What: bpb’s Turning Tables with Chef Peter Ho from The Great Wall,  Leela Kempinski Hotel, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for your spot, Rs 1,200 this month, wine sponsored by Sula.

Why: Noodle your way into bpb’s fun underground kitchen where The Great Wall’s head chef will cook Chinese treats at a subscriber’s home, Sula will ensure unlimited wine and 20 strangers will pig out over interesting conversation. Wah Jong!

When: November 16 at 8.30 pm – China’s one person policy strictly enforced here, so please attend alone.

Hymn and heir, hit and myths, prawns and peacocks at Palladium's brand new Indian restaurant.

Jig Veda

Jigs Kalra and his gang over at Punjab Grill have a new invader on their turf, and this promises to be a tough battle. Located at the Palladium and handsomely armoured in garnet and gold, leather and velvet, Veda is namesake and offspring of the renowned Delhi restaurant, serving up the same “New Indian” cuisine and plush décor.

Hymn and Heir

Walk in and you feel like you’ve stumbled across an exotic garden in the gloaming, dim, deep, and decadent with peacocks shimmering over turquoise walls, majestically plumed chandeliers and a long bar draped with gold leaves (they don’t serve alcohol yet, but plan to start in the next couple of weeks). Despite the hyper-Indian motifs, the interiors feel urbane and trendy, with every detail mapped out carefully – this could very well be a swish restaurant in New York’s Meat Packing District.

Veda’s pitch-perfect design sensibility comes as no surprise when you consider that the restaurant is couturier Rohit Bal’s baby, who may very well have extended the embroidery on his favorite zari sari onto the walls and upholstered the cushions with brocade from a sherwani.

Hit or Myth?

Tasty Tangles, a Pan Asian restaurant opens next week with (n)oodles of promise.

What: The Tasty Tangles, 1st floor, Pinnacle Towers, junction of 14th and Khar Pali Road, off Linking Road, Khar (W).

bpb Sneak Peek: A food trial at this Pan Asian restaurant - Indian outpost of Dubai-based Noodle House – reveals hospitable staff and a bright, clean space curving around an expansive open kitchen. If Chilli Chicken in thick, aromatic gravy and lemony, slightly charred Singaporean noodles are anything to go by, we’ll be back. And yes, we’d like vodka in that kiwi, mango, strawberry and lychee concoction we tried. The Secret Scouters also sip you off on Sancho’s, Delhi-based Mexican restaurant that’s opening downstairs.

When: Opens next week with (n)oodles of promise.

What: Super cute graphic food blog, visit www.donteatthepaintings.com.

Why: Because Philadelphia-based artist Haley Harmon’s whimsically pretty food drawings and uber-easy recipes (Earl tea cookies, guacamole, Caprese salad, shrimp kebabs) are sure to land you in strange and hostile territory – the kitchen. You have been warmed!

When: You want to smile at the Momo-Lisa.
 

What: Delivery Chef, operates in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane, visit www.deliverychef.in or call 22003330, free service.

Why: Order order! This food court is now in session. Launched on October 17, Delivery Chef is a website that brings you home delivery from restaurants across the city – Big Daddy, Copper Chimney, Swati Snacks. We love that you can cram dishes from multiple places into one order, but think their list of eateries is still limited.

When: You want to go a la smart.

Strawberries bunched up to look like a bouquet of rose buds; sunflowers cut out of cheery pineapples; and purple grapes performing handstands over pyramids of luscious kiwi – how bananas is that?! Fruitilicious, a two-week old Kemp’s Corner establishment makes bouquets out of fruit, which to us is as unnatural as a flower salad. But to peach his own, we suppose.

Not Even Pulp Fiction

From the hottest table and most coveted seat, to the sexiest starter and most enticing soundtrack, we replay the year in restaurants, bringing you the best of what's arrived on Mumbai's culinary circuit in 2010.

KOH by Ian Kittichai

There are several reasons to take your date to KOH, InterContinental Marine Drive's sexy new Thai restaurant. It's all slick black surfaces and plush leather with accents of purple, yellow and blue; you can't help but start your night at the curved bar that's right by the entrance; and you get to share sizzling stone rice for two, half cooked at your table over lava stone. Definitely the hottest table in the city.

Manned by Ian Kittichai, celebrity chef with successful projects in New York, Barcelona and Bangkok, dining here feels like a night out at a tony lounge in the Meat Packing District, complete with neon pink lights and metallic ceilings. Add to that impeccable service and food that gets progressively better with every course (Chai Mai soup – rice cakes – green curry - luscious coconut cheesecake), and KOH could easily be one of 2010's best moments.

InterContinental Marine Drive; tel. +91 (0) 22 3987 9999; www.ianchalermkittichai.com

Chez Vous

French food in Mumbai! Enough said. Replacing Churchgate’s iconic Sundance Café, Chez Vous will be Mumbai’s first French bistro and will serve authentic cuisine for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This is a joint collaboration between head chef Cedric Combe, Satyen Melwani and Frederic Fernandez, who thinks that Mumbai is now ready for escargot and more.
Visit this black, white and absinthe green space (spread over 1,342 square feet) for lunch, and you can choose from a prix fixe menu with over 15 rotating dishes, while dinner is a la carte all the way.

Personally, co-owner Fernandez can’t wait to scarf down the avocado and goat cheese appetiser, as well as the crab creole. What excites us most is the extensive wine list, 60 percent of which is exclusive to the restaurant, and he suggests falling in love with Paris Je t'aime -- a potent combination of champagne and absinthe. Parfait!

Ground floor, Eros Cinema building, Churchgate; slated to open first week of November

Navigate the steep stairs leading up to Moshe’s, Bandra (this should absolutely not be tried in high heels or after consumption of multiple alcoholic beverages) and you’ll find a space that is partly familiar and partly surprising. A sloping wooden roof, warm lighting and ramble of plants outside tall windows invokes the same rustic feeling as the original space, a mood that’s woefully ruined by the shiny glass mosaic strip that runs across one glossy wall, an ugly lighthouse mural and cringingly generic furniture (we can swear we’ve seen those chairs at at least five other Bandra restaurants). Like a lunching lady said when she walked in yesterday afternoon, “Jesus Christ, this is so not Moshe!”

Towning Glory

The menu at this week-old outpost, however, doesn’t stray too far from the mother ship, featuring all the favorites along with a few new additions: creamy spinach, feta and white bean dip, served in a wide-lipped bowl and meant to be shared; pleasantly sweet and salty grilled pear crostini, piled prettily with goat cheese, olive tapenade and olive oil; apple salad. If your group is large enough, we suggest you get them all.

Chickening Out

The road to ordering from RecipeMobile, a new dessert and dip catering service, is long and winding, with many potholes along the way. Calls go unanswered and pertinent information is left out (it took proprietor Deepa Jain two days after we ordered to inform us she couldn’t process our request because it was under Rs 1,000, her minimum billing amount), and items on the menu are sometimes unavailable.

Who Moved My Cheesecake?

So is the food worth all this fuss? Let’s start with the good part: we found the chocolate raspberry cheesecake to be sublime, surreal, perfect. Packing in three distinct layers – chocolate shavings and raspberry puree, silky cheesecake, crunchy cookie base – into a couple of inches, it is dark and dreamy, the Javier Bardem of dessert.

No wonder, as RecipeMobile specializes in cheesecake and offers over 15 different flavors, including Lemongrass Ginger Lemon, Plum Kiwi and Chocolate Orange. They also customize flavours, and have just introduced a couple of new desserts including tarts, cupcakes and churros (we tried ordering these, but were told they were waiting on an “exotic ingredient” which wouldn’t come in until next week).

Knock, Knock!

Home-delivered boozy dates, SOS cupcakes, beer bread: reader, we have worked hard to spoil you rotten, and it’s about time we made healthy amends. Meet Angel Food’s new smoothie service – these low on calories, fresh fruit blends are yum and the perfect way to beat 4 pm hunger pangs. And the best part is that they’re just a phone call away, and can be sent right at your doorstep. Did you just hear the bell ring?

Blenders Pride

A vegan herself, Marisa Paolillo, founder of Angel Foods and master blender, promises that her smoothies are a far cry from the limited options available in the market; made from non-dairy products, they come minus preservatives or sugar, boasting fresh organic fruits like bananas, papayas, pomegranate, and avocados (these vary according to availability).With over 50 recipes tried and tested, her repertoire makes for some unlikely blend partners, like strawberry and nut, almond and milk, peaches and beaten cream. Slurrp! 

As Per Your Waist

Marisa also customises based on dietary constraints: for instance, she can swap out bananas for a more low-cal fruit or pump in additional proteins. Home delivery service is available with a minimum three-day sign up, or you can pick-up a single shake from her kitchen at Malabar Hill. For a first taste, however, try her recipe below:

Chocolate-Walnut Smoothie

1 cup soy natural milk
1 banana
2 tablespoons of homemade walnut butter
cocoa powder ( to taste)
I tbsp of jaggery ( optional)

Blend all ingredients until smooth.

Calorie Count: 250 calories, 12g protein, 4g fibre, 45% of Daily Value requirement of heart-healthy Omega 3 Fatty Acid.

Getting there: Call Marisa Paolillo at 9833151229 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , delivery from Andheri to Nariman Point., Rs 200 for one smoothie.