Inside the box

With everything from elaborate, boxed Mughlai 'daawats' to multi-course meals on offer, we acquaint you with a selection of small businesses and home chefs across the city that bring the feast directly to your doorstep!

By Raul Dias

Daawat-e-Ruksariyat

This five-dish, weekend-only daawat (in both veg and non-veg versions) is the brainchild of Jogeshwari-based home chef Ruksar Memon whose daawats or home feasts were such a hit with friends, that she recently started delivering them all across Mumbai. “I had no clue what a home chef is until my friends encouraged me to start my business. I believe that food must be cherished and shared, which is the crux of a daawat,” says Memon, who makes sure to send a small box of dates to kickstart the meal, along with a disposable table/floor cover, as daawats are generally eaten sitting down on the floor. While menu keeps changing every weekend, one can expect to relish appetisers like the signature foil chicken, mains like mutton rogan josh, shahi chicken biryani, paneer makhanwala and desserts like shahi tukra and matka rabdi. Also available on special order is a Memoni Muslim version of khao suey called khausa and a mutton khichda among other a la carte Mughlai dishes.

Cost: Rs. 2,499 onward (daawat for four) and Rs. 1,299 onward (daawat for two)

Call: 9930831336

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Lucknowi Chowk

Dubbed the Nawabi Platter, this six-item meal is a selection of Awadhi cuisine classics by Lucknowi Chowk, a two-month-old Goregaon West-based home chef business. Started by Nirban Goswami who is originally an actor and his fiancee, singer Nandini Deb out of sheer necessity. “Due to the pandemic we were completely out of work and literally broke. So we decided to work on something like cooking that we both are really passionate about,” says Goswami. The platter comprises of a portion of murg biryani and one piece each mutton galouti, kakori and chicken kebabs, along with two portions of breads (sheermal or kulcha). The couple also does fish, chicken, egg and vegetarian Bengali thalas (starting at Rs. 375) made up of dishes like macher kurma, Dhakai murgi, and lao ghonto.

Cost: Rs. 1,599 for a one-person Nawabi Platter

Call: 9821538599

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Spoon of Love

This all-vegetarian, delivery only 'virtual restaurant' operates from Sewri and focuses on Mexican, Lebanese and South East Asian cuisines. It is the idea of hotel management graduate Charmy Mody who calls her two categories of set boxed meals 'lovemeals'. "While ours is a new brand, it is based on an old truth--that when we make things that we love, it just doesn’t feel like work anymore," believes Mody. Both the categories of meals are packed in sealed, biodegradable, pastel pink hued boxes. The Abundant Lovemeal is a four-item box with dishes like a deconstructed falafel for starters and a cottage cheese tsingoi and chilli basil rice for mains. The more elaborate Love Galore box has an additional dish of a khao suey and a dessert of either a salted Nutella shot or a tiramisu cup. Both boxes come with a bottle of water and a disposable cutlery set. Spoon of Love also offers a separate a la carte menu of vegetarian/Jain dishes and desserts.

Cost: Rs. 720 onwards for a one-person Abundant Lovemeal box and Rs. 1,200 for a one-person Love Galore box

Call: 7045699255

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The Cutchi Memon Table

While the name may be at tad 'inspired' the food that is part of Bandra West-based Faiziya Soomar's The Cutchi Memon Table meal box is not. An interesting mix of Bombay Muslim, Kutchi Memoni and a bit of Bengaluru Muslim cuisines go into her boxes that include an appetiser like a couple of Russian cutlets, mains like nalli nihari or Bengaluru style biryani and dessert such as phirni or khubani ka meetha. Learning cooking at a very early age from her cookery class instructor aunt, Soomar is all about experimentation. "I love what I do and continuously try to push the envelope by improvising on my dishes and creating new ones,” says Soomar. And that is why her a la carte menu also has some usual stuff like a white biryani and cashew korma on it.

Cost: Rs. 500 onwards for a one-person meal box

Call: 9820398922

 (An edited version of this review appeared in the 15th December 2020 issue of the Mid-Day newspaper, India on page 15 https://m.mid-day.com/articles/best-home-chefs-small-businesses-in-mumbai-that-home-deliver-food/23143210)