Brick House Café- Watch the flames dance on the Smoked Godfather! Tanya Satish

       Brick House Café.

         Tanya Satish

 

“We loved the Smoked Godfather cocktail, which works up quite an opera in itself and takes you through the light drama as the drink is placed with stacks of cinnamon sticks and set on blue flames, enough to work up an exciting hunger pang with fun filled fascination. The Scotch and Amaretto danced to the tunes of the apple wood alright!”- Tanya satish

      

 

.......Whether starting the day with a very lazy late breakfast and the newspaper at this café, spending a long lunch tucked into this cozy gourmet center, or ending it with a starlight continental dinner; the Brick House Café situated at the up market address of Lokhandwala Mumbai, provides wonderful American and English array of cuisines, for every mood, taste, and time of the day.

 

Nestled  inside a brick walled interiors literally decorated with exterior pipes skirting the lower borders , the front patio invites you in to the offerings of  the celebrated chefs and staff which provide delicious menus, superb wine lists, live entertainment, outdoor patio dining, and an ‘unwinding’ ambience that makes dining a delight. The raw in your face ‘unfinished rustic un cemented brick mosaic wall exterior’  is the interior; replete with light fixtures of bulbs hanging attractively from the ceiling.

 

We visited this place some weeks ago and felt that this new kind of restaurant will grow on you with their delicious popular offerings like Pastas, Nachos, pizzas and  hummus platters.

 And the beer battered Fish and chips as well as their stripped chicken is relishing. Their signature dish is the Brick of India which is a huge plate of spicy chicken wings. Of course their melting grilled tuna sandwich is to die for.

 

The menu is extensive, you will be spoilt for choice, all of them are carefully  inspired by contemporary  cooking with its -grilled specialties. This café also provides take-out food and catering for parties, in the tradition of total service that defines Brick House Cafe.

We loved the Smoked Godfather cocktail, which works up quite an opera in itself and takes you through the light drama as the drink is placed with stacks of cinnamon sticks and set on blue flames, enough to work up an exciting hunger pang with fun filled fascination. The Scotch and Amaretto danced to the tunes of the apple wood alright! The staff are very pleasing and enjoy pampering you.

 

Running a successful restaurant requires keeping customers happy, to keep them coming back. Serving excellent food, consistently is an imperative. Bunty Arora, the owner has what it takes to bind that cultural mosaic that is Mumbai and readily define the enticing array of culinary prowess, all here at Brick House Cafe.

 

Brick House Cafe,

Greenfields Apartment, Main Road,
End of Lokhandwala Market, Opp. HDFC Bank,
Andheri West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400053

022 - 6586 0666

The Mercado Municipal Market place in São Paulo,Brazil is a gourmet-food lover’s paradise.

The Mercado Municipal Market place in São Paulo,Brazil is a gourmet-food lover’s paradise.

Elsie Gabriel

The Mercado Municipal Market place in São Paulo,Brazil is a gourmet-food lover’s paradise. It sure does have a top rank place in my pantheon of great markets that I have visited the world over. A trip to the Mercadão, meaning "big market' is a must while touring Sao Paulo. Your gourmet tour starts and ends here in fact.You can pack your basket for a wild picnic or home cooking, all here.

 

The Mercado Municipal is a huge two storied building market illuminated by stained-glass windows and houses not only stands selling pickles, flowers, canned stuff, fruits, vegetables, spices, meat, poultry and seafood, but also a mezzanine floor lined with vibrant restaurants overlooking the shopping and tasting action below and offering everything from simple snacks and home-cooking samples.

To me it was an exotic offering to all my senses involving me in all the flavor s of Brazil, avant-garde contemporary gastronomy at its best.

 If you like markets with fresh food and local produce, fresh colours and smells, happy faces buying and satisfied faces selling,  this is a really fun place that is packed, lively, delicious and affordable. I enjoyed tasting over a dozen cheeses, wines and sausages of all sorts. I was in gourmet heaven.

You can pick Mortadella sandwiches, fresh local fruit and inexpensive souvenirs, this place is great. I love the humdrum of a market, the dizziness which goes into the haggling and offerings, the mundane becomes the absolutely supreme essential necessity. It is exquisite gastronomic experience here at Mercado.

I ate a Hocca's Pastel  which is a pastel,  a rectangle-shaped thin crust pie with assorted fillings, fried in vegetable oil. The result is a crispy, brownish fried pie either with shrimp, or codfish, or chicken or other flavors..Every bite is crispy heaven, drooool, slruppp….mine was filled with a soft flacky fresh fish fillet...

The Mercado was built in a somewhat eclectic classical style designed by architect Francisco Ramos de Azevedo in 1928 but it was only on January 25, 1933, the birthday of the city of Sao Paulo, that the market finally opened for its original purpose.

The huge central space of the Mercado Municipal is light and airy thanks to the high clerestory windows which allows free flowing breeze, fresh air constantly rotating, abundant daylight to reach even into the center aisles of the market. Along the front facade ranges a series of enormous colourfully paterned stained-glass windows which are the work of German-Brazilian artist Conrado Sorgenicht Filho and which celebrate the daily lives of agricultural workers during the golden age of São Paulo's coffee economy.

All pictures copyrighted Elsie Gabriel.

For me the market, infact any market -represents- Mother Earths offerings and that’s how it becomes heaven to me, just walking down each aisle and letting all that the earth has to offer into your very being, every sense being awakened.You can honour all that the earth grows and helps feed us...

I can still feel the Empanada burst in my mouth,with every juicy bite....

Empanadas are made by folding dough or bread around stuffing, which usually consists of a variety of meat, cheese, fish,vegetables or fruits, among others. Like fritters, samosas or patties known the world over they are filled with happiness always ,what say?