glaze and Bhindi jaipuri, rajasthani papad ki subji, hand pounded. What particularly stood out was the Wild mushroom chai, truffle oil crumbs, dehydrated mushrooms and Hand pulled butter chicken, san marzano makhni. Serving as perfect conclusions to our food-play were the desserts whose names, tactfully don’t give much away. Chocolate, Childhood memories on the plate, Ghewar cheesecake, pistachio dust, almond chikki were outstandingly delicious and brilliantly presented making exceptional use of molecular gastronomy and liquid nitrogen. The food floored us with not just its immaculate presentation but also the distinctive taste, which is rarely lent to Indian food. While other chefs are busy introducing newer cuisines to India, it was heartening to see the young chefs of Masala Library embracing cuisine from every province of India and dishing it out in a globally infused avatar.

Cost for two- Rs 2000 (excluding taxes and alcohol)

What we reviewed- The restaurant relies heavily on the 
innovative use of molecular gastronomy and deconstruction techniques, right from presenting their palate cleansers to bringing in their signature desserts. Indian food finally goes for a makeover to shed the heavy, oily and spicy facade it used to don earlier. Every dish which comes up, starting from the simple Tomato Shorba to the smoking Chocolate dessert (We are dying to see your expression when you see this one) is presented in a never seen before avatar. Right from the humble curd rice to the sugary jalebi, every dish has been deconstructed in some way with hand-picked touches and served in a quirky manner making you wonder for a while what exactly you are eating! I tweeted this the day I dined here and I repeat myself, Masala Library and its young (read: cute) chefs can teach Indians how glamorous their food can be. The restaurant goes beyond the fact that Indian food is all about Butter Chicken and Dal. Rather, even if it is, latest culinary techniques and modern styles of preparation are aplenty to give it a much needed make-over. Being a Punjabi, I had stopped going out to eat Indian food in Bombay. Laying a menu with inclusions from provinces across the country, Masala Library, you have restored my faith in how Indian food should taste like! 

Would we go back- Well this is how we pretty much were during the review. So yes, a resounding YES!

Vie Ground Zero, C'est la vie Bandra, Mumbai

Coz you gotta get your drink on!

Want to eat- Vie Ground Zero is an open-to-all bar and bistro at the selective C'est La Vie all-members club. Seriously, if you are anywhere in the suburbs just head to this lounge for a riveting Friday/Saturday night party!

Where to go- Vie Ground Zero, C'est La Vie, next to nature’s basket, Hill Road, Bandra. And hey they have Happy Hours from 6 PM to 11 PM from Sunday through Thursday and 6 PM- 9 PM on Friday and Saturday

How to get there- Just get down at Bandra station and ask for Hill Road. It is towards the end of Hill Road, next to Mamagoto

What to wear- Since it is a bar and bistro, you should except people in their most relaxed attire chilling with a beer and watching a game of football. People also dance around when there’s company, so you can wear whatever you are comfortable in

Who to go with- Please don’t go like a boring couple and cuddle in the corner to kill the mood for all the merry party lovers across. Go with a group of friends, or go alone. With the fun ambiance and lively music, you will surely not leave without making new company!

What to order- We loved their Jalepeno Poppers, Cheesy Nachos and Penne Arabiatta. The food was not too oily or spicy to hamper our drinking preferences but rather creative in preparation. They also serve quick meals like Keema Pao, Paneer Bhurjee Pao and a variety of Sandwiches and Burgers to binge on, in case you are not drinking that evening.

Would we go back? Definitely! Any bad day at work, any break up where you need to let go with your girls or any day when a pint of chilled beer is all you need, Vie Ground Zero and its spunky ambiance is sure to do the trick. We were told their Pizzas are a signature, and that’s another reason we are going back again!

Cost for two- Rs 1500 approximately (including alcohol, excluding taxes)

What we reviewed- We came to Ground Zero from a really run-down place and were praying on our way for the place to surprise us with the much needed energy and enthusiasm we were looking for. The place not only gave us some interesting cocktails, but created an entirely secluded and comfortable ambiance to indulge in some private giggles. Ground Zero has a varied seating ranging from comfortable couches to bar stools and tables. We settled for a table, with an over head lamp, which kept us engrossed in our conversation yet carefully tucked away from the rest of the crowd. You are supposed to forget everything that happened over the entire day and let go the moment you step in here for a drink with your friends. At Vie Ground Zero, you will not remember how time passes over a chilled beer, some lively music and your much loved company of drink-buddies!

Maharashtrian Food Festival at Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre

Being Marathi, the classy way!

An all Maharastrian food festival at one of Mumbai’s suburban luxury hotel! Say what again? That’s how we reacted when told about this delectable Marathi spread at the Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel – Marriott in Powai. Having lived in Mumbai for 10 years now, I hadn’t stepped beyond the usual Dabeli and Vada Pao, routine to explore the cuisine in a more in-depth manner, owing to the lack of restaurants which present the cuisine in an appealing fashion.

Upon entering a classic Mumbai auto greeted us with endearing Marathi music chiming in the background. To acquaint guests with pinches of creativity, the spread was accompanied by a live chaat and roti counter with ladies kneading the dough and creating bespoke rotis right in front of your eyes!

What really was a treat to watch was the intricate Marathi-ness which the ambiance exuded. Right from a warli art table mat to the display of confetti dabbas, the entire space was laced with Marathi nuances. The staff and chefs had done their research and it showed well and how!

We binged on the Maharashtrian street specialities, including Ragda Patice, Pani Puri, Sev Puri, Bhel Puri and rounding it off with a Dabeli and Pao Bhaji. Drinks included the traditional Piyush, Limbu Pani, Kokam Sharbat to creative cocktails like Mumbai Martini and Bandstand. There was a live ‘create your subzi counter’ which dished out a delectable Vegetable Kolhapuri, keeping it exactly how we had asked for. Since Marathi cuisine is largely influenced by states in the vicinity, the spread included farsans like Dhokla, Khandvi, Kothimbir Vadi and Namkeen Para, along with Chaklis and Bhakarwadi.

The most attractive bit about the festival was its Maharathrian nature in its entire authenticity, including cuisines from the regions of Kolhapur, Ratnagiri and Konkan. What drew our attention was the diversity of Marathi food which is never explored beyond certain preparations. The property plans to have a Marathi night every week at the Lake View Café. We hope they do it more often with different cusines as anyone who comes to India wishes to try local cuisine and nothing could get better than trying it at the comfort of your accommodation in a healthy and authentic manner.

The Maharashtrian Food Festival at Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel is on from 28th – 8th March 2014. For reservations, call: +91 22 66927540