bout three weeks ago, I was invited to sample some of the new menu at Mamagoto. Until then, all my visits to the place have me order only one thing off their menu, the pork belly. It took a lot in me to get stay away. The evening started off with a new cocktail called the Rum Diaries. Bringing together my favourite, Old Monk Rum, with drilled pineapples, orange juice, time and pomegranate essence, this cocktail hit all the right spots. Loaded with the adequate amount of ice, this summer drink was ideal for the heat that was picking up in the city. I may have drunk my first few sips a little too fast, the ice and the rum hit me sooner than I expected. Served with some grilled orange on the side to add some texture to the drink, this is a cocktail I recommend to the Old Monk enthusiasts.
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| Rum Diaries |
I started off the meal with a helping of Mama’s dumplings, an assortment of veg, chicken and shrimp dumplings. The vegetarian dumpling consisted of mixed mushrooms with a fairly strong vinegar dressing. While mushrooms could be a topic of debate as being classified under ‘vegetarian’, I enjoyed the dumplings. The chicken dumpling was a bit of a let-down as the flavours of the minced chicken with the chilli oil sauce didn’t quite work for my taste buds. But topping the dumplings in terms of flavour were the shrimp dumplings. Filled with Nori (seaweed) and shrimp, the dumplings hit the right balance of spice and still retained the seafood taste of the shrimp. Fortunately, the shrimp wasn’t minced too fine and had me crunching away. I shamelessly asked for a second helping of the shrimp dumplings.
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| Veg Dumpling |
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| Shrimp Dumpling |
I tried another appetizer, the Indo Coco Rice. The dish is a traditional sticky rice roll with chicken (vegetarian option available too) steamed with coconut milk in a banana leaf. The coconut milk flavours and aroma had to struggle to compete with the overwhelming taste of the banana leaf, which left me wanting that sweet taste which would have made the dish match the expectations I had in my head looking at the ingredients. The dish however was accompanied with a spicy sauce, the name of which I forget, that took the flavour in an entirely different direction. Natural aromatic flavours of the banana leaf with the spicy flavours of the sauce made the dish a whole lot better than when I had it without the sauce.
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| Indo Coco Rice |
The main course was a Mama Katsu – Don. This dish was a mix of sake, soya, smoky onion sauce poured over a sticky rice and served with a topping of panko crusted fried chicken. ( Aubergine or Tofu for the vegetarians). What I did enjoy was the fried chicken on top which offered a lovely crunch as one bit through, and then soft chicken on the inside. As far as the rice goes, the smoky onion sauce was the dominating flavour that came through, it reminded me of a barbeque. While the flavours were large sweet, the quantity made the dish get a bit monotonous after a while. Probably the inclusion of a spicy element would have offered some vibrancy to the rice. I did ask for an extra helping of the hot sauce from the previous appetizer and that helped finish the dish.
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| Mama Katsu - Don |
Dessert was Mamagoto’s classic Banoffee Pie. Anyone who has eaten this dish here knows the absolute sinful goodness the dessert offers. If you’ve not, do head over just to try this one out. And no whining about calories and all that. The dessert doesn’t need that kind of negativity in the world.
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| Banoffee Pie |
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| Banoffee Pie |
I closed dinner with another cocktail, the Frozen Sangria. Putting a twist on the classic gola from Mumbai, the cocktail had a large block of crushed ice dipped in a gigantic red wine sangria mason jar(ish). Talk about bringing fond memories from holidays to Mumbai with a classic sangria, the cocktail left me with quite the buzz and quite the head-freeze. I did keep going back for more.
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| Frozen Sangria |
From the evening’s dinner, the cocktails ranked number one on my list; the dessert was too good to waste its time being compared with others, so let’s leave that out. The shrimp prawns would be the other memorable bit for me. Do check out some of the other dishes on the menu. I couldn’t as it was a one man show that evening with no back up.
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