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With Baba Ling and our producer Nikeet |
Colaba is where I fell in love with Mumbai.
Places like Churchill, New Martin Hotel, Leopolds, Bade Miya and Baghdadi in Colaba were our regular haunts.
Somehow we never went into Ling’s Pavilion in those days though we would often pass it by. It would look too expensive to us thanks to its ornate frontage.
Then the centre of our lives moved toward the suburbs and that’s where the restaurant scene of Mumbai moved to as well.
When we came back to Colaba to eat we went to our old haunts or to new places such as Indigo Deli, The Table, Le Pain Quotidien and Pizza Express. We never gave a second thought to Ling’s.
Then one day, a new friend I had made through blogging, said that we should go to Ling’s as it was a childhood favourite of hers.
I still remember my first meal in Ling’s way back in 2010 and how I was awe struck by it. The simplicity of the food, and its clean flavours, were mind blowing and so different from what I was used to in local Chinese restaurants. What struck me that day was the number of Chinese folks eating at Ling’s which seemed to be a good indication of the authenticity of the food served there.
I got to meet the second generation owners, brothers Baba and Nini Ling, that afternoon and it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Since then I have often gone back to Ling’s and everyone I took there shared my love for Ling’s. My friends became its fans too and we often went to Ling’s together. K, who is not fond of Chinese food, readily went with me to Ling’s. Along with Bhojohori Manna, this became one of the few restaurants we travelled to from Bandra to eat in.
Soon people began to ask me about what to eat in Ling’s and I hosted a curated lunch once to answer this question.
We recently went to Ling’s Pavilion to shoot for The Finely Chopped on YouTube.
Here are a couple of videos from Ling’s.
The first is where I give my recommendations on what to eat in Ling’s.
The second is where I speak to Baba Ling’s and get to know about the history of Ling’s Pavilion.
Hope you like the videos. If you do, please click on like and subscribe to the channel.