Bun for all, all for bun

An open chicken katsu sando burger

A family that cooks together stays together. That's the maxim that the Lulla household in Khar is following with their new venture, The Weekend Burger Co. Siblings Sahil and Nikhil have started it along with Kresha, Sahil's wife, and they operate out of their home kitchen with no external help. Kresha tells us that the idea was born during the lockdown. This is a period when home chefs have popped up across Mumbai like mushrooms in the monsoon sprouting on the bark of a fallen tree. The Lullas, too, dipped their finger in the pie, feeding off the expertise that Sahil had gained in a culinary school in Dubai, later spending two years as a chef in the Gulf city.

But, it's a side profession. The three of them have individual jobs that they are also pursuing at present. That's why this initiative has been kept aside for the weekends only. "We take our orders from Monday to Friday, which is also when we source our ingredients, which were difficult to find in the initial days of the lockdown. People are also so health conscious these days that we weren't sure whether they would have fried stuff every day of the week," Kresha says, adding that the menu is changed every month to spice things up.

Chicken katsu curry rice bowl

The theme in August is chicken katsu (there's a tofu option for vegetarians). This is a deep-fried Japanese item covered with flaky breadcrumbs called panko, which give the meat a crispy coating. The dish has travelled well to places like England and America. But it's as rare in the Mumbai market as spotting Norwegian salmon is in the city's docks. Kresha tells us that that's one of the main reasons behind this month's menu. "We wanted to do something different," she says, and with that in mind, we place an order for chicken katsu sando burger ('550), chicken katsu curry rice bowl ('550), edamame with sea salt ('350) and weekend fries ('120).

The different parts of the burger, interestingly, arrive in individual boxes with a note on how to assemble them. It says that the bottom bun needs to be smeared with curry mayo first, before jalapenos, lettuce leaves and the chicken katsu patty are piled on top of it in that order. The final step calls for pouring curry sauce on the patty and topping it with a zingy coleslaw, before enclosing it with the top half of the brioche bun. The result is an offbeat burger that packs in unusual flavours that mingle together like a group of close friends having a boisterous conversation at a party.

Edamame with sea salt

The weekend fries that are perfectly crispy and subtly spiced are like the Cleopatra to the burger's Mark Antony. But it's the edamame that we fall truly in love with. These soya bean pods are lightly salted and our taste buds almost cry out in joy when we dip each one in soya sauce before sucking the beans out of the casing (don't pop the whole thing in your mouth since the fibrous exterior is meant more for goats to chew on than human beings). That leaves the chicken kastu curry rice bowl, and this is the most traditional way of eating the deep-fried meat cutlet. The Royal Navy had introduced the concept of a curry to Japan in the 19th century, after picking it up from where else, but India. But don't expect the sort of pepper-laced spicy gravy we are used to. The Japanese version is brownish in colour and almost sweet in taste, and The Weekend Burger Co sticks to that template with their dish.

So, when it comes to the quality of their products, the Lullas have hit a home run despite it being such a small team. It's only a delivery-cum-takeaway venture, and the idea, Kresha says, is for the food to travel from one family (hers) to another (yours). She asks us whether we have any feedback, and the only one we can think of is adding napkins to each order since burgers can usually get messy. But otherwise, all we can tell her is 'arigato' for a scrumptious Japanese meal.

(From left) Sahil, Kresha and Nikhil Lulla

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