Well here it is – my very first
restaurant review on this blog! Until now, I’ve only been writing about food
that I’ve tried and tested in my kitchen. But recently I had some amazing lunch
at a new-ish restaurant and I felt that it surely deserved a blog post! So here
goes... A disclaimer – I didn’t take any of the pictures featured here, because
I was too hungry! So a big thanks to the restaurant’s Facebook page for the
images. The image for the appetizer came from fellow foodie Adarsh Munjal’s
blog (The Big Bhookad) and is used here with permission.
Scene: Smoke House Deli, High
Street Phoenix, Mumbai
Time: Tuesday afternoon on a
cloudy Mumbai Monsoon day
Cast: My BFF D and I
The ambience of this European
restaurant + delicatessen is very warm and inviting, despite the severely white
walls, with food motifs here and there. It was a bit crowded when we got
there and we had to wait for 5-10 minutes, despite having a reservation. Yet
the wait wasn’t boring since I could feast my eyes on some of the deli’s
offerings – a fine collection of wines and beers, cheese, olives, some
delicious looking basa fillets... And oh, the dessert rack! I decided then and
there what I was going to have for dessert, but more on that later.
So we were finally seated and
handed the wine + bar menu. The water arrived and had a slightly lemony taste;
so I looked around and saw jugs of water with slices of lime and some mint
leaves – a nice touch! The bar menu is a bit limited, with pretty standard
cocktails – the mojitos, the margaritas, the caprioskas... The wines are
definitely not as marked up as at Spaghetti Kitchen next door. We ordered
Chenin Blanc.
The food menu came with a separate
appetizers menu and I ordered the Chorizo Piccante, which was highly
recommended by The Big Bhookad. And it didn’t disappoint! Crisp slices of chorizo,
perfectly flavoured, along with rosemary baby potatoes and caramelised onions –
all flavours and textures complementing each other beautifully. The dish was
accompanied by a generous bread basket, which I am told is refilled without
being asked.
The other highly recommended dish
at Smoke House Deli is the juicy beef burger. I’ll let the image do all the
talking here!
For dessert, we shared the
Flourless Chocolate Fudge, and that was the first time D & I stopped
talking and just concentrated on the plate in front of us! Perfectly textured,
with a slightly crusty outside and soft inside – it is literally to die for.
The rest of the menu also looks
interesting and needs to be tested further! Till then, read a more comprehensive review
of the restaurant on The Big Bhookad's blog post.
Will I be going back to Smoke
House Deli? Duh!
Until later, bon appétit!
P.S. Some weekend baking coming
up, so watch this space!