Takeaway food: Introducing traditional Cutchi Memon cuisine in Mumbai

From Bohri meals to popup kitchens from Assam and Meghalaya Mumbai has become a melting pot for regional fare The most recent entrant is Cutchi Memon cuisine from a takeaway service called the Cutchi Memon Table When we first looked up their menu we were not sure which of these dishes are traditionally a part of the Cutchi Memon meal as we spotted biryani spring roll chicken nuggets and lasagna among other itemsThe Cocktail Kabab left and the Shikhampuri Kabab right were delicious PicsAshish rane When we made a call to Arshad Soomar the owner to book our meal he told us that though there were dishes like Shikhampur Kabab and cutlets that were common in other kinds of cuisine as well they made these dishes the way they were traditionally made at his home by his wife Faiziya Soomar Chef and Coowner of the Cutchi Memon Table and would have their own flavour to itThe Dal Gosht was the star of the mealldquoOur forefathers are from Bhuj Kutch My wife has been cooking for over 25 years now and we always had friends and family requesting us to make things for them and urging us to take up catering professionally Now with the kids growing up we felt why notrdquo shares Arshad Soomar owner The Cutchi Memon Table Faiziya shares that some of her regular clients love her lasagna and brownies and also regularly order Christmas lunches from her complete with cake jars ldquoI do vegetarian dishes with soya for a few clients too but specialise in our traditional recipes that have been passed on to me from my mother and grandmotherrdquo she informedThe Shahi Tukda had us coming back for moreConvinced we placed our order for lunch The Shikhampuri Kabab Rs 360 Cocktail Kabab Rs 300 Tashkent Pulao Rs 1200 Dal Gosht Rs 1050 Jeera Rice and Shahi Tukda Rs 55 made it to our list Most of the prices for these items were marked per kg The kababs were priced per dozen You can share the number of people you are ordering for and they will recommend the ideal quantity you should orderTuckin timeWhen our food arrived we were a tad disappointed with the packaging as the gravy of the Dal Gosht packed in a plastic tub didnrsquot survive the half hour journey and had spilled into the silver foil casseroles that held the kababs causing them to drown in gravy Airtight containers might be a better ideaLetrsquos come to the most important part of the story now mdash the food The Shikhampuri Kababs and the Cocktail Kababs were stellar ldquoThese kababs have their origins from Bangalore my wife lived in Bangalore before our marriage They are a version of the Shammi Kababs which have a filling of mint and onions in it The Cocktail Kababs too are made of minced meat but this is raw minced meat which is fried laterrdquo explained ArshadWhat looked like a stack of kababs making us think that we have over ordered disappeared in minutes Next we tried the Dal Gosht a traditional dish usually eaten in Muslim homes on a Friday with the Jeera rice The lentils mixed with soft mutton pieces was the star of our meal and some of our pseudo vegetarian colleagues who tried just the gravy couldnrsquot resist digging in again either The Tashkent Pulao had a little added colour which we arenrsquot very fond of We found a strand of hair in the Pulao which put us off The sweetish tinge in the rice didnrsquot work for us either This dish we were told is anadaptation and not very traditional It has a mix of vegetables rice and chicken with added fresh creamDrenched in the goodness of condensed milk mava dry fruit and fried bread the Shahi Tukda was the perfect end to a hearty meal We kept going back for it out of pure greed despite absolutely full stomachs Except for a few glitches which we think can be attributed to teething problems the food was good and certainly worth a tryAt 602 Spencer CHS Ltd New Kantwadi Perry Cross Road Bandra WCall 9820398922