In the quest for a good thali, which incidentally is my
favourite lunch time meal, and having frequented my favourite, Casa Bhosle too
often I decided to try out a place that I had heard about constantly from
friends. I had tried some of their snacks earlier, but succumbed to suggestions
that this particular thali was “to die for”. Having moved a small part of my
business a little closer to the where this amazing plate of assorted Goan
goodness is served, I decided to visit it, along with some foodie buddies.
Peeps Kitchen, a restaurant with a very modest and
unassuming exterior, leads to a pleasantly decorated restaurant, with great
food served by very pleasant hosts. They were previously known for their Gobi
Manchurian, one of my favourite dishes of Indian-Chinese origin, so it was only
natural that our meal started with it (much to the surprise of my friends),
followed by mussels rawa fry, the best way to eat mussels. We then ordered the
piece de resistance, the fish rice plate, which consisted of two immaculately
fried slices of kingfish, smooth velvety prawn curry, another fish curry that
resembled molho made with mackerel, some vegetables that I don’t care about too
much to remember, clams sukhem done the way they should be, with coarsely
ground coconut perfectly spiced, with plump clams and my all-time favourite
side dish, kismur.
Incidentally, over the next couple of days we had a movie
night and a farewell party both with food ordered from Peeps. I was exposed to
some more of their repertoire, which was pleasantly, surprisingly good. The
tandoori chicken was succulent, and I suspect it was not hanging from the
ceiling in a half cooked state before being put in the tandoor and the naans
were the best take away naans I have eaten, because all though they were
expectedly lukewarm and devoid of crispiness, they were not rubbery and were
full of flavour. The butter chicken was creamy with just the right amount of
fenugreek and adequately buttered, pairing it perfectly well with the
cheese-garlic naans. Actually, cheese-garlic naans should just replace every
kind of bread available because the combination of butter and garlic is one
made in heaven and the cheese takes it further, if that’s even possible. The
vegetarian food is also great and coming from me it means a lot. Because I
don’t particularly love vegetarian food and it takes something really special
to impress me. The palak paneer, normally an insipid dish with pureed spinach
and rubbery cottage cheese, is served here with a lot of flavour and creamy
paneer that just needs to be squished between the tongue and the palate.
The two young men, Amey and Gaurav that run the restaurant
always have a smile on their face, and after shifting their location a few
times, have finally settled on this one. Their place definitely warrants a
peep.
