Mumbai food: Meraki - A slice of the hills at Bandra-based pop-up

Meraki pronounced 'May-rah-kee' means the soul or love that is put into something, an essence of the artist that goes into his/ her creation

Meraki pronounced ‘May-rah-kee’ means the soul or love that is put into something, an essence of the artist that goes into his/ her creation. And that is exactly what two girls from the hills have managed to make their audience feel. Pooja Pangtey and Teiskhem (Tei) Lynrah are dishing out some delicious food using indigenous ingredients that they bring back every time they travel home. Meraki is out there for all of us to experience as and when we taste their love for the cuisine that they have grown up with.

Pooja comes from Uttarakhand, and her recipes showcase the best from Kumaon. Mostly bent towards the Himalayan vegetables and lentils, these add a dimension to the Mumbai culinary landscape which was mostly absent otherwise. Tei on the other hand is from Shillong and demonstrates Khasi style of food. Cuisines very different from each other, but come together seamlessly. The recipes are rustic and labor intensive; no added flavors, no refined products, no shortcuts. The bone broth and stock used in the cooking is also homemade.

Munsyari rajma with jumboo and wood smoked pork saute

We got a chance to taste some of the food that Meraki produces, at one of their popups recently. The menu highlighted various styles of pork and other meats, from Meghalaya and lentils from Kumaon. For us what stood out was the jumboo (herb only found and used in Kumaon) spiced Rajma and the wood smoked pork saute. Both, a perfect accompaniment for some good whiskey or a dark beer. Apart from this they had a wide variety of other meat dishes, dried fish chutney, Kumaoni bhat (black beans) dal and alu gutka.

Pooja and Tei

Meraki also prepares meat pickles which are up for sale. Their recent batch of pork pickle were shipped to Bangalore and Pune in addition to Mumbai. With two pop-ups already done for this season, they plan to conduct a few of them in September. If you are looking for some new flavors to tickle your palette, look no further, for this will provide a refreshing new addition to the eating out options.

For more details, follow them on Instagram - @meraki_bombay
Like their fb page - https://www.facebook.com/MerakiBombay/

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