Home sweet home

The interiors. Pics/ Pradeep Dhivar

The first taste of fusion as a 1980s kid came in the form of a bite into a hot gulab jamun served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream at a family gathering. The warmth of the East meeting the chilled delight of the West.

Then came the craze for rasmalai cheesecakes, rasgullas soaked in vodka, gajar halwa in a tart and the questionable chocolate samosas. But it bridged the gap for most youngsters who ate only the mithai that their parents brought home.

With time, Indian sweets have changed form and shape, and have also retained their standing. As shape-shifters, they find an audience in both - being revamped in modern avatars as well as wearing the proud garb of tradition. While there have been hits and misses, the Indian mithai is enjoying the limelight in its bespoke form as chefs, restaurateurs and patissiers are looking at returning to the delights of traditional Indian mithai.

This Thursday, the team at The Hunger Inc that gave the city The Bombay Canteen and O Pedro, will launch Bombay Sweet Shop to take the conversation of reimagining Indian mithai ahead.

Art Deco stencils on the glass door take us into a factory-like setup, candy shop and café in a quiet bylane of Byculla when we drop by for the first dekko. The mithai bar accommodates a soft-serve machine which will swirl flavours including puran poli and a 20-feet counter where desserts will be finished for customers to watch (look out for the schedule on the wall) ending in a chikki counter. Here, you can choose your nuts and have your package ready in under eight minutes. Behind the glass panels, one gets a glimpse of the kitchen, and the processes. "Halwais never give away their recipes or techniques. Here, we wanted a transparent setup so that the customers can appreciate the effort that goes behind each product," Floyd Cardoz, culinary director, tells us.

Floyd Cardoz, Yash Bhanage and Sameer Seth

From where we sit, the walls are lined with shelves filled with candy jars, as seen in single-screen cinema halls from the '50s. They show off packaging that comes in all shapes and sizes designed with retro-pop charm. Gifting plays a big part in this offering. Among them sit vintage knick-knacks for company. The space has warm, pastel colours of pista and rose and the Terrazo tiles flaunt flower and bee motifs.

To run the kitchen, the team has roped in a chief mithaiwala, chef Girish Nayak. A classmate of Thomas Zacharias of The Bombay Canteen, from his time at WelcomGroup Manipal Hotel Management, the 34-year-old worked at a halwai for six months. He then enrolled into the Culinary Institute of America and has also worked at the Olive Group. In 2017, he met Floyd Cardoz, who at the time was running Paowalla in New York. "We want to master baking, but don't know what goes into our Indian sweets. The complexity is distinctly different," say Nayak, adding, "Sugar syrup plays an important role in mithais. Its consistency and concentration is different for different mithais. In a motichoor laddoo, for example, the ratio of water to sugar varies depending on the size of the boondi."

Known for travelling to India's interiors for inspiration, the boys spent two years researching regional mithai. From observing the process of making ghewar and tasting sandesh in Kolkata to discovering churned kulfi in Lucknow that is served like an ice-cream scoop. "During trials, we've blind-tasted sweets made from a variety of milk to see what works best," says Yash Bhanage, founder and COO.

The Guide's top 4 picks

Karachi halwa (Rs 120)

The Karachi halwa turns into gummy cubes without being overtly sticky. Mixed with seeds, fruits and nuts, they are a khatta-meetha trip.

Karanji (Rs 300)

With Holi around the corner, the karanji or gujiya is legit indulgence. The plated dessert is served with yogurt with turmeric and a touch of gondhoraj; the gujiya is filled with warm strawberry compote.

Patissa chocolate fingers (Rs 90 a piece)

You'll be reminded of the sohan papdi. This Punjabi delicacy is a chocolate bar with fine layers of translucent coconut caramel, a layer of pepper caramel and a flaky layer of patissa.

Green pea matri taco (Rs 225)

To cut through the sweetness, the café will offer a variety of chaat, snacks and banta sodas. Inspired by Sameer Seth's staple breakfast from his hometown Delhi, one of the offerings is the their version of the mathri as a crispy taco served with a warm, semi-mash of pea puree. It has a chatpata drizzle of achari goat cheese.

Opens March 5
Time 11 am to 9 pm
At Bombay Sweet Shop, JAK Compound, Dadoji Konddeo Cross Lane, Byculla East.
Call 49696677
Log on to www.bombaysweetshop.com

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