Up South…Suzette Nariman Point + The Table & LPQ Colaba

Was rather pleased to see Finely Chopped to figure in this article in the Indian Business Review on India’s Top Bloggers. Thanks Nargis and thanks Sharukh and Rhea for pointing out the article to me

Well it is ‘not drive to town from Bandra on your birthday for lunch’ special.

Guess one should give Suzette at the Asiatic Building, Nariman Point, a bit of the benefit of the doubt. It is just that one had heard so many folks gush about it that we thought that Suzette would meet the brief for that ‘special’ birthday lunch.

It didn’t.

So let’s put that aside and consider the rest.

I haven’t been to Paris since I was in my diapers but the interiors of Suzette did remind me of the charming cafes of Melbourne. The colours inside pastel pleasant…warm tones with just the right touch of wood.. nice posters… interesting collection of books…newspapers on a rack…Suzette invited you to sit down and stretch a bit in the middle of Mumbai’s legendary commercial district.

There is no washroom there apart from one for the building guards so definitely not a drive down from the other side of town sort of place. More a place to drop in if you are already in that part of town.

The menu… crepes, crepes and more crepes…the focus of Suzette was unrelenting… and yet the variety ingenious

Crepe Station (not sure if it is still there at Carter Rd, I think not) introduced crepes to Mumbai around five years or so back… I am.not sure if crepes have caught on here since then the way say a shwarma or a bagel or even a waffle has…would be interesting to see if Suzette manages to change this

We didn’t eat much at Suzette that day as we decided to head somewhere else in a bit given the occasion.

We stopped to have an ice tea that was tea flavoured and lightly fruity like the waiter told us it will be. Different, refreshing…not indulgent.

I ordered a strawberry smoothie sort of thing (don’t remember the name) which was a far cry from the creamy, very sweet, full of strawberry chunks, strawberry milk shake that Rajesh the juice- wallah used to sell in his cart when I used to work at Nariman Point years back. Too understated for me.

We shared a crepe. A smoked salmon crepe. It had an interesting balance of demure edginess.

Most of the crepes at Suzette are buckwheat crepes. The crepe was thick, grainy, was a touch bitter, had a wholesome feel to it and was reminiscent of the thick dosa I had at MTR Bangalore without the crunch or the ghee of course.

The filling was bits of smoked salmon in what was probably a sharp cheese sauce. A very delicate filling bursting with the sort of flavours that electrified your senses. The prominent smoked salmon dressing combined well with the simple rustic crepes to make you take notice. Given our fondness for smoked salmon this made the trip worth it.

We left Suzette but later heard rave reviews of Suzette’s bacon crepes and Belgium chocolate crepes.

Well turns out that this is not the end of the story.

This evening I saw a new place coming up down the road beside Papa Poncho at Pali Naka, Bandra.

The board said Suzette. The shop looked ready.

I looked at it and smiled as if to say in my best Kancha Cheema impression  “Bandra tumhara intezar kar raha hain”.

Good to have what will hopefully be a new breakfast option in the hood.

In case you are wondering, we headed to The Table for the “special birthday lunch”. I had hoped to catch their tea service but that started an hour later. We caught the fag end of lunch and had a rather hurried but excellent lunch. Both dishes were really good. A very flavoursome crab and prawn croquette and a very distinctive and memorable seafood broth pasta.

The lunch was what one calls epic though I always find The Table to be a bit clinical and cold. So for a touch of warmth we crossed over to Le Pain Quotidien for some coffee and cookies before heading home to bake a brownie birthday cake.