The Soam Diwali box |
You might have found my references to our ‘being in the lockdown’ in my posts and stories rather strange. The covid pandemic induced lockdown has been lifted across the country to a large extent and in Mumbai too. Folks tell me that it almost seems as if life is back to normal if one goes by the crowds outside. Most of whom do not maintain social distancing norms or wear masks, which is a pity given that the virus is very much out there.
We have taken a conscious call to stay at home and work. I know that it is not possible for most, but at least this way we would not add to the chaos outside.
This also means that we have not met most of our friends, family or even work associates in a long time. Eight months or so. That sucks! Having said that, I count my blessings everyday and feel content to be at home.
A few of our friends sent us food during the early months of the lockdown when things were really tough at home and we were overwhelmed with house work. Things are easier now, but food gifts continue come home. Now more as treats from friends and not just much needed survival kits. A way of showing of affection, you could say. ‘Let us feed you, even if we cannot not meet.’
The food is ordered from restaurants, home chefs, new cafes and solo ops. We have enjoyed some truly thoughtful and nice stuff over the past few months. We have occasionally done the same too and it felt lovely to choose some nice food and send it over to friends, even if we could not meet them.
Food gifts are the best says Little Nimki |
Our friend Pinky Chandan Dixit, who runs Soam, one of our favourite restaurants in town said that she has noticed this trend too. She has not opened her restaurant for in-house dining yet as she feels that the Diwali crowds might be tough to manage from a safety point of view. Her customers will have to a wait a bit longer though they had been enjoying Soam’s food through deliveries from the a la carte menu. Which is why she has come up with the idea of ‘Diwali Boxes.’ A meal combo with farsaan, 2 veg dishes, 8 rotis/ parathas, 1 dal or kadhi, 1 pulao/ rice and a dessert. The meal is for four and works out to be cheaper than ordering a la carte. She has apparently spent a lot of time testing out the packaging, spillage and generally checked to see how the food travels. Despite wanting to do so, she is yet to find good non-plastic options which she regrets.
Pinky sent us a customised example yesterday and we enjoyed some our favourites from Soam such as the Surti undhiyu (the Gujarati winter special and my first of the season), cheese palak samosa, satpadi paratha, puris, Surti khichu (papad) and then was a lovely peas pulao, paneer makhani with really soft paneer and a masala dal that K could not get enough and kesar shrikhand. I could imagine settling down with a larger family with this. K and I both loved the food and we sent some over to my mom in law who was thrilled by the surprise and who shared it with her neighbours.
Chatter Box |
Pinky also has the traditional Gujarati breakfast of jalebi fafda in a box and ‘chatter’ (chat) boxes too which include DIY kits of pani puri and my favourites sev and dahi puri. The latter would have been aptly marketed as a ‘Mumbai canape’ had Soam been one of those ‘reinventing Indian food’ sort of places. We sent a chatter box to our neighbours who have kids who are collegians and early jobbers, and they had a ball I am told and are yet to finish it fully.
I made myself some dahi puri and was rather kicked with it.
Mumbai Canape? |
We love the food at Soam, Pinky is a dear friend and a wonderful person and frankly the boxes are a great idea if you ask me, so I thought I should tell you about them. They are available on pre-order from tomorrow (12th November 2020) onwards and they need a day’s notice to get it ready and to avoid wastage.
PS:
When Pinky told me about Undhiyu:
I had kicked off my #foodocracyforher series with an interview with Pinky and you can watch it here.
Order details: