Desi nashta paired with crema crowned espresso? It’s all happening at Aamchee, the Mumbai.

Years back I had written about how tough it is for vegetarians to have a sumptuous meal (sp breakfast) in cafes in Mumbai. While the rest of us can get our fill of eggs, sausages, ham and bacon, vegetarians hardly have any options beyond toast and beans. Tofu akoori at the most. Things have changed a bit with the avocado and toast takeover of the world but there is so much more that can be done. Especially if one looks into the Indian snacking repertoire and introduces dishes from there to our cafes, albeit in a form that would appeal to the cafe audience. There would be a surfeit of vegetarian food options in cafes then.

I finally came across a cafe doing this. I am talking of the recently opened Aamchee cafe/ casual dining restaurant which we visited on Sunday. It is an all day dining place which is yet to open for breakfast but will eventually.

Aamchee is the latest offering from the folks at Soam. It’s located at Babulnath in the lane after Soam. Soam is one of my favourite restaurants in Mumbai and I was keen to see what its younger sibling was all about.

Amchee is the brainchild and passion project of our dear friend Pinky Chandan Dixit. The idea for Aamchee came out of boredom from what I gathered. The super successful Soam was running on autopilot, said Pinky. She was looking for a new challenge and that’s when she came up with the idea of Aamchee. With Aamchee she realised her long-standing dream of running a cafe. A dream that she harboured from before she opened Soam which is a Gujarati restaurant. I must admit that it is difficult for me to be unbiased while writing about Aamchee as Pinky is like a family friend. However biases don’t matter when it comes to Soam, and now Aamchee, as the product is so good and so well loved.

The menu in Aamchee is anchored in classic Mumbai dishes and it tries to present these in a way that is more in keeping with the taste of the new generation modern. The food is curated by Anuradha Joshi Medhora who runs Charoli Foods. Pinky said that they had a lot of ‘fun’ while coming up with the menu at Aamchee. Anuradha, whose expertise lies in meat-heavy dishes from the royal court of Malwa and who lives in the suburb of Bandra, had to reorient herself to create a menu that is vegetarian and is attuned to the diners of South Mumbai who are more traditional in their preferences compared to those in Bandra. Their efforts manifested as food that gives joy and is thankfully not too clever by half or priced stratospherically as often the case these days.

The ambience of Aamchee has the relaxed and old-world charm of south Mumbai clubs, though you can wear sneakers, jeans and sandals if you are a Bandra bugger in Amchee without getting thrown out.

 

 

In the stories of the elderly waiters of Soam being shifted to Aamchee, so that they can take it easy as the pace is more relaxed than in Soam, or in that of the young dishwasher who wanted to be a barista and was encouraged to be so, lie stories of the generosity and warmth of the owners that make them so loved.

 

The young baristas of Aamchee

 

As in the case of its elder sibling, Soam, the food at Amchee is all about comfort and makes you want to go back for more. The food is vegetarian, a fact that meat and fish eaters might gloss over and ignore, given how enjoyable the food is. As I said earlier, you get a chance to have dishes which you would never have thought of having in a cafe format otherwise. 

Don’t go there if you are on a diet. Go there if you love food. Carbs. And life.

What we had that day:

 

Drinks: Our favourite was the Aamchee sol kadi which had no sugar added and had a distinct hit of coconut milk. The espresso was fabulous too and its crema game was on point.

 

Nariman salad

Nariman Salad: With its black channa and green chutney combination and channa jor mix, the Nariman salad took one back to the ambling walks that K and I would take down Nariman Point when we were dating, stopping at the chana sing-wala (peanut seller) to refuel ourselve with conical packs of channa sing (peanuts and roasted gram). The green chutney gave a refreshing touch to the salad here, while the chana jor added crunch to the texture. Completing the Mumbaiyaa chaat touch were the fresh pomegranate seeds strewn across the dish.

Currimbhoy Salad

Currimbhoy salad: The original Currimbhoy salad has boiled eggs which the one at Aamchee does not have as Aamchee is a vegetarian restaurant. They use a combination of roasted potatoes, crouton, cheese and mustard mayo here to make a salad that is wickedly addictive. It is a carb and starch dump which is not what you should order if you want to be a supermodel!

Vada pav sliders Vada pav sliders: The cherubic vada pavs here are lighter than the regular-sized street cart ones. Each is served  with loni (white butter) and a different thetcha..for eg ghati masala, garlic, and podi… which when tucked into the vada pav led to a distinct flavour and zing. Once again, very ‘addictive’. An adjective that one could use for most of the food here.

Matunga rasam Matunga Rasam: The rasam was tart and peppery but what distinguished the dish was the use of fried idli croutons. These were so nice that I doubt if I can have bread croutons again. Ok, that’s a hyperbole, but you know what I mean.

Veggie loaded thali peeth Thali peeth: This multi-grain Maharashtrian flatbread comes with vegetables packed into it. The way your mom fed you veggies when you were a kid. The accompanying chutneys were interesting. There was a tart curd-based one and another that used thecha (chilli powder) and had a qorma gravy-like feel.

Bandra mushroom shami

Bandra mushroom shami: This was K’s favourite from the afternoon. Mushroom shami kebab which had the silken touch of galauti kebab. Sandwiched in puff pastry. The latter is a nod to the bakeries of Bandra I suppose.

Parsi potato chutney bombs

Parsi green chutney bombs: I am not sure if this is modelled on the Parsi cheese chutney pattice but it was far more deep-fried than a Parsi pattice, akin more to a Parsi kebab in terms of crunch and turned out to be very…. addictive! The sweetish green chutney, with the potato mash and crunchy batter coating, was everything that your mother, I mean dietitian, had warned you about! A temptress in every sense of the word.

Fruit trifle

Fruit trifle: Whipped cream. Fruits. Syrup. You could not go wrong with this, could you? Very old-fashioned. Very, there I go again, addictive!

 

Congrats Pinky and Aseem, so proud of you. It will be hard to divide my time between your babies, Soam and Aamchee. Bahut na insafi. Jokes apart, you have another winner in your hand. All the best.

 

Pinky with her husband Aseem and their daughter

 

 

Address: Soni Building 46, Pandita Ramabai Road, Opp Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, Girgaon Chowpatty, Mumbai 400007

#mumbairestaurants #mumbaifinelychopped #vegetarian #indianfood #mumbaifood #aamchee