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Mumbai’s restaurants have had no choice but to keep pace with its citizen’s galloping palates

Eating out is serious business nowadays. Even till 15 years ago, 'going out for dinner' was a safe and simple phrase denoting a trip to the nearby Chinese or Indian restaurant and a repast of chow mein, and diced chilly chicken, or tandoori chicken and dal fry. The glutton within was sated, and palates and pockets remained unchallenged.

But alas, those simple days are no more. Jet Airways' international avatar, Manmohan Singh (both in his 1991 and current XP version) and Thomas Cook, among many others, have ensured that today's Mumbaite travels the world, travels it relatively young and travels with considerable style. And as he traverses the globe - both physically and metaphorically - can his tongue be far behind?

Indeed not. His tongue is a bona fide phoren return, armed with flavours and textures hitherto unknown and now, it wants more!

Face it, for legions of gourmands, food has gone from being a necessity and an occasional indulgence, to a denominator of one's cool quotient. If you don't know your parma from your prosciutto, or a carapaccio from a Caravaggio, then you don't belong to today's world, where one doesn't simply go out to eat; one goes out for the 'complete dining experience'.

So Mumbai's restaurants have had no choice but to keep pace with its citizen's galloping palates. So you have restaurants serving modern Far Eastern fusion like Joss or Seijo and the Soul Dish which attempts to recreate authentic south East Asian flavours in its preparations.

But what's even more amazing is the Mumbaite's discovery of Japanese cuisine, particularly sushi.

From being exotic, unknown (and most importantly, raw), sushi today is a certified delicacy with diners nodding knowledgeably while choosing between eel and tuna fillings and preferring nigiri to maki.

Proof of this is Wasabi, Taj Mahal Hotel's premier restaurant, which has redefined the term 'expensive'.

Here, customers don't blink an eyelid (well maybe they do - very quickly though!) while shelling out Rs 6000-8000 for a complete meal for one person which is probably enough to sustain an entire family's expenses for a month in some parts of this city.

Why even simple Chinese isn't that simple anymore! While the lowest common (delicious) denominators - those mobile van restaurants at Nariman Point have long since disappeared, the others exist in neat tiers.

The cheap, easy and feel-good 'Indian Chinese' places like Five Spice, China Town and China Valley are followed by the stable old favourites like Ling's Pavilion and China Garden which are all about solid food and little else, and topped with fine dining establishments like Royal China, Golden Dragon and Henry Tham.

In comparison to all this, the proclivity for full-bodied cuisines like Italian and Lebanese which are familiar to the Indian palate are even easier to comprehend. Italian restaurants like good ol' Trattoria, Don Giovanni and newer additions like Mangi Ferra, Mezzo Mezzo and Monza are taking Mumbaites through the 100-odd types of pasta beyond spaghetti, and the joys of wood-fired oven pizzas.

And Moshe still leads the Middle Eastern gastronomic revolution, followed by a diverse entity like the rudimentary shawarma roll joint Maroush, at Phoenix Mills.

Even Indian food isn't a simple rubric anymore. Because, someone who likes Konkani or Malwani cuisine may not fancy Lucknowi biryani. And an ardent lover of Bengali cuisine and its pungent mustard reminiscence may have no love lost for the besan-laden cuisines of Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Indeed, statements like, "I love/hate Indian food" are complete misnomers in today's world of highly informed and individualistic palates.

The truth is that, as one of the most non-contentious faces of globalisation, the multicultural approach towards food is only set to grow as people's purses and preferences expand, and love for the familiar gives way to desire for the exotic.

And while you're ruminating on that thought, can you pass me some of that haggis please?