Travelling from South to North Mumbai

One of the biggest discomforts that one can experience in Mumbai is travelling by road. I rarely go to South Mumbai if I can help it but on those days when it is impossible to avoid, I normally take a train, unless I am too tired……

Then I am forced to take a Taxi.

The taxi fellow must be fed up too of driving through this crazy city, therefore when I tell him to take me to Bandra, he suggests sea-link. That will cost Rs50 extra for the toll. I must decide if I wish to go through one hour traffic jam or pay Rs50 and cover the same distance in ten minutes. The normal routes are crowded with buses, taxi, cars in great numbers and also the jay-walking pedestrians, who cross the streets randomly. Mumbai has lots of sky-walk, but hardly anybody uses it, because it’s too tiring to walk up two stories to walk comfortable. Had they installed lifts/escalators at each skywalk, it could have helped. Anyways, sea-link road was the ride I chose and was grateful for my wise decision.

When it rains in Mumbai, it pours, and it pours, and it pours till the city gets paralysed

Getaway from Mumbai for the week-end - Lonavala

Its rainy season and those in Mumbai might be frustrated with the clogged streets and open manholes but those who love nature will drive for two hours, through the winding Ghats, cross the Khapoli-Khandala Ghat, and within the short distance you are high up there, breathing in the crisp, fresh air, watching the waterfall from the surrounding hills of Lonavala and enjoying the nature in its pure form.

To read about the places of interest in Lonavala valley, click here

Street Shopping in Mumbai

This Friday when I went to Crawford market, I roamed the streets and bye-lanes opposite the market for over two hours. This is an amazing street where you can find everything at reasonable prices. There are lanes assigned for every article, be it gadgets, clothes, stationary or artificial jewelry. There are rows and rows of shops selling the same items at competitative prices.  Even the side walks are full of hawkers selling knick-knacks. If you were lucky to be able to find a parking space in this lane (which is mostly impossible) then don’t be surprised if your car is being used by hawkers to spread their wares.

This is a very crowded street where you dodge the traffic, hand carts, people and hawkers. I have walked into these streets many times, sometimes non-stop for more than five hours. It never stops to amuse me. Many times I have lost my way into the bye-lanes and discover newer lanes with even more interesting stuff and sometimes rare things which I would not find anywhere else.

In good ole days, I used to stop every half hour and try the road-side cuisine. There are hundreds of food stalls on these roads, and I had no problem eating those unhygienic food and drinks. But gradually I became food-conscious and started looking for more decent place to sit and eat. That was the time when I had discovered ‘Rajdhani’ on Sheikh Memon Street. I used to enjoy the Gujarati and Rajasthani delicacies there.

“Recently, the outlet has been revamped to make way for Revival Indian Thali - a healthier, variety-filled thali. With food cooked in trans-fat-free oil and using organic and healthy ingredients, Revival aims to please the new wave of foodies. In my head, a thali can never be healthy and always stands for the occasional over-indulgence.” Says Shakti Salgoakar during her recent visit to this place

Read Ms Shakti's food review here “De Thali: A healthier thali featuring cuisine from all over India”  

At the end of the day, my feet ached and I desperately looked for a place to sit. Envied the man resting in his basket, or the person sitting on the road, but me? Couldn’t do that, could I?

I just stood there at the corner of the street, balancing on one foot, munching on fresh Litchis until my driver drove the red car from the parking lot and stopped in front of me.

Driving around the City of Mumbai

Want to drive with me around the Mumbai city? You drive, I click pictures, you look where I look and then you tell me where I am.....I will publish ur comment only if it relates to my picture, just spam won't do..uh uh!!Nah! no Ads please! I don't wish to buy flowers online, nor toys nor books on websites..so sorry!! So, here we go....

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Godrej Nature Basket in Mumbai

It is always difficult to shop for men; I mean what do you shop for men? Shirts? Napkins? Lungi? Topi? Or, for more metro sexual men some deodorant or hairspray? Pens? Cigars? Can’t encourage smoking, Nah! Very difficult shopping for men....gifts were made for women and there is no thinking, no real hard thinking when you are shopping for women, look around and you will see the great range of gifts available: flowers, perfumes, diamonds, dresses, shoes, souvenirs, house-articles, kitchen gadgets, you name it, it is there for women's pleasures, in fact, most businesses survive because there are women who enjoy the gifts and they will never complain even if you buy gifts for them hundred times. It’s the men species who never appreciate any gifts unless their gift has something to do with eating/drinking.

No wonder, this cliché is repeated over and over again. “The route to reach the man’s heart is via his stomach”

And, ‘Godrej Nature’s Basket’, a retail chain of fine food and gourmet stores is cashing on this idea because this is the perfect venue to look for gifts for a man on his special day... It’s my BIL’s birthday and look, here I am shopping at Godrej Nature Basket.

This chain of super store is the best store where I like to buy my grocery. What I like best about this store is the variety of each foodstuff. The Gourmet retail store has a stock of the best international and domestic wines, cold cuts, meats, cheese, organic foods and a large variety of pastas, noodles, beverages, exotic and rare ingredients, meals, sauces, preserves and packaged food from around the world. And I love it.

Initially, I used to do all my international grocery shopping whenever I made my trip abroad. I would pick up chocolates, sauces, pastas, and many interesting stuff and unfortunatetly, most of it would reach the expiry date before I could finish it. Not to mention about the excess weight of these food items that deprived me of shopping for other things.

Nature Basket has solved my problems.

Now I shop regularly here, in my own city of Mumbai, picking just enough to last me for a week and then go back for more. The section that interests me the most is the organic section where I can find processed foods such as low sugar biscuits, baked finger food, whole wheat pastas, fat free pasta sauces, hi-fiber breakfast cereals, and also great variety of brown unpolished rice, multi grain flour and breads etc.

Then they have also regular cookery demonstrations at the store which guide us through the correct usage of the international authentic ingredients that are displayed on the racks. The one that I attended recently on 'EAT..European Art of Taste ' was good and I did pick up few tips on Italian cooking and Italian products.

I spoke to the men behind the cash register to inquire about the store and he informed me that it was started as fresh food store way back in 2005 and has morphed into chain of 8 stores in Mumbai, they have recently added 2 new stores in Delhi and are now also looking to set its footprint in a few other metro cities like Pune, Bangaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai..

I was complaining about the excessive high price of food at this store and how the money from my purse just vanishes as soon as I enter this store and my friend tells me to stop eating exotic vegetables like mushrooms, Pak Soi and broccoli, asks me to eat dhal and regular fruits/vegetables that are available at Bandra market. Well……dunno if I should take her advice because the kind of food that I prefer are normally stir fries or roasted.

Although I still do visit the grocery store at the end of my lane.

Friendly young man at this old fashioned grocery store never complains if I encourage foreign products and don't visit him as regularly like I used to.

So, coming back to my BIL’s birthday gift, er.. I picked up marinated chicken (which I will bake it for dinner) some chocolate packets and 2 bottles of wine. (pssssss..I picked up one bottle of red wine for me too, for health reasons of course). The helpers at the store were very gracious, they helped me choose the wine (the Indian variety made in Nasik) and gift-wrapped it for me to make it look presentable.

The only thing that I am unhappy about this store, besides its’ highly prices items, is the placement of the cash register. I cannot see what he is punching on the screen hence I am suspicious that he might be erring during billing.

Can you turn the cash-register-screen by 180 degrees at your Bandra, Hill road outlet please?

‘Must visit restuarant’ - Global Fusion in Mumbai

There are more than 600 restaurants in Bandra/Khar area and most of them are good. It just depends upon each person’s preference.

One place that I love to take my guest is at 'Global Fusion'. This place is neatly tucked on 3rd floor of Link Square Mall, off Linking road just opposite KFC at Khar(west)

“Wowie” is the first expression you use as you take in the ambience. This is the dimly-lit restaurant with lighted food stations, each serving different kind of food, it has a oriental feel with the pond running between tables. Some of the tables are quite low while some on a higher level and some in those cute gazebos. There is enough space between the tables which gives you enough privacy, probably because you are required to move around from one food counter to another.

This is one restaurant where you cannot order ‘a la carte’. You order what you see. There is unlimited selection of Sushi’s, salads, fritters, assortments of veggie and meat dishes and deserts. There are numbered clips at each table that you clip them on the bowls adjacent to the prepared dish. The portions are small and the variety is huge. I like it for its variety of culinary dishes that are on display. It is always advisable to take a survey of the all the food on display and make a mental note of what you would like to eat.

There is live-cooking station where you can choose from variety of dimsims, sauteed chicken, spring rolls, roasted shrimps, soups and many more things that are so attractive that you are tempted to order all that are on display. There is no beef and pork (thank God)

 But because of your limited appetite you just select few by dropping the numbered clips into the bowl next to the display-dish and the waiter gets them to your tables, freshly cooked in small portions.

You sit relaxed, munching on your food, savoring each dish, starting with cold cuts, sushi and salads and moving on to more exotic dishes and before you realize,  its been over two hours that you have been masticating. Ouch!!! You loosen your belt and look around to see if you can still squeeze something, a wee- bit more and so again you drag your feet and head on to Baskin Robbins ice cream counter and then to those neatly sliced cakes station, where you help yourself to just one more tiny piece of cake and maybe 2 scoop ful of ice-cream.

Its a sin, and you know it, to overeat is a sin, but you just burb!!! its okay, you can skip dinner, no issues!!

The service is good and prompt and the waiters are cheerful. When you ask for the bill,  you are in for a surprise. So much food you have consumed (lunch and dinner, remember you overate?) and you pay so little..well, well, well! Compared to other places, this place is very, very reasonable.

The Prices:

Rs. 570 (Monday – Friday Lunch Buffet)

Rs. 720 (Monday – Friday Dinner Buffet)

Rs. 850 (Weekend Brunch & Buffet)