ITP Indian Travel Places: Food, Travel, Tourism Business Events and Trade Shows
Address: 1st Floor, Trade View Building, Next to Gate 4, Kamala Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai, India
Time: 11 AM to 1 AM
Meals for two: Rs. 1,400
Cuisines: North Indian, Mexican, Italian, Continental
Facilities: Full Bar Available, Smoking Area, Serves Cocktails, Live Entertainment, Live Music, Outdoor Seating, Nightlife, City View, Dance Floor
What’s this? Restaurant? Entertainment venue? Dive bar? Kolkata theka? Dilli adda? Shetty bar? It’s none of these but FLYP@MTV Cafe, the themed concept cafe, manages to be all of these. To check it out, I invite a multi-talented vivacious foodie couple. Award-winning internationally acclaimed artist and social activist Rouble Nagi (first artist to exhibit at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum) loves cooking. Archipreneur Saahil Nagi is famed for innovative modular housing units, intelligent warehousing facilities, et al.
Gorgeous in Gucci, the rocking Rouble sips on the smoking ‘Sati Savitri’ mocktail and I promise I’ll pop by home to try the famous Kashmiri Rajma she cooks up.
FLYP@MTV, Lower Parel, Mumbai: DECOR
Walk in. First floor. Kamala Mills. Wham! 6,500 sq ft of surround sound and images come at you in this sprawling 200-seater cafe. Cars, cassettes, hypnotic illusion art, neon signage, quirky tiled passages, wings made of musical instruments and insane speakers’ installation at the entrance… FLYP@MTV Cafe exhibits the madness of MTV.
FLYP@MTV, Lower Parel, Mumbai: FOOD
Tandoori dhokla anyone? Tandoori momos? We ate our way through the pizza, Kabab Salad, Nalli Nihari kind of menu. It was the Mohammed Ali Road platter, meltingly-soft Galouti Kabab and Lucknow’s velvety, creamy and mellow Nalli Nihari that came up tops. We mop it up with super tandoori rotis. The hugely talented Chef Ranveer Brar hails from Lucknow and this shines through. The fire charred take on the classic dhokla served with unique curry leaf foam, the spiced up Tandoori Momos served with green and peanut chutneys delight. Surprise! The very British “Bubble and Squeek”, supposedly made from leftovers, satisfies with its potato and vegetable mix.
FLYP@MTV, Lower Parel, Mumbai: MINUS POINTS
Noisy. Why is the Dahi Ke Kebab so hard and dry? Ditto for the pizza. Avoidable desserts, be it the Paan Panna Cotta or the dense and tasteless Cheesecake. Unbearably spicy Asian Chicken over rice. Gloopy roast melon and quinoa salad. Floppy, thickskinned Black Rice Gyoza.
FLYP@MTV, Lower Parel, Mumbai: MY POINT
Gorge. Gulp. Groove. That’s the theme tune of this concept cafe, which has come to Mumbai via Delhi and Chennai. Go to soak in the madness of MTV. Don’t go if you’re a gourmet looking for a relaxed quiet evening. Most of the dishes here are designed to double as alcohol sponges. And the brilliance isn’t how they taste, which is sort of greasy and spicy, but the way they serve up comfort with a cheeky tweak. And in doing so,they crystallize the appeal of this ingeniously conceived cafe. A calorie-laden, fry-happy, reliably mobbed feeding arena for young diners looking for booze and entertainment. Oldies,you can’t say they didn’t warn you. FLYP@MTV Cafe… the name says it all. Tandoori Dhokla. Jai ho!
