Mumbai Food: Lower Parel hotspot's cocktail menu influenced by city's lingo

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A funky city lingo-inspired calendar will also go on sale at the restaurant. Pics/Pradeep Dhivar

'I'll have a Liberty Cinema' would not raise an eyebrow at The Bombay Canteen (TBC), for the restaurant is known to serve food and drinks inspired by the city. And after serving cocktails, which paid a tribute to the Art Deco buildings of Mumbai, the Lower Parel hotpost is ringing in 2018 with a cocktail menu influenced by Mumbai's street lingo.

"With the Art Deco menu, people had a sense of ownership towards it, as many had stayed in or seen those buildings. We celebrated the 'Bombay' part of the city with that menu; we thought, why not look at the 'Mumbai' aspect for our next. We came up with a list of colloquial words and narrowed it down to six, and used them to create the recipes," says Yash Bhanage, partner, TBC.

This menu will be presented in the form of a calendar (with stickers) designed by Please See, and is available for sale for those who want to take a piece of the restaurant home. Each word from the list of six - ikde tikde, jhakaas, thamba, bantai, boss and public - will also include tertiary design aspects depicting tidbits which the owners relate the meaning to. So, boss comes with a mention of names such as Afroz Shah of the Versova beach clean-up campaign, and Jennylou Bhiwandiwala, the Bandra resident who feeds 350 stray dogs every day.

Excited to down a glass full of Mumbai, here's what brought us much cheer

Thamba
Made with kokum juice, sparkling wine, white rum and cranberry, we envision us enjoying this drink this summer. "You will want to drink this till we say thamba (stop)," chuckles Bhanage ('750).

Ikde tikde
Inspired by a negroni, this drink tastes potent and uses kafir lime-infused Campari, and house-made strawberry liquor. "Many Indians don't prefer a negroni because of its bitterness, which is why we twisted the recipe. Also, once someone drinks this potent cocktail, they will walk ikde tikde, hence the name," smiles Rahul Raghvan, beverage manager ('650).

Bantai
A favourite of the staff and ours, this smooth cocktail is made with house-made raspberry syrup, dark rum, pineapple, plum bitters, starfruit, lime and egg white ('525).

Boss
Feel like a boss with this whisky cocktail made with beetroot, orange, pineapple and angostura bitters. A healthy cocktail, it does not use sugar and relies on the natural sweetness of beetroot ('750).

Jhakaas
Made with fresh carrot and ginger juice, this drink is inspired by and reminds us of the carrot ginger juice sold at railway station stalls. The calendar includes fun illustrations of how to look jhakaas, tapori style ('475).

Seasonal additions
Shami kebab with a green garlic chutney, turnip, kolrabi and bacon bits Fresh tur samosa chat with raw mango galka and green spinach chutney

Next on the menu
Those following TBC's executive chef Thomas Zacharias' Instagram account would recall that the chef recently went on a road trip to Kolhapur. Back with a suitcase packed with recipes sourced en route, the next seasonal menu at TBC will be inspired by his trip and will especially bust the myth that all Kolhapuri food is spicy.

Launches Today
At: The Bombay Canteen, Kamala Mills, Lower Parel
Call: 49666666
Cost: Rs 500 for the calendar

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