Day 8: Phoren for lunch, Konkani for dinner

The day started with the mandatory romp to FabIndia, Pali Hill. After the usual cursing about the selection, and expected sticker shock, I came away with one thing. But that's not important. What's important was that Pali Hill, Bandra is still as nice as it used to be. And it's amazing that I still remember all the lanes and shortcuts to get around. Guess that's because it's from a time in my life when I wasn't old and decrepit and didn't need a blog to help me remember fun stuff.

[The term 'phoren return' (pronounced exactly like that) carries with it a certain negative connotation, if only in a joking manner. And that term kinda applies to me. So I will embrace its use.]

A few of us phoren-return (you don't use the more appropriate plural form, because that would be err.. appropriate) met for lunch at a place called Yellow Tree near Pali Naka. Cute place. Phoren-sounding fare. Not really pretentious, which is good.

On the right is grilled rawas. With lemon coriander sauce. Not bad at all. Two things clearly stood out though: a guava juice mocktail, and grilled garlic prawns. If you go here, get both. Don't leave Yellow Tree without them. Here's a shot of Varun clearly delighted by the guava thingie. Chilli powder and spices in the mix, salt on the rim, refreshing guava flavour. Hits. The. Spot.

Of course, such a meal needed to be followed up by a cutting chai at a regulation filthy, roadside chai ki dukaan with Ryan and Chhab (who was  clearly too phoren to drink some), so we made that happen.

Dinner time? Konkan Kinaara with the mother. For those who have never been to a Konkani place and had the thali, you should take a minute of silence at your laptops, and repent. Seriously guys, especially if you've lived in Bombay. Make it happen.
Most places serve thalis (these aren't the unlimited kind, btw) that follow the format:
-Meat of choice in curry
-A wati (read: cute stainless steel bowl) of the same curry, sans meat
-Sol kadhi (what I will ask for as my last wish if I were to ever face a firing squad)
-Choice of chapati or wade (To order chapati instead of wade is to fail. Unless you know you have arterial blockage, in which case, you should not be reading anything I write)
-Rice

Here's my philosophy for ordering thalis at Konkani/Malwani restaurants in Bombay:
Fish thali - Will have the spiciest gravy (too spicy for most aliens), but the best meat
Mutton thali - Will have the best, most flavorful gravy, but the meat will be.. alright
Chicken thali - Will have milder gravy, and the meat will be.. why the HELL would you order chicken when there's fish and mutton and prawn and crab on offer? What were you thinking! Some people...
Crab thali - Curry falls between the muttony stuff and fishy stuff. Crab meat is clearly the best, but I'd rather have what my momma makes at home.
I recommend getting some kind of fish thali (fried or curried), but asking for a wati of mutton curry instead of spare fish curry, and getting wadas instead of chapati (order extras). And order up one or two extra watis of sol kadhi anyway, because, puns aside, it will quench your soul.