Devil's night out

It’s time to bring out those Jack-o-lanterns, Dracula outfits and go trick-or-treating. It’s Halloween today. Get a taste of this festival with masquerade balls and special Halloween parties being held across the city.

“It’s a fun festival. Even though not everyone celebrates it, Halloween is an upcoming festival here,” says Tricia Batliwalla, co-owner of Valhalla, the tapas bar at Churchgate. With a desire to make Mumbaikars experience Halloween, Valhalla is lining up a special Val Witch Project — a masquerade party complete with a ghoulish décor, carved pumpkins strewn around and waiters dressed in skeleton costumes.

Halloween traces its origins back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, who celebrated their new year on November 1. Hence October 31 was celebrated as Halloween which marked the end of summer and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time that was often associated with death and when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.

Merlin’s, the bar at The Orchid, Vile Parle, is celebrating Halloween with a special menu and drinks selection. The bar will be decorated in black and orange, the main colours associated with Halloween and will have hanging bats, spiders and webs, a smoke machine welcoming you, a witch statue, skeleton and a mummy and pumpkin balloons.

In keeping with the theme, horror photos and short films will be screened. Be prepared to see the waiters offering you Ghost’s Bite (lamb morsels tartlets), Red Sins (Amritsari machali), Spider’s Web (roast potatoes with garlic yoghurt), Bloody Peanuts (peanuts tossed in red barbeque dip) and Haunted Cottage (crispy fried cottage cheese morsels) while they move around dressed in the evil black colour and wearing Zombie masks. “I came up with spooky and scary names for the dishes in keeping with the Halloween theme,” says Ajay Pathak, executive chef.

It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks.

Bonobo’s at Bandra, will be having a costume party, with a special make-up artist to dress you up. The décor will be a surprise.

Halloween is incomplete without the traditional carved pumpkin  and paying tribute to this essential element of Halloween is The Elbo Room, Linking Road. Every dish on their special menu includes pumpkin. “Pumpkin is an underrated food in India. It is very delicate, gets cooked easily and blends well with all food,” says Nirmal Roy Monteiro, corporate executive chef, who will also be carving out pumpkins for decoration.

His pumpkin delights include pumpkin and cheese croquettes, pumpkin bruschettas (diced pumpkins with olives or chicken sausages, topped with mozzarella), Witch Kraft (pasta tossed in creamy cheese pumpkin sauce with shrimp or exotic vegetables or chicken) and Jack and the Pumpkin Stock (baked pumpkin slices braised in white wine topped with crispy vegetable patty). Match the food with cocktails like Vampire’s Blood (pomegranate, passion fruit, vodka and cranberry juice), Graveyard Melody (vodka, blue curacao, lime juice and Sprite) and Loved by a Demon (vodka, melon liquor, cranberry juice and lime).

The Glamour Graveyard costume party at Headquarters (HQ’s), Colaba will be paying tribute to Hollywood legends of the past and the famous roles they played. There will be a make-up artist on hand, lots of bats, ghouls, monsters and devils.

Hard Rock Café’s (Lower Parel) Thriller Night will be a Halloween party in honour of singer Michael Jackson. The décor will be straight out of the Thriller video, with coffins, fog machines giving off a smoke effect, cobwebs and bats hanging from the ceiling and staff dressed up as extras from the video. Finger food like Goo Goo Dolls Goblin Goo (tortilla chips, nachos with jalapeno, guacamole and diced tomatoes), Frankenstein Fingers (deep fried mozzarella cheese bits), Vampire Bites with Mummy milk (brownie bites in special sauce served with a glass of milk) and Bat out of Hell Wings (spiced chicken wings) will be at your service.

Have a hell of a time at Salt Water Café, Bandra with it’s skeletons and pumpkin candles to thrill up the night. With the staff welcoming you in their spooky costumes, the café will serve sinful snacks and cunning cocktails to complete the supernatural evening.
So, this Halloween, get ready to be spooked out of your wits.