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| With the Salt Water Cafe liver pate |
This post was long due. A lot happened since the night of this dinner which was a couple of Fridays back, but here goes.
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| New look Salt Water cafe |
Fellow Salt Water Cafe, Bandra, loyalists (we’ve been regulars there since it opened 12 years back and consider it to be one of the most underrated, though forever packed, restaurants of Mumbai) would find it hard to recognise the dishes in the pictures, the crockery or even the Instagram friendly lighting, as being from the restaurant. They used the second lockdown to get a long planned facelift with a fresh menu (more small plates), colourful contemporary crockery over the pristine test match whites of the past, brighter lights and more pastel shades. The chair arrangement is the same as before which means limited number of seats with back rest. Something which matters more to me now than it did 12 years back!
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| Beet borani at Salt Water Cafe |
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| Feta burrata at Salt Water Cafe |
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| Togarashi hummus at Salt Water Cafe |
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| Tuna batter with sweet potato chips at Salt Water Cafe |
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| Lox and clotted cream at Salt Water Cafe |
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| Liver pate at Salt Water Cafe |
Our favourites that night were the lighter than before parfait-like chicken liver pate (we were fans of the earlier version too), the tuna butter which had a spicy heart as it was inspired by the thecha brought to the staff lunch by a member of the team, the togarashi hummus (miso and sesame adding a bewitching Japanese flavour to this Middle Eastern favourite), the beetroot borani (which reminded one of a thick gazpacho), the lox, clot and pickled onions and the feta burrata (one missed the sharpness of feta but then burrata seems to be the craze everywhere). These were part of the new small plates menu. “Baby food,” I said with a smile to K as most featured pates and spreads and dips. They did come with interesting accompaniments such as fried pita, focccacia, crisp sourdough and the such which gave a much needed textural crunch.
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| Papardelle with Bandra XO sauce in front |
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| Dark chocolate ganache at Salt Water Cafe |
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| Carpaccio |
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| 6 hour cooked mushroom ragu |
The best part of the meal, apart from the lovely food, was getting to know that of one of our favourite restaurants in the city is back with a bang!
PS: There are new cocktails too but we rarely drink now and skipped those.
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| Poor K. A short while before she slipped and fell at our parking lot at home. ‘Luckily’ was a hairline crack and not worse. |
PS: The first time I had written about Salt Water Cafe. April 2009!
