Mumbai Food: Oreo cookie gets makeover by city chefs

Chef Dalvi prepares the dessert with (clockwise from below) nuts, ice cream, brownie, oreo crumble and marshmallow

Flower Power
The flower pot surprise is an outlandish treat created by Sandeep Dalvi, head chef at Jamjar Diner. "We cater to a lot of youngsters. They are very much in the know due to social media and the internet. Hence they are open to exploring new flavours and are willing to experiment," he explains.

The fact that the cookie is an easy ingredient to play with makes it a condiment of choice for experimental food. "The dessert is too strong by itself for us to take off from the original idea and create something new, but we are open to the idea and are constantly trying to improvise," the chef tells us.

Kavish Seth. Pics/Ashish Raje

TIME: 9 am to 1 am
AT: Outlets in Bandra and Andheri.
CALL: 26368880 (Andheri)
COST: Rs 450

A meaty affair
The chocolate Oreo salami is a chocolate log shaped like salami, embedded with the cookie and hazelnuts. "I was inspired by our Christmas special, chocolate rocky road, and I kept thinking how we could shape it differently while still retaining its rich gooey texture," says chef Manish Khanna, founder and partner at Brownie Point, revealing that being a meat lover gave him the idea of shaping it like salami.

Khanna is also looking at creating other salamis with different textures and fillings, and Oreo biscotti and barks. "Oreos are like sweet cream with a little bit of crunch and sugary milky-ness with a touch of toasty chocolate. All these are items that are staple ingredients of baking," the chef says, talking about why the loved cookie is such a raging trend.
TIME: 11 am to 11 pm
AT: All outlets across Mumbai.
CALL: 9820504444 (Bandra West)
COST: Rs 500 (for 500 gm)

Melt in your mouth
Oreo biscuits, milk, cream and sugar are combined for a unique sweet treat - a milk-based popsicle with crunchy Oreo pieces. "Once, my kids were craving for popsicles. So, I grabbed a packet of Oreo and mixed it with milk. We let it set in the freezer and the popsicles were ready. The outcome was quite interesting so I thought of adding it to the cafe's menu," said Parvinder Singh, owner at Garde Manger Cafe.

Parvinder Singh. Pics/Sneha Kharabe

"It's versatile such that it can be had with a glass of milk and can be substituted as a flavour in dessert recipes," Singh shares, touching upon the endless list of desserts that can be made with the cookie, such as brownies, churros, cheesecakes and even tiramisu. Milk, whipped cream, dark chocolate, cream cheese and Nutella are some ingredients that can be used along with Oreos to whip up zany eats.
TIME: 10 am to 11 pm
AT: Paranjape Nagar, Vile Parle.
CALL: 7045004488
COST: Rs 50

Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

It's an emotion
Avish Jain, owner at Piku Chiku, a nondescript cafe in Parel, says the biscuit evokes an inexplicable emotion for him. His deep love for the chocolate-y cookie culminated in the unconventional tidbit called deep-fried Oreos, a batter-fried crunchy dessert loaded with chocolate and served with a tiny bowl of chocolate syrup.

Avish Jain

Jain is reluctant to share the recipe, but discloses that the batter is made without water. "I absolutely love the cookie and so we thought of doing something interesting with it. We are also experimenting with an Oreo-based sandwich and another chocolate-dipped version of the biscuit," Jain adds.
TIME: 3 pm to 11 pm
AT: Shop 3, Plot 64, Naeem Manzil, Parel.
CALL: 9004245050
COST: Rs 100

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