Roll room, hummus parlour or meat station? Maroosh is all three, and the tiny new outlet at Oshiwara is no different
Roll room, hummus parlour or meat station? Maroosh is all three, and the tiny new outlet at Oshiwara is no different
Hummus parlours abound in Israel, where fierce competition over who smoothes up the best version of the creamy puree of chickpeas and tahini, is akin to a gang war.
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Called hummusiots, these are rapidly invading cosmo-hubs like New York and London. Snail-paced foodie Mumbai lags far behind in the global trend, but there is hope in the form of Maroosh.
Launched a decade ago at High Street Phoenix, when the mill compound was still a toddler on the shopping map, the stand-alone has turned into a chain.
Not to be mistaken with a grander namesake started 23 years ago by young immigrant Marouf Abouzaki on Edgware Road in London, it has opened a third outlet at the takeaway heart of Oshiwara recently.
The 25-seater has a friendly neighbourhood feel, decked out in canary yellow, with lamps on the walls.
The cheery shop front has three to four tables overlooked by the staffers' hawk, read highly attentive, eyes. Maroosh means "to fan charcoal" in Lebanese.
There isn't much charcoal to go around, but the chicken slivers turning on the skewers present a fair picture of the fare available Lebanese and Mughlai.
The signature dish of Hummus (Rs 100) was silky smooth, almost whipped in texture and came dusted with paprika and black olives, with olive oil pooling around it.
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The pita bread that came with it was delightfully softer to melt the Indian sensibility it certainly melted ours. Levantine salad Tabblouleh (Rs 100) didn't rise as high as the bread.
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Too much parsley and too little cracked wheat rendered the mountain dish unappetising
The Open Shawarma (Rs 125) was an approachable diversion from the Shawarma Roll.
If you like the oily-but-tasty Chicken Bhuna on Mahim Causeway, Maroosh makes a killer Bhuna Roll (Rs 100) bursting with ground chicken in a dry gravy.
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Murgh Seekh Gilafi (Rs 120), chicken minced with onions, herbs and barbequed on skewers, came close.
Was the food authentic? Yes, and no. It was mostly yummy. And authenticity, after all, is a subjective reality.
At: 13, Meera CHS, near Mega Mall, new Link Road, Oshiwara, Jogeshwari (W).
Call: 64570111 / 64570999
Maroosh didn't know we were there. The GUIDE reviews anonymously and pays for mealsu00a0
