03-07-2025
Weekend food plan: Hotpots, noodle soups, and ‘shorbas' for rainy day comfort
The Japanese gastrobar Donmai is offering its own take on the traditional hotpot this season. Turn it into a fun DIY tableside experience with seasonal vegetables such as Napa cabbage, bean sprouts, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, lotus stem, fried tofu, leek, scallions, and a bed of slippery udon noodles in a sesame and oat milk broth that can also be customised as per individual tastes. It can be paired with a rice course and house dips. Add on a seafood or pork platter if you wish.
Where: Donmai, G-03, Altimus, Opposite Doordarshan Towers, Pandurang Budhkar Marg, Worli, Mumbai Prawn dumpling at Across.
Through their research trips to the eastern Himalayas, chefs Prakriti Lama Patel and Viraf Patel are trying to showcase the diverse culinary traditions of a region often overlooked in the mainstream. At Across, the chef-restaurateur couple channels their deep love for the mountain cuisines in the form of classics, but elevated with contemporary flair. This monsoon, sample the hearty noodle soups like home-style thenthuk in a mutton, potato broth, buckwheat and cheese fritters, Darjeeling-style aloo dum with nimki, pork saag curry, chicken wings spiced with the fiery dalle chilli, and dumplings in a kalonji butter gravy. There are cocktails too, infused with Himalayan ingredients.
Where: Across, Hari Chambers, 5, 58/64, Shahid Bhagat Singh Rd, Kala Ghoda, Fort, Mumbai
Contact: +91-7506128945 Chicken pulao at Persian Darbar.
Savour the magic of slow-cooked spices, warm breads and piping-hot shorbas with a royal touch that are best suited for a rainy day. This monsoon, experience the rich heritage of Mughlai and Persian cuisines through an array of dishes including a choice of mutton kebabs, chicken and mutton biryanis and indulgent kormas with saffron rice, mutton tabak mash or the hearty murgh tabak soup, paired with taftan or rumali roti.
Where: Persian Darbar (Bandra, Andheri and Pune)
Contact: +91-9892957741/+91-9175623046
