Have your Challah and eat it too

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Lately, I have been posting quite a bit about bread, haven’t I? What can I do when I have an artisanal bakery in the neighbourhood?! I had written about The Baker’s Dozen earlier in TimeOut Mumbai as well as posted about it on the blog. The bakery has now added another bread to its basket – the Jewish Challah. Challah is braided, egg bread, traditionally eaten on Shabbat, the Jewish rest day. Shabbat is observed from Friday sundown to Saturday night; candles are lit to mark the beginning and three festive meals are eaten – the first one on Friday evening beginning with breaking bread i.e. the challah.

The good folks at The Baker's Dozen sent across a loaf for me to try out over this past weekend. The challah arrived, golden and plump and I couldn’t wait to devour it. One bite and I was sold! A sweet, eggy bread with a gleaming crust; it is definitely going on my favourites list. The bread is priced at Rs. 120 for a loaf.

5 Travel Books to Treasure

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I recently read this article on Conde Nast Traveller’s website (one of my favourite online travel resources) on books that inspire you to travel. The article listed 16 books, ranging across diverse locations such as Istanbul, Ho Chi Minh, Marrakech, Alaska, Ireland, and my very own Mumbai (Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers). The UK’s Telegraph has also come up with its own list of the 20 best travel books of all time.

Rambling somewhere in The Cotswolds, England

It’s so true; every time you pick up a book you get transported to another land, provided the writing is good! There are some books that are not travel books, strictly speaking; yet, they manage to weave such a vivid picture of the place that they’re set in, that you just want to pack your bags and go. Both the articles got me thinking about some of the travel-related books that I treasure. So here’s my list of Top 5 Travel Books. All of them are non-fiction works. And it’s no coincidence that 4 of them are set in Europe!

Mamagoto - Bandra's New Pan-Asian Restaurant

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Mamagoto – what a fun word! And fun is what this newly-opened restaurant is all about. Mamagoto apparently means “to play with food”, and the chefs here have experimented with classic pan-Asian dishes & techniques to come up with inventive cooking. The Delhi-based chain recently opened two outposts in Mumbai – one at Bandra (where else?) and the other at Ghatkopar (R City Mall).

The restaurants opened to the public yesterday; however, I had received an invite to go and have a meal earlier. So, on Labour Day, my friend D & I found ourselves at the Bandra outlet for lunch. It’s located on Hill Road, at Gazebo House (next to C’est La Vie). I actually walked past it since there was no signage & the shutters on the windows were down; but now that it’s officially open you can’t miss the glass walls decorated with snarling yellow tigers (don't ask me why!).