[Dippy]

What a blast. Thank to the in house foodie guides Gogi and Ali, we had a blast and was quite a turn out. Starting of with the finest seekhs , the Ayubs trip for the veggies, then back to BM for delicious khichda, fab baida rotis and the main item the roti with bhoona and paya. Then tikkas again followed by desert in the form of Frutella, rabdi and Phirnis.

Nice to meet Sohail for the first time as well. We did get wet in the rain but it was all part of the fun. Waiting now for the pictures and captions from Gogi. The pictures will surely speak louder than words.

[danlalan]

Originally Posted by straight6

Damn!! I saw your post after coming from the gym. I think I will have to miss this one. There is no way I'm missing the next one!

I thought you guys are going a bit later.

I knew it in the begining only that you were not going to make it. if you leave your house at 11pm how are you supposed to make it..???

[SRShrikanth]

A wonderful way to spend a late evening relishing food - that's what it was.

Awesome food, great bunch of guyz & some drizzlin rains that followed us everywhere.

Gogi , Ali & Sohail orchestrated the affair very aptly. Thank you.

From a vegge stand-point - IDRIS mocktails & Noorani delicacies will be remembered for some time to come.

Waiting eagerly for the real story to unfold with super-captions by Gogi.

[vikram18]

Too bad I had to drive down to Pune that very day. Would have loved doing this circuit; been nearly 20 years since I last pigged out in Mumbai during Ramzan.
Looking forward to the pics now. Gogi Bhai, jaldi karo!

[F50]

Wow, what a meet!! Being a veggie, had limited things to eat but they were great. Absolutely loved it.
Ayubs ka roll, Baida Rotis, Idris ka sharbat, Noorani ki firni aur fruitella Nice Nice.

Thanks Gogi, Ali & Sohail.

[Dippy]

Why is Gogi absconding now? Gogs pictures and report please quick.

[Cyrus43]

Monsieur Gogs, Où sont les images ? Et l'histoire ?

come on Xman!! PICS PICS PICS!! DIPPY, threaten to shut down big boss if he doesnt put the pictures!!

[V-16]

Sorry for the delay guys. Was getting the memory of my laptop upgraded.

For those who came in late, a Ramzan food trail was planned and out up on the forum. A lot of members confirmed (as usual) and some of them dropped out (as usual again).

Those who attended were, (in no particular order)

F-50
Viper
Sohail Pistawala
Magma
Dippy
Swale84
Maddy42
SRShrikanth
Arpandiv
Cyrus43
Khanak
V-16

I hereby offer my report and few pics. Few because it was raining all the while from the time we started the trail, sometimes quite strongly, thus making it very difficult for me to take pics. I know never to try the stunt of taking pics when raining as i have tried it before and lost a camera. I am not going to repeat the foolish attempt again.
Also i dont think i can make the captions funny in any way.
Food is to be taken very seriously and it will make a better post if I try to concentrate on the finer details, something i cannot equate with jest so please bear with me.

Here we go!!


Altogether we were 12 of us for this food meet.
We all met up at my place and proceeded to the meet point at the Crawford Market parking lot. We needed to be together and our car needed to be as small as it could.
My Maruti Versa was chosen as the travel bus for the evening and eight of us plonked in it and proceeded via Reay Road to Crawford Market all within 20 minutes, to reach the designated spot a few minutes before time i.e. 9.35 pm.

Magma (Ali) and Suhail arrived immediately on their bikes and almost imediately, Jiggy and Suhail also drove in, in Suhail's Ikon.

Ronnie called to let us know that he was joining us with his son even though he had to drive to Poona early next morning at 4:00am (thanks for the thought Ronnie.)
Adhish (Khanak) was contacted to reveal he was stuck in traffic abd would join us somewhere during out hogfest.

Without waiting for others (they would have been at least 45 minutes away) we decided to walk to our first stop 'Naseems Sheekh Kebab now known as "Qurashi Seek Paratha corner"
Came to know that Naseem Pehelwan who was the guy who started this place had expired a few days ago (May his soul R.I.P.). The last I met him he was ailing with Diabetes and was unable to see very clearly. Well he is no more but his legendary sheeks still live on. His nephew makes them now and as good if I might add.

One can only get Sheekh Kebabs here. Nothing else. No menu, no nothing only Kebabs. I believe the longer the description on the menu, the less you will get on your plate.
The kebabs are served with freshly cut onions and sprigs of fresh mint. You squeeze lemon on it, take a bite of the Kebab, and follow with onions and a few sprigs of mint.
The burst of flavours you can sense inyour palate is volatile and highly recommended.


You walk to Sadanand Hotel and get into that lane. Once inside, take the first lane left (there is no right) and you will spot Cafe Firdous. Just adjacent and outside Cafe Firdous is this place.
Some time ago there was no board but now there is. Marketing has stepped in and competition has driven this place to advertise itself.

The shop (if I might call it that) operates only from Sundown till maybe 9.30 or till stocks last. Its only during Ramzan that he keeps long working hours so dont go searching the place with a hungry stomach during the day. You will come disappointed.
The shop is a cycle repair shop during the day and an eatery at night. Hows that for entrepreneurship huh?

Enough!! Let the pics do the talking now.


The gang before we pig on!!




Succulent kebabs grilled right before your eyes. Even the pics are damn inviting.






Just then it started to drizzle. We rushed under a make shift tarpaulin cover where some of the boys made themselves comfortable on charpoys.


The Veggie Brigade- (except for Maddy42) who ate nothing as, for some reason, no Veg was available that day.




The food is quickly served and gobbled up as quickly too




Dippy and Sohail approve of the fare.




Feeling very sorry for the Veggy boys who had accompanied us for sheer company's sake, we decided to get their stomachs a little "Ghass-Phoos" as the trail now was going to get seriously meat oriented.
We all huddle up in two cars now and leave the bikes behind as it is raining.

We decide on Ayub's. Its only fair we make sure our veg mates are taken properly attended to. After all they knew it was going to be a Meat Street Meet but still came, just to give us company. Thanks all you guys for being a big sport, all of you.

Ayub's is famous for his rolls but i have been eating there since he was situated at Cuffe Parade since i was a kid. He has from then, grown into almost an institution. Now he is housed at Kala Ghoda.
To get to Ayub,s you take the lane between Khyber and Rhythm House which leads to Old Custom house at the other end. Go straight down the lane where you will come to a cross road. On the right end side of these roads is Ayubs.

You order a variety of Rolls, both Veg and Non Veg and also get some Masala Chicken, Egg bhurji and Paneer Bhurji too.
Wash all these down with a chilled soft drink.
Look out for Waiter number 1 aka "Chotu". Viper tells me,Chotu is Ayub's oldest employee.
We are joined here by Khanak aka Adhish who has somehow evaded the Ganpati traffic and reached here.

The drizzle is on, the sky is clouded. Chotu dished out the order on the boot of Suhail's Ikon.


Viper, F-50, Arpandiv (he only eats chicken so hes a veggie in my book), SR Shrikanth order some Mushroom rolls, Paneer rolls, Egg rolls and Paneer bhurji and straightaway pile on.
SRShrikanth does not aprove of something...chillies may be?.




Jiggy looks satisfied with his Mushroom roll




The aroma of food gets the better of everyone and we all dig in for a Bite. Soon more food is ordered and some Non Veggies also have order their rolls




The satisfied lot before signing off from Ayub's to begin the next leg




All this is wolfed down and the veggies have had their fill. Now we can proceed with our agenda without feeling guilty.

Next to come Bohari Mohalla (BM)...patience my friends...!!

[Magma]

the picture of the kebabs!!! arrgghh mouth watering ( as it is im fasting!)
i think me have to go again
anyone coming?

gogi bhai what say
once more a week or two later (after the 23rd-will be the last 10 days of ramzan it will be oozing food from everywhere then)

[Bass&Trouble]

Originally Posted by viper

Guys,

Is it just me or can any of you see the images.

Viper

Even I can't see any images. Gosh, does this mean I have diabetes?

Very poor joke, but please excuse me for lusting to see seekh kabab pics which I unfortunately cannot eat. :(

EDIT: Sorry, didnt scroll down before posting.

[s0uljah]

Originally Posted by V-16

Succulent kebabs grilled right before your eyes. Even the pics are damn inviting.

Attachment 48864

Attachment 48865

Droooooooool!! I have fond memories of Ayub's also from his old humble place. Damn if only Bangalore had the food culture of 'Bombay'!!

[V-16]

Ronnie was contacted as we were moving towards serious food territory.
He had reached Lalbaug and was stuck there for the past 20 minutes. Unfortunately, he chose to turn back as it looked like he was not going to be moving in that traffic for some more time.
Thanks Ronnie for your sporting attempt to join us from Bandra inspite of just reaching home when I called you. We missed you at this meet which we all know you would have enjoyed.

Karl and Kiran, serves you right for not coming, drool is all you can do now.

Appetizers done, from Ayub's we turned towards BM. Fortunately, for some reason we didi not get any traffic nor were the places we visited, very crowded. I fact they were not crowded at all. Lucky us.

We also managed parking for two cars.

For Bohari Mohalla, you pass go past the Shalimar Hotel Signal (towards Dadar) and turn left into the Saifee Ambulance lane. This whole place is called the BM.

First stop the Khichda/Haleem guy.
Enter the lane with a Sulabh Shauchalaya at the entrance. (so much for land marks). Enter the lane and make a first right then the first left past Idris Cold Drinks on your right and park anywhere you can. The whole lane is a food trail. At the end of the lane outside the panwalla, on the right, you will sopt a guy with a huge aluminum cauldron. Thats the Haleem Guy.

The Haleem is served in small disposal,foil containers. Till last year they were glass (stoneware) vatis. Hygiene i guess has found its way here too.
Haleem is very heavy on the palate and has the consistency of khichdi but is made with pounded wheat, barley and lentils with very small morsels of meat thrown in.
It is served in small quantities and topped with a squeeze of lime juice, mint, red pepper powder, fried onions and optional ghee.
One small serving is enough.One more and guaranteed you cant eat your meal.


Magma(Ali), Sohail and Maddy42, tasting the khichda/haleem




It is said, good food is like sex. Dippy's pose says the rest
The rest of the gang just having tasted the stuff




He makes only so much that lasts till the early night. A little later we would have missed him. As we stood and eating and chatting, he ran out of the stuff. All sold out.




Right next to this guy is the Tawawalla, specializing in Tawa goodies. No names, no boards, no frills. Just yummy finger licking bites, both, veg and non veg.
The veggies seem interested. Non veggies dont need to be interested. They just have to see the food, any food.

This Tawa guy has a huge Tawa (obviously) where he makes Baida rotis, Rolls and Nan Sandwiches.

The Tawa Guy with baida roti, tawa alu, rolls and nan sandwiches all assembled awaiting their delivery to the respective guests who ordered them





For the Eggitarian Veggies, he makes the veg baida roti and for those who dont eat egg, he has the veg nan sandwiches.

Our vegetarian order is veg roll, veg baida roti, plain baida roti and veg nan sandwich.

As it continues to rain, we are made to sit in a make shift shelter where we await our order.



Till the order arrives, let me explain what these things are.

A nan sandwich is very close in looks to the humble burger. The veggies, mostly spiced mashed potatoes are cooked on a tawa and enveloped in two bum like round nans. Then the entire assembly is heated on the tawa making it a little crisp on the outside. On the inside its hot and spicy. This is then cut into four and served with chutney.

A roll on the other hand has a similar filling with some more additions and sprinkled with a splash of vinegar. This resembles a mini spring roll and is also served cut into appropriate pieces like its Chinese cousin.
If you wish you may have it first lined with egg like a frankie or a kathi kebab. This roll then is cooked (shallow fried) on the tawa.

The Making of a nan sandwich

1) The filling is spread on one nan..See the rolls already made, waiting to be eaten



2) Another nan is topped on the filling, making it like a burger



3) The assembled sandwich is then put out in the centre of the hot tawa (the centre is the hottest part of the tawa). Seen here also the veg baida roti which was ordered by us.



4) The sandwich is then turned as crisp as you like it, before being served, piping hot




Of course we couldnt leave without ordering some of our stuff, so we ordered some chicken and mutton rolls and a few mutton baida rotis.

The Veggies are served their nan sandwich baida roti and rolls. Enjoying their food....



....While we wait to be served



Baida, by the way for those who dont know, is Mumbai's word for the humble egg. Hence baida roti is an egg roti.

Here is the step by step guide to making a baida roti. (thats ours he is making)

1) Take a ball of special roti dough which is highly malleable and stretch it while beating it on the table to make a thin sheet of the dough.



2) Assemble the contents either veg or non veg (here pre-cooked meat was used) and spread it evenly on the roti keeping the filling to the centre and leaving the sides free to fold over.



3) Beat an egg with the usual omlette add ons and pour it over the roti. The equation is simple, one egg per roti, half an egg per roll unless its only an egg roll



4) Seal all four corners of the roti so that the egg doesn't run out asap.



5) Immediately put it on a hot tawa with a little oil the folded side down to seal the edges as the egg cooks.



6) Turn and cook the other side or till it becomes firm and the egg is fully cooked.



This is served cut into cubes like a roadside Bombay sandwich, eaten by squeezing a lime over it, accompanied by fresh green mint chutney. Divine!!


Magma approves of the hot, crisp and delicious mutton baida roti.



.....Next stop ...Vallibhai Payawala!!...Read on Read on!!

[s0uljah]

Man oh man... I cant wait to get out of office now and get a fill!

Sheek, baida, paya.... Bring it on Gogi! Great writeup along with the pictorial. I could almost here the oil spluttering and the aromas.

[V-16]

We progressed to Vallibhai Payawala or "Barah Handi". Here he serves only meat. Meat "sukha" or lamb Payas in a thick syrupy gravy bursting with flavour and laced with "Tarri" which is Oil or Roghan and Marrow (Nalli).
Order a plate of each and eat (one plate feeds two) it with the Giant but thin and crisp sesame tandoori roti (you can eat just the roti by itself) or Lamba Pav. I prefer the roti. Also tell him to skip the tarri.


The food at Vallibhai with the thin and crisp roti.




The attack on the food at Vallibhai




The veggies decided to rest in the car while we pigged out at Vallibhai. Soon we joined them for some delectable sherbets at Idris cold drink. We could not get any pics here except these coz it was raining.
Rimzim, Rose, Variali (Saunf), Blueberry (no way), etc etc. The flavours are fantastic and fresh.

The gang outside Idris cold drinks.Just before the rains came pouring down.




Rejuvenated from the sherbets we zoomed to the Minara Masjid lane (MM).
Magma could not find his elusive tikkas elsewhere was sure to find his fill there.


MM is a lane full of food stalls joined to each other. One can mistake the entire lane for being one large food stall or a food court.





The opposite side of the lane is housed by sweet meat shops serving rabri, phirni, malpua and other goodies.

Magma gets exited at seeing the tikkas that he has for so long wanted to eat.





We find a table and plonk there.
We see some birds in cages hung in front of a few shops. Magma explains them as Partridges , commonly known as Teetar(Aren.'t these game birds and not allowed to be either hunted or caged and sold??)
We stayed away from these.





The person here very graciously offered to get us our sweets from Noorani Milk Centre, just opposite his shop.


Magma orders tri-colour tikkas for the guys.




Jiggy wants to order desserts in consultation with Sohail.




The Tikkas Arrive. Truly in three colours




Everybody is amused at the Technicolored tikkas




They are devoured in no time. Cyrus for all his food talk is also discovered to be a Chiketarian. Only eggs and chicken.




Desserts arrive. Phirni, Fruitella (in the glass) and Rabdi




Jigy, Shrikanth and Dippy get about consuming the sweet stuff immediately





Suhail looks filled to the brim.




Sohail looks satisfied but worried if he'll be able to get up in the morning.
In the background some of Suhail's friends whom he chanced to meet.



....hey its not over yet...more coming...!!

[V-16]

The food and desserts leave everyone satisfied and full

Dippy...looks satisfied once more. Almost saying "Mai Khaaoon??!!''




Sohail and Viper share a joke




We pay up and ready to go




Satisfied look, Cyrus and Adhish.




The joke must have been good. Whats so funny guys, still laughing!!




Sohail's gets a call and his smile is instantly wiped out. A call form Wifey I bet "WHERE ARE YOU? JR. IS CRYING. IM ALONE"




Viper remembers to eat his medicine.




How can a food trail to MM be completed without a customary visit to Sulieman Usman Mithaiwala? We get yet a few phirnis (here we go again). We also get some packed for home






Check out the technicolor mithais




Although none of us here were malpua fans, this sweet meat is the hottest selling sweet here. Here it is, egg mixed in the batter, and deep fried. Each bite must be 500 calories.






Our satisfied and Uber full "toli" ate as if food was going out of style tomorrow. Heading towards the car.





We head to the famous "Volga Pan shop" at Fountain.




The place looks deserted and closed but Jiggyhai pulls some strings and lo!! the shutters are opened for us. Kya influence hai JiggyBhai. Maan-gayo!!




We order for pans and eat them at leisure.





Its late...almost 1.30 am considering we started at 9.45 sharp and hadn't stopped eating till now it was a long night. We called it a day (called night, day...huh? we are all crazy) and posed for a last pic. Viper had left with Magma and Suhail had left from MM itself.





A night to remember. I loved it guys. More than the food it was the company.
Need to run for 1000 kms a day to get my cholesterol levels down due to consumption of the day.
Hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as i enjoyed, being there and bringing it to you !! Good night!!
Lets do it again!!