Google “seafood” in Mumbai and Mahesh Lunch Home in Fort will be among the first few results that pop up. The 30-year-old institution has gathered something of a cult following in the city. Patrons swear by their spicy prawn biryani, delicate garlic-flecked buttered crab, feather-light appams and their melt-in-your mouth tandoori pomfret. Pebbles, the new restaurant at the Juhu Residency Hotel, is a stone’s throw from Mahesh Lunch Home’s northern branch. It’s a bold move, but one that means that they have their work cut out for them.
This doesn’t mean you’re stuck with seafood. Along with the all-piscean menu for Pebbles, we were also given the one for Melting Pot, the hotel’s multi-cuisine restaurant on the ground floor. Like us, most of the people that filled the place were there for the day’s fresh catch. Pebbles’ offers customers a mix of Indian and Chinese cuisine. So there’s Mangalorean squid masala alongside chilli garlic mussels and pomfret steamed with kafir lime and basil.
We started our gastronomic adventures with a fiery sounding Bandas Masala Fry (Rs225). It certainly looked the part. We got a spotless white plate with penne-shaped pieces of squid in an arrestingly-red masala. Certainly not for the faint-hearted, but if you like food so spicy it makes your eyes water, this one is definitely worth ordering. The curry leaves and mustard tempered in coconut oil gave the dish a pungent, smoky edge, its siege on our olfactory senses matching the statement it made on our palates.
Our sheepish waiter suggested we try something a little lighter next. We took the bait, skipped India for the next course and went with the steamed surmai in Singaporean sauce (Rs 495). Pebbles’ prices might be as high as Mahesh Lunch Home’s but their portions are much larger. We got an entire baby king-fish (the body of which had been artfully de-boned even as the shape remained intact) sitting on a generous bed of sliced baby corn, zucchini, button mushrooms and greens. Not bad considering how fresh the fish was, but the sauce could have been more delicate and the veggies a little more crunchy.
For the mains, we gave their Oriental offerings a miss and stuck with their Indian fare. The prawns in pudina masala (Rs 550) were a welcome change. The plump prawns were cooked just right and the thick mint gravy had a buttery garlic aftertaste that complemented the puffy snow-white appams (Rs 110) very well. Together the two dishes displayed a harmony that had been missing from the rest of our dinner.
As we attempted to get past the wave of inertia that had engulfed us immediately after, we couldn’t help but wonder what would become of the place? Pebbles would do well in any other locality, but they’ll have to up their game considerably to not fall prey to the shark next door. Neha Sumitran
Pebbles Juhu Residency Hotel, opposite JW Marriott, Juhu Tara Road (6783-4949). Daily noon-3pm, 7pm-midnight. Meal for two without alcoholRs 1,800 . MC, V.
Source : Time Out Mumbai ISSUE 26 Friday, August 20, 2010
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