Where Ghalib gets a high

It's not just ghazals that meet Electronica, even if unintentionally, in the just-opened MirzaGhalib restaurant. here, cocktails are made of paan and vodka, and kebabs marinated with red wine

Twenty-six is a very difficult age in a man's life. Your younger friends listen to The Doors, your older friends insist on Jagjit Singh, and there is no music median for you to hang on to. Add to that is the conundrum of every 26 year-old ufffd where do you spend a perfect dinner? A nightclub? A 'family' restaurant? Anything in between?

This confusion gets a strange resonance when you visit the city's just-opened MirzaGhalib. Situated inside the Unicontinental Hotel near Khar station, MirzaGhalib shares space with Lollypop Deli and Lollypop, the nightclub.



So, whenever someone opens its restaurant door, diners get to hear a unique fusion ufffd that of the ghazal singer in MirzaGhalib and the music pumping out of Lollypop DJ's turntable. If outside, there is glitz, inside, it is sombre. And you can't help but wonder if you belong to Lollypop or MirzaGhalib (or LollyGhalib).

When this reviewer visited the restaurant at 6 pm, young boys sporting 'he-vage' t-shirts, and reed-thin girls ufffd undoubtedly college students who weren't permitted to party late ufffd thronged the gate outside. Once you bypass this young crowd and enter, the restaurant isn't all that bad. The waiters are obliging and if you are uninterested in the ghazals, you can shift your gaze from the ghazal singer to the large flatscreen that will play you cricket or Wimbledon, or anything else.

The singer, except for his middle parting, is a Jagjit Singh clone. He sings Singh's covers, and also curves his eyebrows at every high note, looking a lot like the ghazal mogul.

Mid-meal, he asked this reviewer, if he had any song requests. When only smiles came his way, he said, "Bollywood songs, maybe." This was a low blow, magnified because of the fact that this said reviewer had a date with him. Chickening out, the reviewer turned to Wimbledon.

The food is interesting. Among the many drinks is one named Ek Jamh Ghalib Ke Naam, which is a cocktail consisting of paan (or beetle leaves), vodka and two pieces of cloves. How does it taste? Exactly like paan mixed with vodka. Perhaps, this could be a cure for paan spit stains across our city, but at Rs 350, this might not work with the masses. Their Sharabi Kebab (Rs 235) tastes decent. The meat is tender and has a hint of alcohol (it is marinated in red wine). Their Jhinga Pudina Biryani (Rs 325) is not very spicy, like it is in most other restaurants, but extremely dry.

However, what is a definite waste is their Mast Kalandar (Rs 155) desert. Hardly mast, the desert is nothing but a tart containing small pieces of gulab jamun, cream and strawberry sauce. Give me my cracker and jam, any day. MirzaGhalib is worth a try, even if the food is just about okay and Jagjit Singh is a doorway away from meeting Electronica. And in case Mr Smarty Pants does ask you for requests, we suggest you bite the bullet. When this reviewer was leaving, three recommendations by a diner were turned down because he did not know the lyrics. Take that you clone!

At Ground floor, Unicontinental Hotel, 3rd Road, near Khar Railway Station, Khar (W);
Call 26481652

MirzaGhalib didn't know we were there. THE GUIDE reviews anonymously and pays for meals