THE NEW ALPHABET TEA,YOU,WE
A growing number of tea
lounges and the proliferation of tea-infused dishes are together taking the
city's (Mumbai) culinary cup by storm
A cup of steaming chai is
an integral part of most Indian households. But step outside and you are
inundated with nukkad shops that serve machine-made tea with powdered milk,
high-end restaurants that charge a bomb for a cuppa or uber cool coffee shops.
Things, however, are slowly
changing. In August this year, the Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea House opened in
Bandra while Delhi's Chaayos made its way to Mumbai with two outlets in Bandra
and Juhu, which opened in October and November. And if you like your tea in
some other form, several restaurants in the city offer enough options in the
form of cocktails and even food, that's infused with tea.
IDEAS IN A TEA CUP
When Delhi-based Raghav
Verma and Nitin Saluja started the chai café Chaayos in Delhi in 2012, they
simply wanted to serve a great cup of tea to lovers of the beverage. After
establishing 12 outlets in the capital, the duo set their sights on Mumbai.
“Tea is something we have all grown up drinking,“ says Verma. “Coffee, on the
other hand, was an alien beverage to us but because of the way it's been
marketed over the last couple of decades, we end up meeting friends over a cup
of coffee.“ Verma and Saluja realised that's exactly what plagues the beverage
- the lack of a coolness quotient.
Over time, the outlet,
which serves drinks such as Aam Papad chai, Hari Mirch chai and Thandi chai,
quickly garnered a fan following and the duo now hopes to open outlets in
Bengaluru and Pune. At the four-month-old Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea House in
Bandra, one can enjoy exotic tea brews such as the Malabari Vanilla Coconut tea
with toasted coconut or the Karipata Delight which leaves the mild aftertaste
of curry leaves on your palette. Perry Road's XVII Tea Room serves Spiced Guava
Tea, Lychee Vanilla Tea and Strawberry Basil Tea among others, while the Wagh
Bakri Tea Lounge in Vile Parle East is where you go for that perfectly brewed
cup of Lemongrass Tea or Cardamom Tea.
TEA'S VERSATILE WAYS
Interestingly, restaurants
across the city serve dishes infused with tea. Chef Manu Chandra, chef partner,
The Fatty Bao and Monkey Bar, says, “Tea is a versatile ingredient as it lends
itself beautifully to both food and drinks. Green tea has been used in Asian
cooking for a long time now -the Chinese, for instance, use tea to smoke duck
and other meats.“
Mumbai, now, seems to be
catching up. Tea Trails in Bandra Kurla Complex serves Burmese Tea Salad with
fermented leaves of green tea, a chiffonade of lettuce and crumpled nuts in a
garlic and sesame dressing.The Thai curry at the outlet, served with rice, is
prepared with an Oolong tea-based Thai green paste. At the Brooke Bond Taj
Mahal Tea House, one can indulge in mains such as Darjeeling tea-infused
risotto and crispy dry fruits, Smoky mountain tea poached kingfish with braised
jicama, asparagus and green foam and Oven roasted vegetable wrap with rucula,
pesto and a dash of pickled tea leaf, among others.
Chef Gregory Bazire of the
Tea House explains that tea can act as a substitute for water or stock while
cooking. “Here at the Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea House, we use green tea to
steam prawns, jasmine tea to cook chicken breast and smoky mountain tea to
poach kingfish. We also use tea powder in our pasta paste. Another interesting
way of using tea is instant smoking, to give a smoky flavour to paneer, fish or
prawns,“ he says.
OF FLAVOURS AND MORE
While tea-infused mains are
still something of a rarity in Mumbai restaurants, tea-based desserts are not.
At The Fatty Bao, for instance, Chef Chandra serves the Pistachio & Green
Tea Chiffon, comprising a pistachio and green tea chiffon cake with yuzu cream,
vanilla sable and orange jelly. “The chiffon cake is baked with green tea in it
and that is one of the most prominent flavours which go beautifully with the
fillings,“ he says. The newly-opened Ruka in Juhu serves a Green tea and banana
cake with toffee sauce and caramelised banana ice cream, while Fable in Juhu
has Jasmine Tea Creme Brulee on its menu.
One of the most popular
desserts at Masala Library by Jiggs Kalra is the Chai ice cream with masala
foam, served with dalchini cookies. Sous Chef Dhwani Agarwal says, “We add a
chai reduction to the ice cream before setting it. The masala foam is also made
from the tea reduction and that enhances the flavour of the tea in the ice
cream. Served with cinnamon cookies, it is like a dessert version of the Indian
tea ceremony.“
Another interesting dessert
to try out is the Liquid Hazelnut fondant cake at Pa Pa Ya, with matcha and
white peppercorn quenelle.
Interestingly, the beverage
seems to be quite at home in cocktails as well. At The Daily Bar &
Kitchen's ongoing festival Cocktail Cockamamie, mixologist Eluther Gomes has
come up with Lawbreaker, made with gin, elderflower, lemongrass and green
tea.“When I use gin as a base, it opens up all the flavours. Green tea works
really well with elderflower and lemongrass and all the flavours really
complement each other,“ says Gomes.The mixologist adds that until three years
ago, he might have had to coax people to try a tea-based cocktail, but not
anymore. “People are willing to experiment with more flavours and ingredients
now. When I tell them their cocktail has tea in it, they look pleasantly
surprised,“ he laughs.
Deepali Singh
MM 27DEC15
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