Rajdhani, Zaffran, Bharat Excellensea

At Rajdhani:

Their signature fabulous wagon-wheel sized Gujarati veggie thali

At Zaffran:

jal jeera (literally means cumin water, but is really more like a limeade w/ cumin, very refreshing)

this doesn't look like much but it was great: tandoori fruit chaat - pieces of pineapple, custard apple and sweet potato marinated in a spicy sauce and baked in the tandoor. Delicious!

tandoori broccoli! Very tasty, but a little heavy on the spicy yogurt marinade

masala roti - loved these

Ritesh's daal on the left, and my super-creamy Bengali prawn curry on the right. These were not that great, so we were glad we had filled up on the appetizers.

At Bharat Excellensea, w/ Sanjib, Pinky, Swayam, aunt and uncle, and Ritesh.

Sanjib, the chef, had recommended this place and was doing most of the ordering, so we're pretty sure we got some of the best things off the menu. Our only wish was to try things we'd never had before, and we did... this is a surmai fry (fried whole king fish)

Again something that doesn't look like much but is totally fabulous: This is Kori rotti - a festive Mangalorean dish, which consists of red chili-and-coconut-based chicken curry served on top of crispy dry bread made from rice flakes. As wikipedia informs me, kori rotti is a traditional dish of the Tuluvas (Tulu speaking Mangaloreans) and is served at weddings, parties and special occasions. I think Pinky recommended this one. Loved it!

Rawas gassi - gassi is a Mangalorean style curry, rawas is the fish in it. Whatever kind of fish a rawas may be, this was the spiciest fish curry ever! Thanks for a great dinner, Pinky and Sanjib!!

Frangipani

Fabulous mango lassi at Frangipani, which is one of the restaurants inside the Trident Hotel that Ritesh's cousin rules with an iron fist

Espresso with freshly baked biscotti

Ritesh and cousin Pinky getting some work done

pretty flowers in the bathroom

Cabbing it in Bombay

View of a characteristically crowded street from the back seat of one of the idiosyncratic Mumbai taxis - the boxy Padminis are ancient, built like tanks and drive heart-stoppingly close to each other, yet we didn't see a single accident. The New York Times was kind enough to run a great article on them the very day we arrived, which you can find here for your amusement.

a truck right next to us

It has been said that the Padmini is big on charm but noticably short on refinement - but check out that decor!

they may be small, but they can fit a family: Ritesh's uncle, aunt, cousin's husband and little son. The cousin herself was riding with us in a separate cab, on the way to dinner at Excellencsea.

Walking in Bombay

The Rajabai clocktower on the Mumbai University grounds. In front is the Oval Maidan.

The David Sassoon Library, across the street from Jehangir Art Gallery

The Church of South India in what I think is the Khala Goda part of Mumbai

As cows are sacred, feeding them brings you good karma. In the financial district.

Serving lunch in the street, on a work day in the financial district.

CST (Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) station, the biggest train station in Mumbai. Formerly known as VT (Victoria Station), which is what a lot of people continue to call it.

Samovar Cafe

Brunch at the Samovar Cafe inside the Jehangir Art Gallery, apparently a famed hang-out for Bombay's intellectual/artistic/bohemian/socialist scene in the 1970s.

masala chaiwe came for some prawn curry, but it was too early. So this is my omelette and Ritesh's lovelessly presented veggie burger

Recovering from breakfast/brunch inside one of the gallery's exhibition rooms

Finally something healthy: mixed fruit smoothie and fresh ginger-limeade at Moshe's Cafe inside the Fabindia store up the street from Jehangir Art Gallery.

Chowpatty Beach at night

Walking home via Chowpatty Beach after dinner at Soam

syrups for shaved-ice drinks

The night before Holi

... there were conference festivities taking place in the gardens of the illustrious CCI (Cricket Club of India)

fresh fruit spread

fresh roomali roti made on an upside down tava

a variety of foods from many regions of India, served on biodegradable plates made from some leaf (not banana).fresh-squeezed sugar cane juice w/ lime and ginger - so good, I had about five of them
a whole tray of fresh, piping hot jalebi! with some masala chai in thumb-sized recyclable clay cupsAs it was the night before Holi, the festival of colors, we got an early start on the mischief. Unfortunately, Ritesh's last presentation was scheduled for the morning of Holi itself, otherwise we would have gone up to Andheri to play Holi with the relatives.

Apart from food, there were a number of other attractions, traditional music and dance performances from across India that ranged from beautiful to uncomfortably touristy, such as this woman from Rajasthan dancing on a bed of nails while balancing four bowls on her head.

A Day in Paradise

Ritesh reading the paper at the Gateway of India while waiting for his boss. We are invited today to his boss's sister's beach house, which is a boat ride away from the peninsula of Bombay on the mainland, and are scheduled for a 7.15am departure from the dock by the Gateway.

doves in front of the Gatewaythe sun peeking out of the morning haze, from the boat

the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, which is still closed due to all the damage sustained during the attacks, and is not scheduled to re-open for another year and a half. The Taj Tower to the right, behind the Gateway, has been reopened, though.

sunrise over the Arabian Sea

enjoying the smooth speed boat ride

arrival in Mandve, about an hour later. From here, we continued by car to Alibag.another impromptu hospital visitthe entrance of the hospital watched over by Ganesh
another Indian doctor very graciously putting up with his American visitorsThis is a reasonably well-off province, and things are looking much better here than what we saw in Bombay
arrival in paradise - the beach behind Ritesh's boss's sister's house near Revdanaview from the terrace - the house is built right on the beach
a guest room in the house

breakfast! Parsee spicy scrambled eggs, idli, and a couple of rice dishes, with masala chai and juice

some fresh sweet lime

fresh Alfonso mango - the bright orange Alfonso is very famous and hard to get in the US. Another thing Ritesh's mom misses a lot... This is my first time trying it, and it's nice and has a slightly different flavor. But to be honest, I'm quite happy with the yellow ones we normally get.

walk on the beach after breakfast

Ritesh cleaning his feet after returning from the beach

resort-style perfection

fresh coconut water

our gracious hosts: Ritesh's boss on the left, her sister, and the sister's husband

a visit to the architect's house on the same property - this is the entrance lobby, totally open i.e. no roof

living and dining room directly in the sand, and happily devoid of walls

guess where we ended up after this?

Indian white wine - aperitif before a late, late lunch

the fabulous lunch spread

delicious fresh grilled fish, fish curry, two kinds of veggies, salad, fresh chapati

and they served imported German marzipan for dessert! Niederegger makes the best marzipan ever, and has for like a century - they're located in Luebeck, where Thomas Mann was born and Buddenbrooks is set, and have a cafe there where they serve marzipan cappuccinos and marzipan hot chocolate and marzipan cakes etc. But I digress.

masala chai, before heading back to Mandve to catch the boat

boarding the boat back to Bombay

returning to Bombay. We had to be back before 6pm as private boats are no longer allowed to dock after sunset. Another increased security measure after the 26/11 attacks, as the terrorists arrived that night by boat.

and here we are back home - the Gateway is just a 10 min walk from our hotel