A new hole-in-the-wall eatery, which brings Berlin street fare to Bandra, offers a crash course in German flavours and tongue-twisting dish names until you can afford the real deal
Illustration/Ravi Jadhav
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Picture this: At 1.30 pm, a colleague spots you heading out of office for a lunch break. Instead of greeting 'Good afternoon', s/he shouts, 'Mealtime!' Wonder why you need someone to remind you it's mealtime? It is because of this interesting ritual - in the corridors of Berlin's offices, it's common for co-workers to greet each other with a 'mahlzeit' (pronounced mal-zee-ite) during lunchtime or even when they spot someone enjoying a snack. Derived from the original 'gesegnete mahlzeit', meaning 'blessed mealtime', the salutation is similar to 'bon appetit'.
So, that's how we greeted our dining companion as we sat down for a meal at Mahlzeit, a warmly-lit but cramped, two-table eatery offering Berlin-style street food on Bandra's Pali Mala Road. Launched last week, it's more suitable for takeaways and delivery. The eatery comes to Mumbai two years after it was launched at Pune's Koregaon Park by Berlin-born Milan Pal. "I moved to Pune seven years ago to start a consultancy firm, and ended up opening a restaurant because I was missing food from here. My mother, Angelika, is German. Most of the dishes on our menu are her traditional recipes," says the 36-year-old.
Currywurst Pics/Sameer Markande
Do the doner
While schnitzel was conspicuous by its absence ("it's difficult to procure meat required for it"), the menu offers a glimpse into German cuisine with a variety of wursts (sausages) - including a mock meat version - burgers, salads, and a section on potatoes, the country's staple ingredient that stars in breakfast platters here. We also spotted a section on doner kebabs, a Turkish creation that has taken over the streets of the German capital in recent times.
The generously-sized Chicken Doner (Rs 250) featured grilled-till-crisp bread pockets stuffed to the brim with tender, shredded grilled chicken a la shawarma, diced vegetables and two sauces that packed a punch with tangy-spicy flavours. We washed it down with refreshing caffeine-spiked Club Mate (Rs 250; klup ma-tey), a popular German non-alcoholic brew. Mahlzeit imports it from a Bavarian brewery that has been producing the drink since 1924.
Milan Pal pours Club Mate
Come of (saus)age
Next, we tried Currywurst (Rs 300), where chunks of pork sausages came doused in a tomato-based curry with an oblong slice of toasted bread. "We source our sausages from a local butcher with German origins. It's as authentic as it can get," shared Pal. Taking his word for it, we polished off the well-seasoned but slightly chewy sausage with zesty, parsley-laced sauce. We loved the accompanying French fries - crispy, non-greasy and seasoned with just the right sprinkle of salt.
Next, we ordered the tongue twister called Bauernfrühstück (Rs 200), known as Farmer's Breakfast in Germany. In the tray that arrived, a Sunny Side Up glowed on a bed of sliced and fried potatoes. The mildly spiced potatoes, laced with strings of caramelised onion, elevated the comfort factor of the dish, complete with a side serving of creamy, homemade mayonnaise.
We ended the meal with Paneer Burger (Rs 250), a lip-smacking vegetarian rendition packed with tangy flavours of pickled gherkins and mayonnaise, balanced by char-grilled slices of cottage cheese and crunchy lettuce.
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