It’s all about the complexity of the spicing
Mark Laba
Province
Chef/owner Lalit Sharma, left, and wife Kiran Sharma at their North Vancouver Indian restaurant, Mumbai Masala. Lalit holds garlic naan and tandoori prawns and lamb, Kiran holds samosas and butter chicken. Photograph by : Jason Payne, The Province
MUMBAI MASALA
Where: 138 West 16th St., North Vancouver, website: www.mumbaimasala.ca
Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-984-8888
Drinks: Fully licensed
Hours: Lunch, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Mon.-Fri.; noon-3 p.m,. Sat.-Sun.; dinner 5 -11 p.m. every day
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“I got it bad,” Ricky Roulette said to me.
“Whadya mean?”
“Well,” his gal Lucky Lucy said, “as if the NFL, CFL, World Series and the start of hockey season isn’t enough, Ricky is now betting on cricket matches overseas.”
“You got a bookie who’ll do that?”
“Hey, I could place a bet on a boxing match with a kangaroo in the Australian outback. This guy’s that good.”
“But cricket matches? I mean, those things take weeks. Even if you win that’s a long time to wait for your money.”
“It’s not about the money,” Ricky said. “It’s about the process.”
“Tell that to your bookie next time you lose,” Lucky Lucy said.
So when we pulled up to Mumbai Masala, Ricky told me how he had placed a bet on the Mumbai Cricket Team and won himself some cold, hard cash.
“OK then, you can pay for dinner,” I told him.
Me, I like to hedge my bets, so that when I lay down some moolah I’m guaranteed something in return. And even if you’re not a betting person, the odds are you’ll like this place.
A carved wooden sentry greets you at the door, which beats those Gap door greeters easily. Sets the scene for the semi-opulent surroundings with ornate gold moulding, wood furniture laquered to a sheen and walls painted the colours of exotic spices.
Spice is truly the key to this eatery, conceived by seasoned restaurateur and chef Lalit Sharma. The complexity of the spicing is evident in each dish and, with some of the African-influenced recipes, dinner here can be a heady experience.
We began with the quintessential samosas, veggie-style ($4.95), served with both a pungent tamarind dip and a spicy mint chutney. It might sound basic but when you get the right flaky pastry and beautifully balanced stuffing that we tasted here, the mundane becomes marvellous.
We moved on to more esoteric fare with the Prawns Zanzibar ($15.95) and Beef Mshikaki ($11.95). The first is a creamy coconut mire spiked with Congo piri-piri peppers, the prawns pan-fried before their saucy submersion. I found the thickness of the sauce a bit strong for the prawns but that didn’t stop my quest for crustaceans.
The beef dish was a sizzling plate of chili-and- garlic-marinated sirloin pieces, tender to the tooth and savoury to the palate. Onions and peppers surrounded this blistering affair and I wrapped it in garlic naan as a kind of makeshift sub-continental sandwich.
To bind this whole shlimazel together, we dove into eggplant bhartha ($8.95), which proved to be a great version. Honestly, I can’t see how you can go wrong with anything on this menu. The vindaloo is fiery, the curry savoury and there’s some unique entries like the Sahi Salmon with ginger and tomato masala, Kuku Paka, a Swahili coconut chicken dish or the sensory overload of the Lamb Kalya, a lusty African curry.
Lucky Lucy was impressed, Ricky Roulette, inspired, was on his cell-phone placing cricket bets and me, I was so lost in a curry vapour I slipped the wooden sentry at the door a tip.
THE BOTTOM LINE: An edible journey from Mumbai to Mozambique.
RATINGS: Food: A; Service: A-; Atmosphere: B+
© The Vancouver Province 2007
