Another interesting food experience. It was my friend's turn to pick a food place and she chose Sassy Spoon though I had offered other options. So Sassy Spoon (SS) it was for the mid-week lunch.
For those who don't know the area well, SS is located near Holy Family Hosp (Hill Rd, Bandra) right across from American Express Laundry. It's a proper corner property with a Pizza By The Bay vibe. Unfortunately, this property doesn't look onto the sea...but right onto traffic and on-going construction.
Walking in, one realizes that it's a large space with 2-3 distinct areas. What with 'winter' on I picked up a table along the periphery with the option open to change tables if my friend wasn't happy with my choice. Since my friend had not arrived, I had time on hand to look around, people watch, and menu memorize.
It's a very pleasant space to sit and eat in, especially when it is sparsely filled. It was more white (than the oversupply of pink as in their SoBo outlet) with sassy pink, lavender, and magenta distractions, like a pretty purple play-model tricycle atop the desserts and breads showcase. All in all, it's decorated well by a gang that understands elegance, playfulness, and more importantly knows when less is more.
The menu induces a wince. It's pricey. Appetizers and small plates run upward of 400-450 and mains upward of 600.
My friend arrived in good time, was seated and the chatter commenced. We were joined by a pg 3 social butterfly and her two friends at an adjacent table, which is when we realized that the tables are set too close together. The ambient sound shot up with the 3 women so we contemplated shifting tables. I can only imagine how it gets on a full day.
We decided to go plate by plate and play with menu items that caught our fancy rather than set appetizer-main-dessert-coffee pattern.
We started with a salad -- mixed mushrooms (shitake, oyster, wood ear) , roasted onion, hazelnut, and mixed greens salad with a citrus dressing. The salad was pretty good and notably not drowned in a pool of dressing. An uncommon pick of mushrooms works and if you're an ex-meat eater, now vegetarian and looking for meaty textures, this could be the salad for you. Loved the beautiful pops of hazelnuts as well. The greens had not gone limp. That's obviously important. A completely clean plate at the end.
We had already figured out our next dish - the cajun butter garlic prawns flatbread. The flatbread is, well, a variant pizza. The SS version is more Chicago pizza than New York pizza. I would have preferred the latter. The SS version just ends up loading more carbs. Not sure if the predominant flavor was of cajun spice for me, but it was good. I'd love to see it topped with a heap of fresh arugula to cut the greasiness of the butter. Nonetheless, one of the better things we ate there.
My friend refused to partake of either the ribs or the steak so we moved on with the flight of flavors and asked them to get the house made gnocchi done four ways. The dish could have been plated better but there was a clear demarcation of the different flavor grps. Eight pieces of gnocchi in four flavor pairs. Sage & pumpkin, pineapple, orange and three peppers.
This was the most disappointing dish of the meal. SS does only reasonably well on flavors on this one but failed on a few things for me. I prefer my gnocchi smoother. The SS gnocchi seemed more granular and was pretty greasy. For me, the grease interfered with the flavors and gave me an unpleasant mouth-feel post the dish. The sage and pumpkin flavors were the best of the lot. The zucchini, peanuts and some greens are somewhat superfluous to this dish. Overall, the same plate offered again, I wouldn't take it.
Next up, we got the banana leaf steamed tamarind chili rawas with a side of savory coconut rice. The dish, on the menu, sounds fantastic! One part is a big fail and the other part an absolutely ravishing win, hence regressing to a mean score.
The fish was overcooked and not flaky as I like my fish. Fish cooked right would have layers separating with slight forking and the meat ought to be moist, not dry. Forking gave out chunks in this case. Also, the chili overpowered the flavor of the fish and I did not get any tang of the tamarind. Spicy fish is the least of my favorite things. The flavors were unbalanced with no offset for the chili.
On the other hand, the herb coconut rice (risotto, if you may) is just a bomb of flavors. I'd eat a large plate of this and walk out a very happy man. It's not quite 'saakhar-bhaat', the sweet version we have in different areas of India, but a beautiful savory herby version which is at once elegant and as comfort food as one can get it. My epic win for the meal.
I'd been chatting with my server and he sensed my intense food-flavors love and volunteered to call in the head Chef (Irfan). By then, the pg 3 table was empty so the decibels had come down. Had a terrific chat with Chef Irfan about all things food, and he took a good amount of time chatting with us. This is the kind of thing that elevates a dining experience.
On his suggestion we tried the seven flavor chocolate mousse. For a sweet tooth deficient person like me, 3 forkfulls would be enough (and the dessert would be good enough for 3-4 people). I'd imagine it is dessert heaven for those with massive sweet teeth and no calorie guilt. It's expensive though!
The trade off was that a meat lover like me didn't get to try either the coffee and pepper crusted steak or the pork ribs...both foods that give me untold joy. It is for these that I'd be back.
The meal at Sassy Spoon isn't inexpensive. At close to 3000 bucks for a couple, it's not cheap, and it doesn't blow your mind enough for you to rummage through your home to find things that you can sell on OLX to fund another meal.
But the Sassy Spoon does beckon for another forkful of meat.
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