Mumbai Food: Here are six summer-special salads with unique ingredients

A super-cool superfood
While the West might have recently woken up to the nutritious properties of amaranth, India has long been privy to the goodness of rajgira. And it's now made its way into fancy salads, such as the grilled peach and papaya salad with amaranth granola.

Time: 7 am to 1 am
At: Smoke House Deli, Pali Hill, Bandra West (available at the Lower Parel and BKC outlets too).
Call: 9152017980
Cost: Rs 380

Back to black
First, white went to brown, and then brown went to black. Rice has seen a radical appearance change in the last few years. And city chefs have started using the black variety for salads, as is the case with black rice salad with red pepper, caper and green olives.

Time: 10.30 am to 10.30 pm
At: Garde Manger Cafe, Parmar CHS, Vile Parle East.
Call: 7045004488
Cost: Rs 350 plus taxes

Eat it when you sea it
A Far-eastern favourite, edible seaweed has gradually gained in popularity across restaurants in Mumbai. The wakamame salad combines the great source of iodine and other minerals with glass noodles, making it a suitably healthy pick.

Time: 12.30 pm to 3.30 pm; 7 pm to 1 am
At: 12 Union Park by Shatranj, Carter Road, Bandra West.
Call: 9664444794
Cost: Rs 440 plus taxes

Hit a purple patch
"Underneath" is a salad that - in case you didn't guess it - comprises roots and tubers, which grow below the ground. It is a combination of ingredients like radish, sweet potato and beetroot. But the one that excites us the most is purple yam, or ube, native to the Philippines.

Time: 11 am to 12 am
At: The Rolling Pin, Janta Industrial Estate, Lower Parel.
Call: 30151774
Cost: Rs 395 plus taxes

Dine like an Egyptian
A suburban eatery serves an Israeli pumpkin and beet salad, which has a rather unusual component - dukkah. It's an Egyptian condiment made with ground nuts and spices, and this dish combines it with greens in lightly infused tahini.

Time: 12 pm to 1.30 am
At: The Looney, The Lover & The Poet, Sand Pada, Khar West.
Call: 30151482
Cost: Rs 395

Cashing in on cashew
With the popularity of vegan food sky-rocketing, a restaurant has embraced the trend with its vegan summer salad, which has lotus seeds, fresh mango and an ingredient we are keen to try out homemade cashew cheese.

Time: 8.30 am to 11.30 pm
At: The Pantry, Military Square Lane, Kala Ghoda.
Call: 22700082
Cost: Rs 375 plus taxes

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