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| Beating the pandemic blues at Candies |
Thoughts on stepping out to eat in a pandemic world.
“Let’s meet at Candies,” messaged a friend. “It has been a while since I had their sandwiches.”
Candies, our neighbourhood cafe in Bandra, is where I used to meet friends, from Mumbai and outside, and business contacts too. This was in the years preceding the lockdown and after I had turned to freelance. I used to work out of Candies in the initial years. I wrote my book over many breakfasts there. People who come to meet me want to see the place as I post about it so frequently. The food is nice and comforting. Not heavy on the pocket compared to the other cafes around. The staff knows me and we are not hurried. Works perfect.
Social rigor mortis
Thanks to 16 months of living the pandemic life, I have got unused to stepping out in the morning. I sleep very late at night. Early morning at times.
This made our breakfast rendezvous seem like a big challenge, even though we were to meet at around 1130/ 1145 am. I live a couple of lanes away from Candies. My friend lives in Goregaon. Which, if you are not from Mumbai, belongs to another galaxy. Especially if you live in Bandra.
How spoilt am I? And yet…
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| K and I on the first post lockdown Saturday at Candies. We stepped out to the hot terrace, harrowed by the crowds, to finish our cappuccinos but then Candies can always make us smile though the smiles here are deceptive. |
In the madding crowd
K and my last visit to Candies was when Mumbai had been opened up on weekends again and this happened to be the first Saturday after that. We went for breakfast at 1230. Everyone seemed to have had the same idea. It was so crowded that it felt as if we were on the Virar fast from Churchgate and were trying to get down at Dadar. Ask any Mumbaikar how foolhardy that is.
Thank to Sylvia at the counter, we got our orders taken. K made the mistake of ordering eggs. Never a good idea at Candies on a busy day. You should stick to what’s there at the counter. Maybe she should read the blog she had named 14 years back occasionally!
Her fried egg was expectedly as cold as Cruella De Vil’s heart. My chicken sandwiches were freshly made and the wait for it was worth it. The cappucinnos were good. There was no table in sight and the crowd to order kept swelling. We finally got to sit on the upper floor. It was packed and I suggested stepping out to the terrace to finish our coffees and when we left, I told K, “never on a weekend, unless it’s a place with table sitting.”
The staff was fully masked.
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| Single shot cappuccino, mutton puff, mutton chop and pan rail, chicken sandwich at Candies today |
Things were way better today. Four (or more) weeks down the line and a Thursday at that. Candies was not too crowded when we reached. My friend over-ordered, as people from outside Bandra tend to do when at Candies. The subsequent doggy bags save the Swiggy and Zomato charges. The chicken sandwiches and pan rolls were both fresh as the proverbial daisy, the cappuccinos on point, I was too full to eat the mutton patties and chops and got my friend to pack them for himself. I live just a phone call away from them.
It got a bit crowded after we finished eating. I put on my mask and continued chatting. Felt strange. Felt good.
As did it,when I went on my first social outing of the pandemic about three weeks back.
Starry porky nights
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| When I first met them, one in this picture was yet to be born, two yet to be married to each other, one was in media and yet to open her cloud kitchen, one was in market research & was yet to crossover. |
I have a group of Bengali friends from Kolkata whom I got to know in Mumbai through my blog. We have often eaten out together in the years since. We had not met each other after the pandemic hit us. One of them suggested that we do dinner at Ling’s Pavillion. A restaurant I had introduced them to and of which we are all devotees now. The only restaurant I would travel from Bandra to Colaba to.
K could not make it at the last minute for a work con-call and I began questioning my decision to go. I have got so unused to going out that I have begun to believe that I am much happier at home, Hauling myself all across the sea link seemed to be a drag. That too for a one hour meet as Baba Ling had told me that he would have shut by the Cinderella hour of 10 pm after which the authorities have decided that restaurants need to shut. Maybe that is when the virus wakes up or so the nanny state believes.
You know what? I had the most lovely one hour at Ling’s that night.
It was really nice to meet my friends. None, barring one now, belong to the food world so our adda was quite generic. Baba looked tense at the door and said I should have reached earlier. “They come at ten dear. It does not look good.”
We were given a table at the corner. Away from others. A single waiter serviced us and he was wearing a mask. The nine of us at the table (including one half ticket) were mask-less, having taken them off the moment the food arrived. That is bound to happen when people meet, let’s not kid ourselves. We were all double vaccinated and sometimes you need to just close your eyes and enjoy the moment.
The food was nonpareil. The big chilli garlic prawns, the roast chilli garlic pork, the stewed pork ribs with fresh bamboo shoot, the chilli garlic pork ribs, the pan fried noodles and the fried rice all gave pleasure. The casing of the pork soupy dim sum was thicker than we remembered it to be.
There was a lot of extra food unfortunately as we had to place the last order by 9.30 pm and people did not want to take the risk of leaving hungry.
Turned out that none of us had the appetites that we had a decade back, so the rest of it was packed.
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| ‘Possibly’ stewed ribs with bamboo shoots. Possibly as the orders were placed before I reached so I don’t know all the names |
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| Pan fried noodles at Ling’s |
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| Possibly chilli ribs at Ling’s |
Apart from this, K and I have been to Yogisattva Cafe and to Saltwater Cafe. Both were on invite and sort of semi-work engagements and offered sufficient place between tables. SWC is an old favourite which we are very familiar and comfortable with. We did our second staycation in two months at the Oberoi and had many meals at the Fenix, which I am told was quite sane compared to all day dining restaurants in hotels in the suburbs.
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| At Yogisattva with Raveena Taurani |
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| At SaltWater Cafe |
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| This was almost our fixed table at the Fenix |
The way I see it, there are people who are dying to go out and socialise and they will rush to places as soon as they open.
There are some who are too scared and will stay in even after taking vaccines.
Then there are some like us, who have got used to inertia, are cautious despite the vaccines, and who will take time to warm up to stepping out.
Which group do you fall in?
