There are also blocked (inauspicious) periods on the Hindu lunar calendar
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Sounds fancy! My sister and I were told we were going to be contacted by the wedding planner about something, but we never heard from them. So maybe we’ll be the only ones out of sync with the other guests 
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Linking @medgirl’s trip report
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Was trying to see if there was another place we could visit besides our old haunts, and was looking around the web, and came upon this list:
https://finelychopped.net/30-places-to-eat-like-a-local-in-mumbai/ (he’s a good blogger and his tastes match a lot of what we discuss on this group). Totally agree with him and most of the recommendations on that list match our favorites.
Some friends of ours have raved about Masque, which has a tasting menu for INR 6K (or so), we could not get reservations for the only dinner slot we had in Mumbai. Will be on my list when I come back in January
On on non-Mumbai recommendation, we went to Bangalore Oota: https://www.bengaluruootacompany.com which we loved loved loved. Would highly recommend it. new thread on this coming soon
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@dlobo That’s a nice list from a Calcutta chap 
– j/k, he’s great.
Especially the Fort spots, which reminded me strongly of my dad in his office eating days, when he cycled through the gamut of Fort cafes at lunchtime.
The missing biryani, however, is noticeable (Lucky should definitely not be the only biryani on anyone’s list 
).
Next time you’re in B’lore, try KPK— same chef who opened Chatti in NYC. (Oota had a rift in ownership a few years back, with the original chef and co-founder sidelined after the concept took off — they’ve even removed her from their origin story , which is a bit skeevy given that she was a co-founder.)
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Cool, thanks for the reco of KCK, will definitely go there If open either in Jan or Feb 
will report back
I didn’t notice KCK autocorrected to KPK (which is particularly hilarious given the meaning).
There is not a lot of Kashmiri food available in Mumbai (or anywhere outside Kashmir, really).
Tried a new place, Aalav, for a few classics – Mutton Yakhni (mild yogurt and fennel gravy), Matsch (mutton koftas in a red gravy), Tabak Maaz / Kabargah (lamb breast ribs poached in milk and then fried in ghee), and Monj Haakh (braised seasonal greens and turnips). Also a walnut chutney that had a bit of an unexpected kick!
I have been lucky to have been fed a good variety of Kashmiri Pundit (Hindu) food cooked by a friend and her mother in New York, while my family has eaten Wazwans (Kashmiri Muslim wedding feasts) in Kashmir as well as Pundit food cooked by various family friends, so the bar is always those memories.
The Tabak Maaz was the only disappointment here. The other dishes vary from hand to hand, so they were different from what we’ve eaten elsewhere, but still good (and vastly better than my last Kashmiri restaurant experience about a decade ago, when my dad suggested that we save the Rista / giant meatball for the neighborhood kids to use as a cricket / season ball, because it was just inedibly hard – and about the right size ).
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sigh
lol
The real sigh is having to keep hearing about the wazwans I missed in Kashmir, then in Delhi, then in Mumbai, and in Kashmir again as recently as last year. I’ll fix my travel schedule to align with my food goals one of these years.
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I have to fix my life schedule to align with my food goals
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How many variations of frittered things can a people eat?
The answer is many, many many…
Bhajiya, the crowning glory of frittery things – thinly sliced vegetables in a thin gram flour batter, fried crisp and eaten piping hot – with a cup of hot masala tea, ideally! Tempura by another name and flavor profile (incidentally, one of the younger kids in our family figured out that if he goes to a Japanese restaurant in north america, orders tempura, and then requests that they use only potato, he achieves the closest thing he can get to an overdose of potato bhajiya without having to to ask any adults to make some… GENIUS.)
An assortment here of potato, onion, green chillies, spinach, and some other stuff, from various sources, street, home, and restaurant.
In Mumbai / Maharashtra / Gujarat, each vegetable is individually treated – no mish-mosh mix-up of the north indian pakoda variety (not that that isn’t also tasty, but when we are promised Bhajiyas, this is what we expect).
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Gratuitous Batata Vada:
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And what a Pakoda actually means in these parts vs in the north – these are from yellow moong beans, soaked and ground with aromatics and chillies:
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Have you made or ordered any Indian sandwiches on this visit? Every time I see this thread, my craving for a Bombay Club Sandwich kicks in. LOL
Chicken junglee (an amped up chicken salad sandwich) on repeat.
And masala cheesetoast (including tonight 
).
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