Stuffed in the East

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Foursheets and I were crossing the harbor on a mission today, so I came up with the idea of lunching at Nine One. I have paid them three visits since their opening, but have never found occasion to do lunch. After seeing some idiot on social media complain about their thali (थाली), I figured I owed it to myself to check it out. It would be the perfect lunch after a fairly heavy dinner last night.

We rocked up unannounced and, of course, the Bombay East Indian Girl was surprised to see us. What I clearly hadn't planned on was the restaurant serving a different lunch menu on the weekends, which made total sense when one thinks about it. Instead of 1-dish meals like thali, sandwiches, and paos (पाव), the restaurant simply offered a tasting menu for lunch. I guess the lightest option we could choose would be the 3-course lunch, then...

Khakra, chundo - the sight of the khakra (ખાખરા) along with chundo (छुन्दो) at the very start of the meal always feel pretty dramatic, thanks to the size of the chips. Chundo is much more up my alley than Foursheets' so I happily lapped it up.

Corn chips and kachumber - made sense that the included portion with tasting menu came smaller than the one that needs to be separately ordered. The taste, however, remained just as refreshing and enjoyable.

Khekda (केकड़ा) - both of us chose this because we love it so much. The sweet and flavorful King crab always works so well with the crunchy cucumber, pomegranate seeds, and pomelo. There was just also just enough heat to tingle the taste buds, and I do love the fragrance from the shredded kaffir lime leaves.

Rich palak khichdi: spinach, buratta, basmati rice - I chose this as it's the one item I hadn't tasted before. The basmatic rice came flavored with spinach purée, and together with the buratta on top which came in place of the classic paneer (पनीर), this was very much like palak paneer... but tastier and much more filling.

Not curry: East Indian lamb stew with fugias - Foursheets decided to have this again, and I'm so glad she did. The lamb was just so, soooo tender and incredibly tasty. Still one of my favorite dishes here, served with fugias on the side.

I have a spell on you: chicken lollipop, schezwan chutney - not part of the tasting menu, but our friend knows how much I love this so she gave each one of us a little extra. I love that there is a good amount of heat here, especially with the extra chutney, that gets my taste buds going without blowing my head off. Foursheets, of course, would tell me that this was "not spicy at all"...

This dal (दाल) made of mung beans was cooked with birista (बिरिस्ता) and came with a little cream.

Amritsari kulcha - this kulcha (कुल्चा) was plain and not stuffed with aloo (आलू).

Since Foursheets doesn't touch desserts, I got to have both...

Shrikhand, berry twist: yoghurt, mixed berries, strawberry chutney, waffle crisps, pistachio - very happy that shrikhand (श्रीखंड) still came with mixed berries.

Rabdi: rich milk dessert, saffron infused cantaloupe, nuts - deliciously sweet cantaloupe again, with the exotic flavors from saffron.

Masala chai - I had originally wanted to take this in lieu of one of the two desserts so that I could consume less food, but of course the boss just ended up sending it as extra... Orz

Having left my umbrella on my last visit due to a night of drunkeness, today I left the restaurant without my mobile phone... but thankfully remembered while I was still nearby. I really gotta be more careful on future visits!