Neil Fernandes learnt to cook while watching his mamma make cutlets for lunch. Today, he manages his own catering business built on his mother's traditional East Indian recipes, run from his ancestral home off Carter Road
Neil Fernandes learnt to cook while watching his mamma make cutlets for lunch. Today, he manages his own catering business built on his mother's traditional East Indian recipes, run from his ancestral home off Carter Roadu00a0u00a0
We turn off Carter Road to enter a narrow lane, walking behind Neil Fernandes, who is dressed in a polo neck tee and shorts, perched precariously on his scooter. He's taking us home, which in this case is a 130-year old bungalow. For non-Bandra residents, Carter Road is a concrete promenade of coochie-cooing couples, old men walking past briskly and the occasional slogan-shouting activist. 
But take a turn into one of its many bylanes, and you will time-travel to an era of small cosy bungalows with wrought iron gates and spiral staircases, whose doors remain open so neighbours can chat all day. A sit-out in front of the house overlooks a modest garden with a solitary pine tree still covered with remnants of Christmas buntings and flanked by colourful flowers.
Time seems to pass slowly at Fernandes' ancestral house that has been in his East Indian family for generations. Antique furniture, mosaic tiles and countless photographs keep the past alive within. A gust of wind comes in from an open window and brings with it a whiff of spicy aromas. The dining table is cluttered with finely-chopped vegetables and thinly-sliced meats. We sit at the table, where countless family lunches and celebratory dinners have been eaten, and Fernandes butters a few dozen slices of bread. He begins to tell us about his day. 
Potato Chops sit beside the Chicken Farcha and Pies
"I start cooking at 6.30 am. I make about three batches of food a day. On the weekends I prepare the Sorpotel, Vindaloo and Chicken Xacuti in large quantitiesu00a0-- almost five kilograms each." There's enough time, he points out, to catch up on the details.
Vindaloo is a pork preparation with spices made in vinegar; potatoes are added to balance the sourness. Sorpotel, again a pork dish, is of Portugese origin, and is cooked in a spicy red gravy and served with sanna, a spongy, sweet steamed rice cake. Xacuti (pronounced shakuti) is a chicken dish with elaborate spicing in a coconut curry. Fernandes also takes bulk orders that serve 60 people.
"The oven accommodates eight whole chickens at a time, so I cook about 50 chickens a week," says Fernandes matter-of-factly, as he holds a tray of battered chicken legs and dips them gently into boiling oil. Chicken Farcha, he explains, is a Parsi preparation.
We're now in Fernandes' kitchen, and it's getting hot. For 14 years, Fernandes worked in an offshore oil drilling rig before he realised he was a whiz in front of the stove. "I'm a qualified welder so the heat doesn't affect me," he says, as he pulls put a hot batch of Chicken Pies from the oven.
Surprisingly, he wasn't always interested in cooking. "But I remember watching my mum cook. She had a small catering business so I dug out the old recipes and added my own touch to them," says Fernandes. Mikneil Caterers, as his stall opposite St Andrew's Church, Bandra, is called, serves authentic East Indian and Goan cuisine, though he also stocks Italian and Chinese depending on his mood.
The constant dish on the menu, however, is Potato Chops. Fernandes makes close to 100 Potato Chops a day. "Not everyone knows what it is but once they try it, they keep coming back for more," jokes Fernandes. Who could blame them? For something that sounds like a Karate tackle, this round cutlet is manna to your taste buds. Mutton or chicken mince wrapped in mashed potato, dipped in an egg batter and rolled in bread crumbs, the Potato Chop is common place in the Catholic vocabulary.
Mikneil serves up preparations of chicken, beef, mutton and pork. Fernandes even makes his own mustard and mayonnaise and if you ask him nicely, he tells us, he's willing to share the recipe. The house is typical in its linear layout, with the living room that leads to the kitchen and storeroom.
Raw meat and vegetables are stocked in the store room where they are cleaned and chopped, various sized vessels with bubbling broths lie on the stove and the food is packed in tightly-wrapped cling film in the living room. It's all hands on deck, says Fernandes, as his wife and 11 year-old daughter help with odd jobs.
"Old houses need a lot of maintenance. Most of our neighbours have sold their houses and moved abroad," says Fernandes, giving us a tour of the house he grew up in. Back to the dining table, you can't help but hark back to your childhood. As you sit down to say grace and thank God for the bountiful meal, you can't help keep one eye on the steaming hot plate of Potato Chops.
At: Mikneil Caterers outlet, near St Andrew's Church, Bandra.
Call: 26043719 / 9820223017
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