Mumbai Food: Try half roast chicken, bhut jolokia at this new joint in Oshiwara

Malay curry laksa

Review
Food Full of flavour
Ambience Great
Service Excellent
Cost A bit pricey
verdict

It's one of those Saturday afternoons in March when the sun doesn't bear down on your neck like an angry teacher standing behind a student, about to catch him for cheating in an exam. Instead, diffused rays create a blend of light and shadows on our table as we sit in the outdoor area of 1 Brew House Kitchen with a friend. A butterfly is dancing around a potted plant right next to us. Another one is floating around the entire area with gay abandon, as if it's Maria in the opening scene of Sound of Music. Arched, yellow walls with a Portuguese-style awning separate the indoor section, while jazz wafting in through the speakers adds a note of merriment to the proceedings. And everything put together, we get a feeling that we are either in a restaurant in a Mediterranean seaside village or at a trippy address in Goa. Which is probably why we are craving a pint of beer. Except, we can't have any, because this newly opened restaurant in Oshiwara hasn't got its liquor licence yet. Tough luck.

911 bhut jolokia chicken wings

So, we settle for a refreshing cucumber lemongrass cooler ('195). And for food, we order 911 bhut jolokia chicken wings ('425) as a starter, Malay curry laksa ('245) soup, and half roast chicken ('575) for the mains. Conversation flows. People flit in and out. The jazz track changes. And in about 15 minutes, the laksa arrives split one by two. A soft, twisted bao accompanies it. So we tear a piece of the bread and dip it into the laksa, and then exchange nods of admiration with our friend after biting into it. The creamy soup dripping from the buttery bao isn't an authentic version of this dish, says our friend, who was born and brought up in Malaysia. Yet, she also adds that she isn't complaining, and nor are we. The texture might be thick. But kaffir lime leaves and bamboo shoots mean that the flavour is light. And strings of fried onions float about in the soup, even as little bits of peanut add a sense of crunchiness to the coconut cream base. And just as we both finish our portions, a waiter dressed in a blue apron serves us the chicken wings.

Half roast chicken. Pics/AshishâÂu00c2u0080Âu00c2u0088Raje

One bite into it, and we understand why it's titled "911". There is a saying in Assam that if you eat too many bhut jolokias at once, you will end up seeing ghosts, which is how this chilli gets its name in the first place. But while we don't see any apparitions, these little monsters nonetheless lead to beads of sweat on our forehead on a temperate summer afternoon. In fact, the friend breaks into a laugh on noticing that even our nose is dripping slightly. But thankfully, a suitably stinky blue cheese dip balances some of the heat. Don't get us wrong, though. The hot sauce packs a solid punch in terms of taste. It's just that we should have gauged our own tolerance for heat better. So call us wimpy, but we will henceforth stick to barbecue or even peri peri versions of this popular American staple.

The outdoor section at 1 BHK

That leaves the roast, and we are both taken aback by the size of the chicken when it reaches our table slathered in thick, brown gravy. There is also a customary side of mashed potatoes, and an assortment of stir-fried veggies like red and yellow peppers, zucchini and babycorn. Now, when it comes to roast chicken, timing is everything. If it's been in the oven for too short a while, the meat will be too pink and too chewy. And if it's been roasted for too long, it will lose all its juiciness. So, we are happy to report that the chef here has got his timing as right with this dish as Sourav Ganguly did with his off-side cover drives. And the delicate herbs in both the chicken and veggies mean that after the wings, our palette has finally returned to a civilised state of being. So all said and done, we are definitely going to return to 1 BHK in the future. But, it will probably only be after one month. That, the manager tells us, is when the restaurant will get its liquor licence done.

Timings 11 am to 1 am
Address Ground floor, next to Meera Towers, BST Colony Road, Oshiwara, Andheri West.
Call 33956183

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