Here, finally, is the long-promised last formal restaurant report from our time in Bombay. We were there from the middle of the first week of January to the middle of the second week of February. There was a lot of eating out, most of which has been chronicled already on the blog. Those who’ve been reading along know that the majority of those meals were in more or less traditional restaurants. The one exception in my reports so far was The Bombay Canteen, where I ate twice. The other was Slink & Bardot, a restaurant in Worli where I also ate dinner twice. This report is on the second meal.

Slink & Bardot is located in Thadani House, adjacent to the entry to the Worli Koliwada or Koli village. In most ways the juxtaposition of restaurant and location is somewhat incongruous. The restaurant is upscale, swanky and in normal mode has very little to do with Koli culture or food. Their regular menu is in an eclectic international vein, with European and American dishes sitting alongside a few mod takes on Indian dishes. In January and February, however, and possibly continuing now, they were also serving a special tasting menu that featured cheffy, mod takes on Koli cuisine. On my first visit I was with a large group and we all ate an edited version of that menu that had been arranged for us as the conclusion to a walking tour of the Worli Koliwada. Our second visit was just a regular dinner outing. We were a table of four; two of us ate the whole tasting menu while the others ate a few dishes from their regular menu. (Normally the entire table is required to take the tasting menu; they were kind enough to allow us an exception.)

What did those who didn’t get the tasting menu eat? Homemade challah with butter, Philly cheesteak pav sliders, a lobster roll, and miso aged sliced steak. To end, a chocolate sundae. All the dishes received positive reviews.

My attention, however, was on the Koli-inspired tasting menu. At both meals, the personable chef, Aliakbar Baldivala came out before the meal started to introduce the tasting menu and then again to introduce each course. In broad strokes, the menu is intended to approximate the contours of a Koli thali, except, of course, that the dishes were served in coursed sequence rather than all at once. In keeping with the Koli inspiration, the menu is seafood-centered (the Kolis being traditionally fisherfolk, as you may recall from my report from the Sassoon Dock Fish Market).

That menu opened with an amuse of fish “n’duja” atop a rice cracker, a gesture towards the rice bread, bhakri. This was a lovely little bite. The first course proper featured a shrimp and tapioca cracker (papad) served alongside sauteed shishito peppers (mirchi), tendli escabeche (loncha) and labneh topped with browned onions (kaanda). All the components were very good with the tendli escabeche the highlight for me. The next course was meant to be the analog of a sukka preparation. The connection was a bit stretched as what we were served was a chilled oyster on the half-shell with kokum saar granita but the dish itself was outstanding.

This was followed by four fish dishes, three of them also outstanding and one that was only very good. The three outstanding ones came out in a row and no craning of the neck was needed to see how they played on traditional inspirations. First up, an excellent bombil rava fry served with gondhoraj lime thecha, smoked tomato jam and a salsa with javla or dried shrimp. Next up was a ceviche of barramundi around which a warm solkadhi broth was poured: a wonderfully conceived dish that was my favourite at both meals. Completing the trifecta of outstanding courses was a piece of roasted ghol (croaker) smeared with butter infused with Koli masala and sat atop a lightly spiced coconut sauce. The fish was cooked perfectly and the whole came together very well. The next course read very well (char siu pomfret donburi with smoked ponzu dashi) and was tasty enough but fell short of the heights of the previous three, and frankly, felt a little superfluous.

And, finally, dessert. This was a tres leches inspired by the components and flavours of puran poli and was very tasty indeed.

Oh yes, we also had a couple of cocktails. Slink & Bardot’s origins are as a cocktail bar—the version of the restaurant we ate at it is a post-pandemic reboot—and it shows: both cocktails were excellent. The Paanch is a take on punch, here with turmeric-infused gin, ginger-honey syrup, citrus and tonic. I had the Devil’s Share, a spicy take on the Margarita with cilantro, jalapeño and a bird’s eye chilli garnish.

For a look at the restaurant, the menus and what we ate, click on a pic below to launch a larger slideshow. Scroll down for thoughts on service and to see how much it all cost.

Service was very able, present when needed and not at all obtrusive. The total for all of the above (plus a couple of soft drinks) with taxes and included service charge was just about Rs. 15,000 (or $180). The two tasting menus (at Rs. 3500 each) were roughly half the cost of the total. It’s not a cheap outing by any means in Bombay but I have to say I thought the tasting menu was both excellent and a very good value for that Rs. 3500 (before tax and service charge). In a nice touch, at both meals we were sent home with little jars of that lovely fish n’duja.

Personally, I would lop that last savoury course off the tasting menu but, on the whole, I thought it was both a very tasty meal taken alone and an interesting and respectful reworking of the foods and flavours of the community that the restaurant is adjacent too (and of which, Chef Baldivala pointed out, many members of the staff are members). I’m not sure if this tasting menu is a temporary thing or if it’s going to remain alongside the regular offerings (which, as far as I could tell, are what all the tables around us were eating), but if you’re in Bombay I would check if it’s still on the go and go eat it before it disappears (or changes form). I’ll certainly be seeking it out on my return to the city (in another two years, probably).

Okay, so that’s my formal reports from Bombay done. I might do another report as a compendium of several more casual meals. If so, that’ll be next weekend. Before that I’ll try to get at least a couple more reports from Seoul done.