Euro-'gaon' in Bandra

I guess this must be the most popular restaurant in Mumbai. Because when you walk in at 7.45 and it’s all empty and ask for a table for two, it can throw the staff into a total tizzy. After much whispered confab and hushed mutterings, you are told that you can get a table but only if you promise to leave by 9 pm. It’s all booked up you see. Friends have told me that they’ve had similar experiences here and even been asked to leave mid-meal. An interesting way of building customer relations, on the face of it.
Anyway, we promise to eat and run.

For some reason there is no name outside the restaurant but it’s practically on the corner of Pali Naka. There are several levels that wind their way all over. It looks partly like a Goan home and partly like the fantasy of someone who’s read too many Peter Mayle books. Indians have lately discovered this British fascination with European village life and if they can’t rush to Goa to live there, they rush to restaurants that mimic the experience.

Pali Village Cafe; was full of atmosphere but some of that was also because it was pitch dark (note to self: carry torch in handbag when you go eating out in Mumbai’s trendy spots).

Peering through the menu, I identify some chorizo with peppers and order that as a starter. Also a pizza slice — they don’t have the pepperoni and fig so we try a proscuitto and asparagus. We are not given a bar menu — middle-aged ladies should perhaps in the Euro-gaon experience live on tea.

Still we ask for it and find that there’s only a selection of wines, no “hard” liquor which does not really suit either rock chick or me. Keeping with the “ambience” (please pronounce in faux French), we ask for two poncy wine cocktails. Which were actually quite pleasant — fruity but not too sweet.

You cannot go wrong with chorizo and it was very nice indeed. The sausage came with grilled peppers and onions and vanished in seconds (portions are small). The pizza was two sandwich bread-sized triangles of thin crust with the topping, which is a good idea for a starter because it gives you the illusion of pizza but doesn’t fill you up.

The main courses were grilled tiger prawns and grilled tenderloin. My steak was very good, I must say. Because it was so dark I could not see that whether it really was as medium-rare as I asked for, but the mouth feel seemed correct. The jus around was perfect and the mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables added the right touch.

The grilled prawns were good but perhaps slightly overwhelmed by the dill. Also came with mashed potatoes and some asparagus. If a complaint can be made it is that the portions are small.

For dessert, we ordered a hazelnut mousse tort and a lemon almond ricotta cake. Both were excellent. The mousse had the flavour of hazelnut and the crunch and enough chocolate to make it interesting. The almond lemon cake was such a change from everything else you normally get — tart, sweet, nutty, perfect.
 It was 9 pm and we were out.

The food was good but it felt like the atmosphere was a bit overdone. Strangely, no one noticed that the music system was off and we had to listen to the same accordion guitar combo rustic song for an hour. When we pointed it out to the waiter he was shocked and came back apologetically to say something was wrong.

They also seem a little sensitive about publicity as the DNA photographer was asked what we were going to write before they allowed a photo to be taken. But since I don’t talk to nobody, that bid was foiled. The prices are at what is considered normal in Mumbai — that means expensive. But Pali Village Cafe is an interesting place with good food — just make sure you make a reservation first.