Launch of the Mumbai Gourmet Club

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We went to the Mumbai Gourmet Club launch on 12th October at Olive,Mahalakshmi.Guppy by Ai had a pop-up there and the decor was Japanese.Ai means love and there were red hearts all over the restaurant.The table mats had a picture of how to make an origami heart.Candlelight and stables with horses in front, made the ambience magical.





The Mumbai Gourmet Club was launched on Facebook by Atul Sikand,Sourish Bhattacharya and Rocky Mohan.This is a platform for food lovers and chefs to connect.Few days ago someone asked about heritage dishes of Mumbai.There were so many opinions followed by an interesting discussion about what heritage means and why some dishes did not qualify.




The launch had food lovers,foodbloggers,chefs and food writers.Prominent were Antoine Lewis (a senior food writer),Chef Ranveer Brar who has a TV show on Zee Khana Khazana,Chef Michael Swamy who has penned a beautiful cookbook "The East Indian Kitchen",Kalyan Karmakar who writes the blog Finely Chopped and conducts food walks,foodblogger Rushina Munshaw Ghildayal who runs A Perfect Bite Cooking Studio and recently published a cookbook,archaeologist Kurush Dalal and Rhea Mitra Dalal who run Katy's Kitchen and also blog.






People walked over to each other and connected.Atul and Sourish personally checked on everyone's comfort.



Coming to the food,Japanese is one of the healthiest cuisines and here it appeared one of the most delicious as well.Balanced in flavors!




Edamame (steamed soya bean) with sea salt was simple but lovely





Chicken Gyoza was the Pot Sticker served with soy ponzu sauce.Ponzu (or the vinegar punch) is a citrussy sauce made of lemon or yuzu juice,soy,mirin(rice wine) and dashi(stock made of tuna flakes and seaweed)





Rice Paper Vegetable Rolls served with yuzu sesame sauce.Yuzu is like a small grapefruit.



Liked the Sushi with wild rice,takuan(pickled daikon radish), asparagus and kimuchi (spicy fermented cabbage)  dressing as well as a nonveg one with salmon and flying fish roe



Kimono clad Subhasree who writes Bonny Can Cook loved the tataki!





Mushroom Suimono was a delectable,aromatic mushroom broth with chopped shitake and enoki mushrooms and mitsuba,a Japanese herb resembling parsley in its appearance.





Next was a salad made of rocket leaves,radish,red cabbage,lotus seeds,lettuce and asparagus






The piece de resistance was the baked Cod,which had been marinated in Miso(fermented soya bean paste with salt)






Ended with a cup of Japanese Green Tea after desserts.Today green tea is hugely popular as it has antioxidants and has been seen to increase metabolic rate and fat oxidation.
Atul and Sourish felicitated Chef Vikram Khatri and his entire team.It was a perfect ending to a perfect meal

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