From food and wine to vibe, Bandra's Salt Water Cafe gets a new avatar as Bandra Born

King cabbage roasted overnight and served in its own jus with brown butter. Pics/Ashish Raje

It is a sweltering afternoon in September when we walk into the space that was once the Salt Water Café. It takes a while for our eyes to absorb the revamped interiors with its graffiti, hip design and bright neon sign that reads Bandra Born. Chef Gresham Fernandes, culinary director and co-owner, has been working on the final details of the menu before the launch. The new space, titled Bandra Born, opens today - a month after the team decided to end the 15-year-long run of Salt Water Café on September 8. With design studio Bombay Duck stepping in to shape the new space, it is a clear departure from the old vibe.

Chicken liver pota fry

Not an easy decision when it comes to a Bandra landmark, we say. "We changed because we wanted to evolve," admits the chef-restaurateur, whose journey spans from the kitchens of The Leela in 2000-2003 to Copenhagen's Noma, and back to Mumbai. This 12-week-pop-up allows the team to showcase their creativity. "We [restaurateur Riyaz Amlani and I] have been in this business for over 20 years, and did not want to play it safe," the chef adds.

While the new space offers only post 8 pm dinner service for now, the idea is to offer lunch and dinner service, catering to a diverse clientele. "I want families to have fun while they lunch here; but evenings are for conversations over a drink at the bar," Fernandes says. The vibe for both the spaces will be different, he promises.

Graffiti on the interior (right) Neon sign

The beers come from Great State Aleworks, including the specially-brewed crisp lager, nimble girl (Rs 400) in a snazzy customised can for patrons to take home after use. The crispiness is enhanced by the bar nibbles (from the bars of Bandra, Rs 170) with chickpeas reminiscent of old haunts. If it were not for our impending work in the newsroom, we might have ordered a few pints and spent the afternoon listening to Dire Straits.

"None of the dishes are cuisine or ingredient-centric. It is about a feeling," reveals Fernandes, who will be sourcing local products with emphasis on sustainability. The feeling he seeks to replicate is that of Bandra as a village. For him, the suburb meant afternoons at skateboard parks with BMX bikes, or of a whole village teaming up to prepare meat for sorpotel for a wedding.

Chef Gresham Fernandes

And we can sense these stories in Patricia's pussycat (Rs 625) - a citrus-y cocktail named after the legend of Ms Patricia who would walk her pet leopards through Bandra's bylanes. Or the buzz bazaar (Rs 750) named after Bazaar Road. The menu is diverse with a focus on flavour and fun. We start with the the shippy's sandwich (Rs 510), mushroom tart (Rs 575) and beets' meat (Rs 425). The bite-sized sandwiches come from the sailor's workman-like repast fashioned anew with fig jam and brown butter, easy on the palate; like the mushrooms with porcini in the tart.

Venus jam cake (right) beets' meat

We particularly love the combination of beets with crispy chilli oil in the beets' meat. They make for ideal starters to a lunch of chicken liver pota fry (R425) and the quirkily named kamina karpaccio (R675). The pota fry is one to dig in with your hands. It has the right balance of spice, protein and bread for a late-night binge. The carpaccio is a sophisticated tenderloin, treated delicately with truffled ponzu. It is hearty enough to make us rethink work.

Patricia's pussycat and kamina karpaccio

"You don't often get a chance to radically change the menu. We have 40 new dishes, a new wine selection and vibe," says Fernandes. "I love to observe people's expressions and enjoy that excitement when they discover the new flavours," he proudly admits. As we dig into the joyous sweetness of the Venus jam cake with its mixed berry sorbet (R375), we understand exactly what the chef means. Even as we take our leave, there is a palpable excitement about the place. We look forward to exploring more of this Bandra-hued experience.

Bandra Born
On: Today; 7 pm onwards
At: Annexe, Chapel Road, Reclamation, Bandra West.
Call: 8657738778