Truffles Article

Fourth installment for the Express. Read it here

Cheap Eats

My third article, about restaurants (roof over your head, table to sit at) where one can eat a meal under Rs. 100. Two glaring editorial mistakes, but I guess that's jus the way it is.

See original here -
Cheap_Eats.doc

Sourcing Article

So this one, about restaurants sourcing ingredients, was edited well - no arbitrary changes. See the article here

Champagne Trail

So, since I like food so much I've started freelancing at one of the national newspapers, the Indian Express. See my first article here. Completely butchered in my opinion - original is here -Sparkle_Motion.doc

Oh well, I guess everyone needs to start somewhere

Blue Frog, Bombay (Mumbai)

Blue Frog
Location: Todi & Co. Compound, Tulsi Pipe Road, opposite Kamala Mills, Lower Parel.
Reservations: 022 4033 2300. Required unless it is a quiet night.
Cuisine: Continental
Price: Rs. 2,000 (£25) a head - sounds about right.

Rating (1-5 where 1 is best)
Food: 2 - Suspiciously good
Service: 3 - Yawn
Ambience: 1 - Assuming you like the concept

Blue Frog is probably the Mumbai Time Out editor's wet dream. It is every bored twenty-somethings oasis in the cultural void that is Bombay. Essentially designed as a Jazz club would, it is designed primarily for live music in its layout, lighting and sound system. The acoustics are perfect and every performance I have been for has sounded surprisingly great. I quite liked the projectors above with shiny bright colourful cool images. The bar area, quite noticeably, has little or no seating space which is a bit confusing - we get that it is live music but we don't get why one cannot have a few bar stools at least and still have enough space to stand around. The music varies from jazz to rock to funky African beats to guest dj's with their house/trance gigs. In fact, the night I was there for dinner we got to watch a poetry slam, certainly a first for me and not very common as far as I know.

Yet, I've only eaten there once and been there for drinks twice since it opened in December 2007 - every time I do go there I resolve to go more often. Part of the reason is I have never really heard of *whomever* plays at Blue Frog - even though the acts are very varied and a lot of them are international, they aren't exactly Smashing Pumpkins or anything anyone has heard of unless you're really into that sort of thing. Which, I am quite certain there are but I just am not one of them. Another factor is that frankly, it takes a bit of effort. The past two times I had gone to the frog, the bands were average and the bar area wasn't a nice place to stand at for two hours listening to that average music. I guess that's just it - a bad band is more bearable if you have good food in front of you - but it is still not really a good night if the place is only about the music.

Which it plainly is. Blue Frog, as a concept though, must be applauded. The billion different partners have come up with a restaurant/bar with a concept quite alien to India, and more importantly - have done a good job at it. Clearly attention was paid to the layout, the acoustics, the marketing, the updates on facebook and more importantly the diversity of acts playing at the frog. To consistently draw in crowds every week is an achievement once a new establishment crosses the 6 month this-place-is-new-and-therefore-cool-so-I-must-be-seen-there mark. And I can only judge by the fact that all the tables were occupied on a Sunday night, but given the buzz around blue frog all the time I wouldn't be surprised if it were a profitable business.

Oh, and while we are at it, I may as well talk about the food. I can't honestly say anyone I know has had great things to say about the food there, which is consistent with the fact that the food is apparently responsibility of Rahul Akrekar (owner/chef of Indigo). However, whatever we had was actually pretty good. The onion rings - however basic the dish is - was crisp, light, flavourful and most importantly did not feel greasy at all. Our second starter, grilled beef on mini pita bread with a light sauce was heavenly - the beef just melts in your mouth. The last starter, prawns in a light something sauce was really nice too.

The drinks at the frog are good, particularly the self-titled "blue frog". Which was perfect while we were listening to poetry about suicide, red underwear, Bombay city, and even references to oral sex. Main course was as good, I opted for the days special of stuffed artichoke hearts - I miss dishes with just good ingredients and haven't really had good artichoke in a while. I can honestly say I liked the dish from the time I saw it on the menu!. The grilled chicken looked pretty big and was fantastic too. I didn't get to try the pasta - a fettuccine I think, but it looked very uninspired.
By the time we were done with mains, it was getting a bit much the whole poetry thing so we decided to head out for dessert. That isn't to say conceptually the poetry slam wasn't a good idea - I would definitely go again.

I can only guess that perhaps we tried too few dishes to get a feel of the food, but tilI go several times more, I will think the food at blue frog is really good. It certainly is a good place to get away from the normal bars and drinking in Bombay, and if you're lucky there might even be some good music.