Archive for August, 2008

This is the first of my review blogs and I want to start with my review of this delightful little bistro called Moches’ in Cuff Parade, Mumbai. The ‘townies’ might have enjoyed its existence for a bit, but for a ‘suburban’ like me, it was a pleasant little surprise!

When we (Abhi & I) had some friends ask us over to town for an evening out on a working day, I was as one would expect, grumpy! I mean who wants to go all the way from Andheri to Cuff parade after a day’s hard work? There are a million nice places to go to in the suburbs, then why, I questioned, did our townie friends want to meet in town? I mean I’m totally the go half way, expect others to do the same kind of person, so I suggested meeting in Bandra. Totally fair, one would say right? The only problem with that turned out to be that, I had been to every joint in Bandra at least a dozen times over. I mean I could be, and really at one point in time was, a walking talking Bandra eating/hang out joints directory. So much so, I remember a time, when I used to stay in bandra, that every one of my colleagues/friends who wanted to go eat/hang out in bandra would first call me to check on which place I recommended!

Anyways, back to the point, so the dilemma turned out to be, whether to go half way to bandra and do the same thing we’d done many times over or go through the torture of 2 ½ hours in traffic and sample a new place in town? (And hey, before one of you who might be a seasoned traveler on the Mumbai roads points out that there might be a wee bit of exaggeration on the time, please note that this is happening in July – a mean month for any Mumbaikar, since the rain makes the usual traffic, tougher and crazier!)

Well, adventurers at heart that we are, we decided to charter the unknown course and give the new a chance! Though with adequate warnings to the friend to pick a joint in town that we had never been to and would find it worth the while to be in after we’d been made cranky by the torturous Mumbai traffic! So on our quest we set off… leaving our Andheri east offices at 6 pm and fortifying ourselves for a long and ardous battle against raucous rains, psycho horn happy drivers, clueless mamus and adrenalin pumped bikers who have no respect for traffic rules and even less for their own safety.

As any quest would produce, there are many a stories about the experiences of Mumbai traffic that I can tell, but this blog is really about the review and I should probably be getting to it now!

So we get to Cuff Parade after our ordeal at 8:30 pm and I step out of the car to be greeted by a courteous valet, who gets a brusque, ‘point me to the loo!’ for his all his effort. (I did however, in the end, after I was topped up with bacchus’ divine drink, give him a goofy giggly ‘thank you’ to try and make up for the earlier brusqueness!)

So back to the delightful Moches’….. the place is small and quaint. The tables and chairs outside give it a little rustic french café look, while the well placed plants, creepers give it a natural feel.  Sitting outside would have added to the whole charm of the experience if it wasn’t for the wet season. So we decided to give up the natural surroundings for the comfort of the A/c. The restaurant had only about 15-18 tables, these though making it a tad bit crowded, still managed to give it a cosy feel.

Am not really sure if Moches’ stands for something in french (it sure sounds like it!), but the menu had a healthy mix of French, Italian, South American picks and the wines were even more geographically spread. Like a traditional Cheese and Wine place, Moches’ does not have any offering for those who are not wine drinkers. So while it was a slight disappointment to my husband’s beer loving taste buds, it was a delight to my wine loving ones. In an Indian market with all kinds of alcohol import restrictions, it is not every day that one has the opportunity to drink something other than the regular Indian wines. So we choose the Californian rich red wine with much care and were actually quite happy with the results. The wines, since imported, were by the bottle, and were in the range of Rs 1800-2200 per bottle. The price aside, I thought the selection was diverse and well selected.  The Cheese platter was traditional and had a variety of cheese to suit the different palates. Personally not much of a cheese person, I ordered some olives which went really well with the wine.

The Food indeed was praiseworthy. The starters were really just that… appetizers that did not take away appetite, rather laid way for the more sumptuous main course. The chicken skewers were nicely spiced and potato and exotic vegetable salad was an agreeable blend of fresh and sautéed ingredients. For the main course we settled for some char grilled chicken breast in red wine sauce and a beef steak in burnt garlic sauce. The garlic bread accompaniments were fresh baked and had a cooked with care feel rather than a off the shelf feel to them. For the second round of wine, we tried a light fruity french red wine which really got mixed reviews from our table. For desert, there was a wide array of top it offs, and honestly, till the time we got to that section, I was happy and beyond and for the life in me, cannot recall what I ate for desert! But for what it is worth, I am sure it was really good J

The attending staff were courteous, there when you needed, attentive but not intrusive. But maybe a little more attention to the table orders and cross verifying the cheque would have helped. Not sure if it’s a strategy or a mistake. They could have simply messed up our cheque or it might have a more thought through strategy of checking for the drunkenness of the party and then trying and squeeze in some extra items in the cheque that the party did not order. Anyways, we landed up paying for two portions of (I’m sure very tasty) expresso chicken that we did not order (at least we are quite certain of that, unless it came and went express fast and we did not notice!)

Overall, with a bill of Rs 7500 for 4 people, the evening was not too expensive, though completely enjoyable. With a relieved friend, who was happy his choice of place met with my approval, we set off into another adventurous foray into the Mumbai traffic in a bid to get home. From that journey, I have no memoirs, since I was in snooze land all the way back. All in all, a quest worth its efforts and a restaurant I would recommend to all.

Cheers!!