Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Pic/Satej Shinde

Selfie maine leli aaj

For once, Janhvi Kapoor gets papped at a place other than outside her gym as she attends a branch launch at a Goregaon mall on Wednesday. Pic/Satej Shinde

Ser Bronn of the Blackwater's vegan trip

Game of Thrones might be long over but Jerome Flynn who essayed the much-loved role of Ser Bronn was spotted eating his way in the city. Turns out, the English actor and singer is vegan and dropped by Khar's Rare Earth - The Vegan Cafe, which is India's first vegan store for not just a bite, but a hearty meal. It was comedian Atul Khatri, a friend of the cafe's proprietor Shammi Sethi (in pic) who took to social media to break the news, sending Indian GOT fans in a tizzy.

Apparently, the actor has come for the screening of the documentary A Prayer for Compassion that explores spirituality and a cruelty-free lifestyle along with director Thomas Wade Jackson. Dr Sailesh Rao, the founder of the non-profit Climate Healers accompanied them. Speaking about Flynn's time at his cafe-cum-store, Sethi told this diarist, "He had a crazy time ordering two pizzas, two burgers, and ice cream. He relished our Monalisa pizza and commented that it would make his Italian grandma proud. He is such a nice, simple man; you wouldn't believe it!" Well, we think Tyrion can believe that one.

Feed on this thought

In a day and age when breastfeeding in public is unfortunately still frowned on and subject to awkward glances in our country, it's heartening to see Instagram India finally catch up with Apple and launch a breastfeeding emoji that you can now use in your stories and posts.

A lot of users celebrated the emoji by simply reposting it in their feed, calling it a win for new mothers who cannot breastfeed in public and then get scowled at for not being able to pacify their hungry infant. Well, let's hope seeing the emoji on Instagram translates to taking the stigma away in real life too.

A whiff of Shillong's aromas

It was in 2017 that Tanisha Phanbuh, a chef from Shillong who had moved base to Delhi for her culinary endeavours, made her mark with the launch of Tribal Gourmet at a northeastern pop-up that boasted of a diverse menu from her hometown. Two years hence and she's now the co-partner of an eatery in the national capital called Together at 12th. The chef was in Mumbai for a month and finally revealed why she was in town - to participate in MasterChef India. And yes, she's even got flavours from Shillong to the show and tells us that she's whipped up a dish on the show, though we'll have to wait and watch the series that premiers on December 7.

"I have been watching the show for long and it's always been my dream to be on it," Phanbuh told this diarist. And though she was caught up with shoots while in the city, she did manage to squeeze out time to visit The Bombay Canteen for their Oriya pop up. "It was pretty awesome and I freaked out on the crabs!" she added. Well, here's wishing her luck!

Byculla gets an arty addition

The new art stop of the Mumbai Midtown Arts Collective, a group of art spaces that develop a community of art lovers and cultural aficionados, has a new venue - The New Great Eastern Mills in Byculla, a structure built in 1839.

Posting about it on their Instagram page with stories, they wrote, "This 176-year-old space is a reflection of Mumbai's culture scene. High ceilings, aged wooden beams, cast-iron columns and exposed brick and stone walls, all restored with minimal intervention, present a charming backdrop to a magnificent ensemble. It is now located in the heart of Mumbai's textile district, and has survived the trials of independence and the tumultuous political history."

A sweet meeting in Mahim

Earlier this week, the bylanes of Mahim went into a bit of a tizzy when celebrity chefs Vikas Khanna, Ranveer Brar and Vineet Bhatia paid a visit to Mumbai's iconic Joshi Budhakaka Mahim Halvawala to sample the iconic Mahim halva. The establishment set up in 1783 is among the oldest sweet shops in the world. This was Khanna's second visit to the shop, which he calls an institution.

"I had the pleasure of visiting this shop with a friend a few months ago. I was thrilled when I was told that we are revisiting this place," said the Michelin star chef. Khanna was surprised with the precision with which the paper-thin sweet sheets were manually prepared. Chefs Brar and Bhatia too could not stop raving about the halva. Another offering that Khanna loved was the traditional puran poli. "The thin layer of filling was precise. I can't understand how they get it," Khanna told Brar. "When my friend was coming to the US recently, I told her to buy these puran polis for me," he shared.

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