A Thai-British chef is plating inspired flavour profiles from two regions that will wow all foodies, including vegans and vegetarians
Vegan tuna
It's not every day that you hear the terms, Latin-Asian and vegan in the same sentence. Think tuna made from watermelon, b*#f nigri that's actually tomatoes, and a dairy-free horchata with left-over rice milk. That's the kind of delicious twist that Thai-British chef Thomas Catley - who has headed the Peruvian-Japanese kitchen at Nobu Park Lane, UK, and set up Peruvian-British restaurant Pachamama in London - serves at Khar's newest fine-dine Tori, promising surprises for even hard core meat-lovers, such as this writer.
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Kohli and Catley
The eatery that aspires to marry diverse cuisines and cultures across Asia and Latin America, is restaurateur Abhayraj Singh Kohli's "Zoom project". With a hard-to-miss burnt brick-red entrance that leads into an 86-seater indoor-outdoor restaurant, done up in sombre hues of greys with Oriental neon murals popping out, we're keen to gauge if Tori will fill the void left by the now-shut Sanchos. While Kohli has been working on introducing the concept to Mumbai for over a decade since his stint with a US-based 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 it's in Asia, where people understand spices, and also because of my love for Indian cuisine," reasons Catley, who flew in by October.
An installation by Tyrell Valladeres
Ever since, the UK-born chef has foraged at Vashi's 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 non-vegetarian 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 foot-tapping K-pop 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 don't like their cocktails sweet, this is refreshingly tangy. The same tigre de leche or tiger's milk appears minutes later on our plates again as the umami-hit tuna ceviche, with mango (Rs 1,100). In between, we dig into a juicy beetroot tartare (Rs 360) with a sunny corn yolk that silks over its crunchy texture. And yes, there's something for kids, too; go for the savoury, parmesan churros (Rs 410), and the cute Tori b*#f slider with a lip-smacking dirty cheesy sauce (Rs 320) - both as repeatable as a pocket of fries.
Smoked Nigri
The duo reiterates that the idea was to build the local ecosystem. "So, although it's an international cuisine, you'll find the local brand Dope's Japanese-style coffees on the menu, Bombay Duck Brewing's coffee-flavoured stouts and a mild Japanese rice beer [which will soon be available as growlers], Chado's teas, etc," Kohli informs us. The climate-forward approach is also the reason they've tried to use every part of ingredients through mocktails such as horchata (Rs 250) and tepache (Rs 225).
Smoked pork ribs. Pics/Sameer Markande
We're happy to note that vegetarian and vegan dishes aren't 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 b*#f-based. "I know vegetarian fare is popular here. At Vashi market, I spotted a lot of watermelons, and thought that the colour matched tuna's. We tried to treat local produce to replicate the taste of meat," Catley explains.
Off the Tapas-style menu, we also enjoyed the bite-sized tacos with caramelised banana (Rs 210); a citrusy hamachi (Rs 900); bang-bang crispy prawns (Rs 610), a flavour-bomb of pineapples and Kashmiri mirchi; and a matcha-layered 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 60-odd sauces and oils that Catley has whipped up. Ending our visit with Yuzu vanilla sponge cake with Earl Grey ice-cream (Rs 350), we make a mental note to return, to down a few sake flights in the al fresco section. That's a date to look forward to.
At: 21, Pali Hill Rod, Union Park, Khar West (opens tomorrow)
Call: 9833373888
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