Gaurav has a photo-review of a dinner at Flamboyante in Cuffe Parade, Mumbai.

Flamboyante continues on strongly as one of the few stand alone dining options in Cuffe Parade. The ambiance keeps on changing and they seem to be prepared for the rainy season with some serious plastic. Dinner at Flamboyante is a pleasant and attractive affair, the best time to go there is during the milder Winter.

Much talk in the blogosphere about the lack of good Maharashtrian cuisine. When I think of distinct and authentic Maharashtrian fare, my salivating mind drifts to Sol Kadhi.

Abodh reads my mind and reviews Sol Kadhi served in some of Mumbai’s restaurants. He throws in a recipe for good measure as well. Bless his sol.

Earlier Gaurav wrote on the popularity of Maharashtrian food. Neelakantan adds his 5 paisa on the issue by venting out his frustration in not finding Maharashtrian food in Mumbai.

I have been frustrated by my inability to find Maharashtrian food anywhere on the planet -including Mumbai. It was a great discovery for me to find a restaurant that served such food, Ladoo Samrat at Parel very near to my place of work. But somehow Thali Peeth, Sabudana Vada are difficult to find outside this Parel-Girgaum-Dadar area even within Mumbai. People actually end up thinking Vada Pav is staple Maharashtrian food. Of all places, even in Pune. But here is where you realize why. Migration to a certain extent is the answer. In any new area in Pune, you will easily find Paneer butter masala and Masala Dosa – why? The South Indians and North Indians are the ones who both make and buy the food – hence their palate is satisfied. The Maharashtrian on the other hand is very happy where he is – and how many Maharashtrians would like to have Maharashtrian food outside their door?

From rice to sandwiches to dips to bhel, Priya explores the varied uses of the humble pudina (mint) chutney. 

Chandni speaks her mind on the Food crisis and shares some simple ideas on using food well.

The issue hit home for me, because I know I can do better with quantities. While not consciously, being the “new” cook that I am, I don’t have a very good sense of proportions. So more often than not, the dal is always extra, and sometimes vegetables too.

The good thing is that the boy and I take left overs to work for lunch, so now, we really don’t waste or throw away food any more. But I know its extremely easy to fall in to the trap…I say so because I’ve been through it. Stuffing one bowl of dal/veg in some corner of the fridge and remembering it 4 days after…It takes little to remember such things…if we really want to make the effort.

The Marathi manoos is not particularly known for leaving the state in search of livelihood. The causality here is ambiguous. One explanation could be cultural, and sociologists could explain why Marathis don’t venture out too much. Another one could be just realistic and practical. Maharashtra in general and Mumbai in particular have been the original “sinks” for immigration because of employment opportunities.

Referencing a recent article by Vikram Doctor on the relatively low popularity of Maharashtrian food, Gaurav Sabnis attributes this to the non-immigratory nature of the Marathi manoos.

Ever wanted to make Wonton Chat or Cardamom Brownies? Are you the kind who buys cookbooks?  Then Indira thinks “Modern Indian Cooking” by Hari Nayak and Vikas Khanna is just right for you.  She loves the recipes and the food photography in the book and recommends it highly.

Some of the recipes have a series of small photographs that show the ingredients and the process of cooking the food. The recipe instructions are also laid out in a clear and concise manner without overcrowding the page. All and all, Modern Indian Cooking is a pleasant cookbook to have in the kitchen..

Now if you are a little more status conscious, remember three names – Satwa, Karama and Bur Dubai. These are the Asian dominated areas in Dubai and thus of course are home to some great food. You have your Saravana Bhavans, Kamats, Mithais lined up in these places and the quality is really great. But what you must definitely try are Pakistani restaurants.

Madhurjya at A Canvas Full of Dreams offers tips on eating out in Dubai especially for the “herbivores who land up in a foreign land and forgo most of their meals in search of decent edible vegetarian food” and the budget-conscious.

I always thought that ‘fasting food’ tasted so much better than the usual food. Meera comes up with some innovations to the traditional upasachi bhaji using bell peppers. 

Smrti takes us through Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors, a book by Lizzie Collingaham. She reviews the book that weaves a story around food and our history.

I like the discussion on tea the best. Collingaham reassures, as most of us have always believed, that the quintessentially Indian food is most often a foreign import, like Chilly or accidental inventions, like kebabs. Same is the case with tea. Now the largest producer and a good consumer of tea, India never heard about tea before the British. When tea was planted in Assam and labourers died out of Malaria and abuse from masters, tea was not an Indian thing at all. It took massive marketing strategies – which included distribution of tea in temples, movie screenings to distribute tea and special chinaware and apparently not contaminating and impure to caste – to make tea popular in India.