Itâs a trying time for the hospitality industry. What with dining out restricted or shut in the big metros, ordering in and supporting restaurants is the best we can do. Several new openings and delivery menus have popped up in the last month or so. Weâve rounded up an edit of the new places and menus to bookmark for your next meal.
Mumbai
Saffron by The Sassy Spoon
The city has a new contemporary Indian kitchen in the form of Saffron, started by the folks at The Sassy Spoon. After opening in Pune, the cloud kitchen has now started operations in Mumbai. Choose from an extensive spread of tandoor specialties, biryanis and other regional fare. Think, Tomato Shorba Soup with green garlic thecha vadis, Kerala-style Paneer, Tandoori Mustard Wings, Mutton Rogan Josh biryani and indulgent desserts from Rachel Goenkaâs repertoire, like the Kala Jamun Bread and Butter Pudding and Chocolate Barfi Cheesecake.
The anatomy of a new restaurant in 2021 should be like this: it should make you feel like youâre on a vacation without having to take the dreaded COVID test. It should keep you close to nature. Shouldnât serve any of 2020âs overdone foods like banana bread or Dalgona coffee (the sourdough can stay). And it should have great music, food and drinksâthe only three things we are carrying forward from last year. Cafe Panama ticks all the right boxes.
Thirty five-year-old entrepreneur Sohel Lalvaniâs and Shaan Gidwani s all-new cafe is one of the first five new dining spaces to launch in the city. And if beginner s luck is really a thing, he has lucked out on this 3,500sqft space that reminds me of JLo walking down the runaway for Versace spring 2020. But Iâll come to that later.