Salt Water Cafe - A Tale of Inspirational Hits and Sad Misses

Often there are meals, experiences really, that are elevated by the company. Conversations take off, jokes bounce around the walls, giggles, laughter. Food, food, food -- in conversations, in jokes, memories shared,  photographed, consumed, loved, meh-ed even, and ultimately reviewed. 

This was one grp where if someone tried to dig into the food, everybody protested loudly and demanded that the plate be placed, photographed, admired, and then the 'owner' could proceed to dig in.

Seven of us food lovers met up for a foodie-do.

Meeting at 12:30, P arrived first and got herself going with a rooh afza drink. It was a 41-44C day, and rooh afza is supposed to be cooling. Good call. She corrected my uneducated self that it was a rose sangria. Rose? Rooh afza? Same difference only, no?

I arrived next and was followed slowly as the rest of the mandali trooped in past the appointed hour. They are excused. They came in from distant towns and villages like Powai and beyond, so some delay is to be expected.

Slowly drinks started showing up at our table and I couldn't guess which was which since I stuck around with a glass of water. There were no exclamations so I'm assuming the drinks were par for the course. All you can drink sangria for 999 bucks is quite a steal for anyone that's feeling particularly thirsty.

Thence to the food since most of us were hungry. K started rattling off names and I thought he was going to recite the entire menu. Not so.

Poha crusted prawns with lemongrass aioli - Now, I'm a Marathi boy and I know a thing or two about pohe given the many tons of it that I have consumed, but I'd never thought poha and prawns had any business holding hands and jumping off the bridge and into a frier, together. That is precisely the kind of strange love union of elements this dish is and, really, how wonderfully it works. The prawns were fresh, juicy and bursting with flavor. The fried poha gave it an audible crunch and the lemongrass aioli had so much flavor punch that I can imagine a happy hour licking a ramekin full of the blessed thing. All together, it's a winner.

Smoked salmon + fennel + onion + citrus elements - It's the kind of dish that Brent (runner up of the recent MasterChef Oz) would conceptualize and plate up and have George loving it. It's an eye-full, this plate, and almost tragic to disturb its presentation. Take all the elements together on a fork and take a bite and sit back and feel the enjoyable fox trot the food does on your tongue. This is a mellow wonder. A plate that genuinely pleases all the senses, especially of those that love mildly spiced.

BBQ Ribs + pickled ginger + scallion - Within the meal itself, it was the first true meat dish and we quite loved the non-stingy meat and the general flavor, but it was not even close to the best ribs I've eaten in the city. It doesn't push me to wax eloquent.

Butter bean + goat cheese crostini and roasted pepper + camambert crostini - Both were forgettable dishes, and since this was the first real thing our vegetarian friends at the table could eat, it was all the more disappointing since they could see our glee with the earlier seafood and meat dishes, but we couldn't see anything close to the same on their faces. The latter was especially greasy.

The appetizers done, some folks went for a repeat drink as we pushed back a bit to talk while contemplating on the mains to be ordered.

Black pomfret + jalapeno mash + lemon butter - The fish fillet looks surprisingly thin...generally, not something I look at as a good omen, and yet it delivered on flavor. The dish had just that little kick that let's you know that it is a fish dish and not the inert feel of a basa. The black pomfret has more character and went especially well with the citrus butter. That said, the mash is not uniformly flavored with jalapeno, it's a flavor one would get if one chanced upon a slice of jalapeno. I'd suggest they find a way to infuse jalapeno flavors into the mash more comprehensively. Dish of the day for me.

Mushroom risotto was the surprise second place winner of the day which still had more attractive 'proteins' to show up. The mushrooms had been cooked just right enough and the risotto done the way I like it (a little bit overdone) so it had the consistency of a luscious khichadi than of an al dente pasta. Overall, if I had to order a vegetarian main, it'd be this (except for the mac and cheese, of course).

Seared John Dory + Sundried tomato + sunflower seed risotto - The fish, again, was a thinnish fillet compared to a plump one that one expects to see in a dish like this and I felt that it was a bit overdone and hence a bit dry. You hear the judges say 'a minute too long' and we think 'rubbish, in Indian style cooking, a minute here or there is a rounding error'. Not so when you don't heavy coat the fish. Even a minute or two renders it dry. To add, it's not a dish that comes with a sauce like the black pomfret. That said, the risotto was delicious, but not good as the mushroom risotto, and even then, it is the saving grace. The fish ought to win it.

The Pepper Crusted Steak came plated beautifully with three swathes of sauces - a coarse ground mustard, a honey mustard, and a tarry black aubergine black olives puree with a whiskey jus on the side. The purees and flavorings were stellar but the steak meat and the cooking were way off. We'd asked for the steak to be between medium rare and medium, and what we got was well beyond medium and the meat was tough and chewy (ugh! carabeef) though it did go well when it was smothered with (especially) the coarse mustard sauce.

Grilled Peppercorn Chicken with grape jus was just another name in the list of foods that dotted the table. I had a slice of the chicken but it was neither here nor there. As a rule, I don't order chicken ever in fine dine restaurants.

The penne pasta was a failure past redemption. Which tells you, that if you're vegetarian and don't want a salad or sandwich, then the mushroom risotto is your best bet or dine somewhere else. There ain't a lot more room for vegetarians.

The dessert round was one of negotiations...finding what was still available at 4 pm. Cheesecake had run out as had some other items. We got the hazelnut mousse and the baked apple pie. The apple pie was extremely dry and powdery and the mousse passable.

Ambience - SWC has a nice enough bright airy feel with solid wood furniture to make one feel that one was dining in Venice (LA) California at a nice wine bar. The look is completed by an abundance of upscale patrons of both local color and foreign. Expect to see a celebrity or two and lots of pretty faces.

All in all, a good time was had over almost four hours with patient service, and yet, when I come to putting a score, I can't help but feel that the place tends to be pretty hit or miss. There were far too many misses, and the misses were bad, and that is what lies on the other side of the balance from some really inspirational dishes on the menu.

Also, the menu is a bit limited. I didn't feel like there were multiple dishes that I loved and would go back for, again and again. SWC might want to chip away some of the losers from the menu.

Definitely get the poha crusted prawns, the smoked salmon appetizer, black pomfret main, and the mushroom risotto for your vegetarian friend.

Will I be back? For the breakfast, maybe. Their eggcellent dishes look very attractive.