Restaurant Review: Macchiato

Posted on by sudhagee

Remember to take pictures of the food before you eat. Remember to take pictures of the food before that first bite. Remember to take pictures of the food and not just the restaurant. Remember, remember… These words played in a loop in my mind as I travelled from my workplace to Macchiato at Belapur in Navi Mumbai, on Friday evening last week. This reminder is important as I’m headed to Macchiato to review it. Yes, review.

Regular readers of this blog might be surprised to see a restaurant review here as in the almost 5 years of its existence, I have never shown even a passing interest towards writing about food. Though I enjoy good food and take pleasure in eating a well-prepared meal, blogging about it never occurred to me.

So when Pooja contacted me to be part of a restaurant reviewing initiative by select bloggers, I said yes after getting over my initial surprise and thinking it over. Macchiato was the first restaurant reviewed under this initiative. According to the restaurant’s website, it is a “casual dinning [sic] restaurant, where we intend to serve authentic Indo-Italian food within the budget of the Middle Class.” Since I like Italian cuisine, this was the perfect beginning to this new adventure of mine. The lit up entrance of Macchiato gave me the perfect welcome too ! Navi Mumbai Foodies, Macchiato Belapur, We Are Navi Mumbai, Italian Cuisine Continue reading “Restaurant Review: Macchiato” →

My “now” song: Aao balma

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Do you ever have a song, an idea, a storyline, or an image stuck in your head? And it just refuses to go away? For some time at least? I have this with music — it could be a song, an instrumental piece, a jingle, etc. That particular piece of music becomes my “now’” song, and the “nowness”  (pardon my English here) could be for any length of time.

That day, I was bored and trawling YouTube for some interesting music to listen to, when a suggestion popped up. It was a Coke Studio India session featuring A.R. Rahman and Ustad Ghulam Mustafa. Now, I had not been particularly impressed with Coke Studio India till then. Sure there had been one or two good sessions, but nothing really spectacular like Coke Studio Pakistan has been (some of which I have shared in this series).

I clicked on the link and the music began to the familiar strains of Raga Yaman and then a young boy started to sing, followed by three other men before the chorus joined in to sing Aao, Aao Aao Balma… Three generations of Ghulam Mustafa family singing together. So far so good, I told myself. Nice, but nothing spectacular.

And then at exactly 1.52 minutes something happened. The guitar or rather Prasanna’s guitar came in and the magic began.

Continue reading “My “now” song: Aao balma” →

Museum Treasure: The 8 Shivas

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When you enter the sculpture gallery at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) at Mumbai, look to your left. You will see a towering slab of ‘stone’, about 11-12 feet in height. If you stand in front of the slab and position yourself a few feet away from it, this is what you will see.

Mahadeva, Ashta Shiva, Parashiva, Sculpture Gallery, Relief, CSMVS, Museum Treasure, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu SangrahalayaYour eyes will be drawn to the central standing figure and the 6 figures who surround him. Two figures emerge from his shoulders and one rises from behind him. You will notice three more figures emerging from the middle figure — two from his sides and one from behind him. In addition to these 7 figures, you will notice five more figures grouped around the legs of the central standing figure.

Now move closer to see the finer details on the relief.

Continue reading “Museum Treasure: The 8 Shivas” →

Travel Shot: Cow in the box

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The cow looked up coyly at me through her false eyelashes. Her golden horns glinted with the light of Surya on her forehead. The various gods and sages on her flanks looked stonily at me — Brahma, Hanuman, Saraswati, Agni, Ganesha, Krishna, Shiva, Vishnu, Lakshmi… Only the sage Narada had a cheerful smile for me.

The fact that she was boxed in a transparent cage and leg deep in money did not seem to affect the cow at all.  And as for me, I stared at the cow with a touch of disbelief. You would have done the same if you saw a cow like this.

Cow in the box, donation box, Govind Gopal Goshala, Rajasthan

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The Saint Ma Hajiani Dargah

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Did you know that there is another dargah near the world-famous Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai? By near, I mean as the crow flies or perhaps in this case as a seagull flies, for it is across the sea at Mahalaxmi to Worli. This dargah is known as the Worli Dargah or the dargah-with-the-blue-dome. Of course, if you are aware of this dargah’s existence then you would know that its full and official name is Saint Ma Hajiani Dargah.

I didn’t know any of this. I can’t even say that I have seen the blue dome of the Worli dargah. In fact, I didn’t even know it existed till a friend told me about it. And that too, when she first mentioned it, I thought she was talking about the Haji Ali Dargah. As did the cab driver taking us there resulting in both of us being corrected by my friend and us, in turn, being reprimanded by the cab driver for not knowing the right name of the dargah or giving him the right directions.

Anyway, we reached the entrance gate leading to the Saint Ma Hajiani Dargah only to be confronted by a suspicious and surly watchman whose inquiring look made me feel like a school girl. When I mentioned the dargah he only pointed the way and motioned us in with a ‘finger-on-the-lips’ gesture.

We followed the direction pointed to us, went past a mosque on one side and some living quarters on the other side and came out into a little clearing with these steps going up.

Ma Hajiani Dargah, Worli Dargah, Worli, Mumbai, Place of worship

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The woman priest at Daulatabad Fort

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It is mid-morning on a December day in 2013 at Daulatabad Fort. I have been climbing for about an hour or so in an attempt to reach the top of the hill Fort, pausing only to take photographs or sips of water to keep myself hydrated. It has been a never-ending climb; every time I think I have negotiated the final set of steps and reached the top, another set appears almost as if by magic ! It doesn’t help that the access way is built in such a way that only part of the route is visible !

Daullatabad FortWhen I spot a dome as I negotiate yet another set of steps (see photo on the left), I think I have reached the summit. I am so happy and relieved that I run up the “last” few steps.

But no ! Another set of stairs looms ahead ! I am so breathless and winded by then that I can’t even cuss in frustration.

Ganesh Temple, Daulatabad FortI decide to take a longer break before resuming with the climb and move to the shade of some trees. I notice a middle-aged woman sweeping the area outside the domed structure.

Before I can ask her about the structure, I get distracted by the antics of a squirrel, and then by the requests of a group of school children who want their photographs taken, when they see my camera.

“Would you like some water? It is from a spring close by and very refreshing, ” a soft voice asks.

It is the woman who had been sweeping earlier and she is holding a bottle of water. Even though I have water, I don’t want to offend her by saying no. The water is as refreshing as the woman promised and surprisingly sweet as well.

“What is this?” I ask, pointing towards the domed structure.

“It’s a Ganesha Temple.”

“I saw you cleaning the temple and its premises. Are you the caretaker?”

“I guess you could call me that. But locally, I am known as this temple’s priest.” Continue reading “The woman priest at Daulatabad Fort” →