This Mumbai restaurant serves rare Latino-Asian cuisine for vegans

Its not every day that you hear the terms LatinAsian and vegan in the same sentence Think tuna made from watermelon bf nigri thats actually tomatoes and a dairyfree horchata with leftover rice milk Thats the kind of delicious twist that ThaiBritish chef Thomas Catley who has headed the PeruvianJapanese kitchen at Nobu Park Lane UK and set up PeruvianBritish restaurant Pachamama in London serves at Khars newest finedine Tori promising surprises for even hard core meatlovers such as this writerKohli and CatleyThe eatery that aspires to marry diverse cuisines and cultures across Asia and Latin America is restaurateur Abhayraj Singh Kohlis Zoom project With a hardtomiss burnt brickred entrance that leads into an 86seater indooroutdoor restaurant done up in sombre hues of greys with Oriental neon murals popping out were keen to gauge if Tori will fill the void left by the nowshut Sanchos While Kohli has been working on introducing the concept to Mumbai for over a decade since his stint with a USbased Latin Asian restaurant the numbers finally added up during the lockdown he admits He connected with chef Catley via friends and there was no looking back What drew me was that its in Asia where people understand spices and also because of my love for Indian cuisine reasons Catley who flew in by OctoberAn installation by Tyrell ValladeresEver since the UKborn chef has foraged at Vashis APMC market exchanged notes with neighbourhood vendors and sampled fare at Asian restaurants Sticking to his philosophy of vocal for local he drew up a menu that accounts for the fact that Indians love their greens The expansive menu which we expected would be dominated by nonvegetarian fare is testament to this as nearly 50 per cent of it accounts for vegetarian and vegan dishes Settling into the peppy mood set by foottapping Kpop and modern Latino numbers lunch begins with a glass of Shere Khan Rs 800 that combines a Peruvian pisco with tigre de leche used to cure raw fish in ceviche For those who dont like their cocktails sweet this is refreshingly tangy The same tigre de leche or tigers milk appears minutes later on our plates again as the umamihit tuna ceviche with mango Rs 1100 In between we dig into a juicy beetroot tartare Rs 360 with a sunny corn yolk that silks over its crunchy texture And yes theres something for kids too go for the savoury parmesan churros Rs 410 and the cute Tori bf slider with a lipsmacking dirty cheesy sauce Rs 320 both as repeatable as a pocket of friesSmoked NigriThe duo reiterates that the idea was to build the local ecosystem So although its an international cuisine youll find the local brand Dopes Japanesestyle coffees on the menu Bombay Duck Brewings coffeeflavoured stouts and a mild Japanese rice beer which will soon be available as growlers Chados teas etc Kohli informs us The climateforward approach is also the reason theyve tried to use every part of ingredients through mocktails such as horchata Rs 250 and tepache Rs 225Smoked pork ribs PicsSameer MarkandeWere happy to note that vegetarian and vegan dishes arent added as an afterthought to the healthy but indulgent menu We believed it was fish as we tucked into the vegan tuna Rs 490 when it was actually aged watermelon while the meaty smoked nigri Rs 300 was tomatoes and not bfbased I know vegetarian fare is popular here At Vashi market I spotted a lot of watermelons and thought that the colour matched tunas We tried to treat local produce to replicate the taste of meat Catley explainsOff the Tapasstyle menu we also enjoyed the bitesized tacos with caramelised banana Rs 210 a citrusy hamachi Rs 900 bangbang crispy prawns Rs 610 a flavourbomb of pineapples and Kashmiri mirchi and a matchalayered Kyoto sour Rs 700 Among the mains the unusual lightness of the Singapore fried rice Rs 480 and smoked pork ribs Rs 760 stand out which Kohli attributes to the 60odd sauces and oils that Catley has whipped up Ending our visit with Yuzu vanilla sponge cake with Earl Grey icecream Rs 350 we make a mental note to return to down a few sake flights in the al fresco section Thats a date to look forward toAt 21 Pali Hill Rod Union Park Khar West opens tomorrowCall 9833373888