Lemon Tea Granita

Lemon Tea Granita 

The only 2 things which freshens me up after a long tiring day is either a combined workout of yoga pilate stretch or some granita and sometimes both. India might officially have 3 months of summer but the rainy season is equally bad. On days it rains in Calcutta the weather seems tolerable but there is this humid heat which though not quite as oppressive as it is during the peak of summers it still is quite uncomfortable. To be honest I personally enjoy these even during the winters when the temperature does not go down beyond 15 C or a maximum of 12 C. This is one of the reasons why we that is Guilt Free and I are conducting this event at the onset of the rainy season and are calling ti our Summer Time Love.

Anyway I love Lemon Iced tea . It is refreshing and delightful and so when I came across Larousse Gastronomique's recipe for  Tea Sorbet I knew I had to make it. To b fair since I do not own a sorbetiere and the recipe does not include sugar syrup (which prevents ice crystals from forming) I ended up with ice crystals in my sorbet and quickly turned it into a granita and it was loved by one and all. I added lemon because I love the flavour of lemon iced tea.

The best part is that anyone and absolutely anyone can make it unless they are young enough to not use the gas stove to boil water for the tea.

Makes 10 serving to 12 serving

Make 1 litre tea (The quality of the tea used affects the end product. Use a good quality leaf tea meant to make good black tea. I used Darjeeling leaf tea. Use a leaf tea of your choice)
200gm sugar (The original recipe asked for 300gm but I usually like the sweetness on the lower side so I reduced it quite a bit)
Juice and zest from 1 large lemon (Grate the zest and then squeeze out the juice)


The recipe is really simple. Make tea, dissolve the sugar in your hot tea making sure it dissolves completely. Add the lemon juice and let cool completely at room temperature. Fill an air tight container preferably rectangular with the prepared lemon tea, add the zest of lemon  and freeze. Try forking the granita once its half frozen. And keep forking every 1 hour.


Just before serving keep it at room temperature for 3 minutes to 4 minutes fork it up well . use an ice cream scoop to scoop out the flavourful granita and serve.

B.Merwans (Grant Road Mumbai)

A Date with History 

 It was a early Sunday for me. Having slept early the previous night I was thrilled to have woken up at 5 a.m. I love waking up early. I feel fresh, my thoughts are clear and watching the night sky slowly waking up leaves me feeling happy. The other half was participating in some 7km Green run and had left by 4 a.m. and so after a glass of my detox concoction I decided I wanted to download some of my official work and while it was getting downloaded I decided on a sneak peak of my wishlist of restaurants in Bombay since I am due to return to Calcutta in less than a week. On an impulse I was going through B.Merwan's reviews and the first one shocked me. It seemed it was due to close in 42 days. B.Merwan Closing its shutters. I was shocked. 

Alright I did not grow up in Bombay but I grew up in another historic city and I have read enough reviews about this classic eatery which turned a century old this very year. With more and more Parsi diners shutting their doors I feel terrible. When I came to Bombay I immediately fell in love with the history that these Parsi Cafes offer. The solid bentwood chairs, the beautiful marble top tables is more romantic to me than candies and roses. 

It was 5:45 a.m. and I decided I had to immediately get my breakfast from this place which is a witness to history itself. 

So a long train journey later I was stunned with my passion. I have been a visitor of this city for over 1.5 years and have never before mustered courage to change trains at the busiest station of Mumbai and yet I effortlessly pranced from one end to the other. Of course the number of people at 6:15 a.m. overwhelmed me. That can only happen in Bombay. Locating this eatery is really a piece of cake. You get down at Grant station and go to the Eastern side. The shop is right opposite to the station. 

At 7 a.m. it seemed there were at least 200 people buying , shoving, pushing trying to make themselves heard at the counter. I entered and found the place in total chaos. All the tables were taken and I stood there happily stunned when a server rushing by asked me to please enter the inner room and eat my breakfast. Even though he was in a  rush the 'politeness' of his words touched me. 

You have to experience this place with all your senses else you can never ever understand its beauty. There is beauty in those peeling yellow walls in the room where I was seated. As I sat down I wondered how many young lovers might have had their sly romantic tryst sitting on the solid polished bentwood chairs or the beautiful white marble top tables. The two massive mirrors on the walls are pieces of beauty you cannot simply take your eyes off. There was a huge family enjoying their breakfast and that left room for 2 to 3 other parties.

Now there will be no menu provided to you so be sure you check the blackboard in the outer hall listing the items. I simply ordered Scrambled eggs, brun maska , tea and caramel custard. Well this is one joint which actually serves 'bhurji' scrambled eggs and not the special Parsi scrambled eggs, 'Akuri'. While I was breathing in every detail of this iconic place my food arrived within 5 minutes of having ordered it.

Now coming to my food the scrambled eggs were made with green chilies and very few onions but it won me over due to its less salt content. You see the salt and pepper shaker is provided so that you might adjust the salt content as per taste. I declined the bread that comes with the scrambled eggs and instead opted for the brun maska meaning hard bun with butter. This bun has a crispy delightful outer coating and soft fluffy bread freshly baked and slathered with butter. The caramel custard was creamy and good but I have had better ones from other Parsi establishments. The tea is not overly sweet even though it has some amount of sweetness. All this at a mere Rs48 is surely the most economic breakfast you can have. Oh I almost forgot that the scrambled eggs was made with 2 eggs.

What amazed me is that when I asked my smiling courteous server where I might pay he showed me the counter and did not even come along with me. The man behind the desk simply asked me , 'Kitna hua ?' 'How much do you owe us?' I can understand why this place has had a faithful army of customers over the years. This kind of trust between the customer and the owner is rare.

The flaky delightful Kharis

I quite obviously wanted to take back a few goodies and asked him where I might get them and he pointed to the sea of men. Now here are a few tips if you brave the crowd to place your orders. Everyone is in a   rush and no-one behind the take-away counter shall entertain you if you want to take your time. I suggest deciding from before be it what you want or the amount you would like. After a lot of  pushing shoving I finally was in front of the counter and quickly ordered 10 mava cakes, Khari biscuits and bread pudding.

Early birds catch the worm here. At 7:45 a.m. their Jam puffs and sweet buns were sold off. I got back home with two massive sized bread puddings enough to be served to 4 people , 500gm of khari biscuits, 10 mawa cakes at Rs190.

With all that rush activity and demand I still cannot believe they are closing their gates.

The soft fresh hot Bread pudding 

Now coming to the goodies, the mava cake has a nice browned exterior with soft moist interiors and though I have had better ones I shall still say that these are excellent in fact the slightly browned exterior gives it a whole new character than the ultra soft ones. The Khari is flaky and delightful as should be. The bread pudding was creamy, moist , sweet with a dominant flavour of vanilla. I say pay your respect to this century old eatery and you shall be a part of history.

These mava cupcakes at Rs10 are addictive and delightful 

Adda , Cha and more in Calcutta

Calcutta is the place for tea-snobs, a city obsessed with tea , gossip and more. There is tea from vintage tea-pots served at homes, the tea out of a container from the roadside and then there is always those tea-rooms or cafes for long hours of gossip. Now a true tea-drinker would invariably turn up her nose at packaged tea bags and with the best of tea available in the city why would anyone even think of little pouches of tea. Now most cafes in Calcutta barring a few serve tea straight out of a bag which is a disgrace for Calcutta.

I present my two reviews of two tea-rooms from Calcutta. Now I have already written the reviews at Zomato and they have both been featured on their home page some while ago. So here I am just copying and pasting the reviews.


The Iconic Tea-room 

It gives me great pleasure to once again review this tea-room of the erstwhile Calcutta because it has been not only a part of the growing up years of kids of the early 2000s but for generations before that and having tasted baked items from across the country I can confidently claim that when Flury's is in its glory it whips up the best tea-time accompaniments, wonderful desserts with frosting that are rich , delicious and a treat for all the senses. 

The biggest problem with this tea-room is its inconsistent quality of products because for regulars such as myself it is of great disappointment and when the quality is inconsistent it is difficult to recommend it to a person who is a non-regular because chances are that he/she ends up with a bad experience. My last two visits proved disastrous with stale pastries, stale cream, melted ice-cream to name a few and so this time I entered deciding on first checking the looks of the baked items and then ordering. You see when a tea-room churns out such deliciousness over the years they get the benefit of the doubt even if 3 or 4 experiences are sour. 

I was delighted with the fresh aroma wafting to my nose from across the counters. They were in fact stocking the counters with cakes that had just been coated with delicious frosting. We immediately decided to stay on for dessert. Now in case you are entering for desserts alone which are from the counter they ask you to politely take a seat on the high-chairs which are meant for people who indulge their taste buds to a bit of delicious sweetness. 

I thought it would a culinary sin to have visited Flury's and not order the Darjeeling tea with their heritage chicken sandwich. My two other companions settled for the truffle slice and the chocolate shortbread. 

The pastries arrived almost immediately. While my companions took a bite of their respective orders , my friend who had ordered the slice of truffle cake was delighted with the freshness of the cakes , the beautiful rich ganache icing. My other companion loved the hard crust of the chocolate shortbread which had milk chocolate icing . Why when in season, (because sometimes when the quality drops I like calling it the off season of Flury's ) they make the best patisseries in town is the richness of the ganache, which is creamy and made with dark chocolate while the cake itself if light fluffy yet has a rich texture inside the mouth. The shortbread was something that was rich in its own way for the cream frosting made with milk chocolate and the crust adds to the delight of the one who savours it. It is good to have so many options of patisseries when most other bakeries whip the same of cakes with different frosting. 

The tea is at its best for those who are connoisseurs of royal taste in the world of tea. The right amount of leaves, gives the tea its perfect golden colour. The best part is that for 1 pot of Darjeeling tea you get two cups of tea. the only problem is that by the time you reach your second cup the mashing has been done for a bit too long and you are forced to add milk and sugar. The heritage chicken sandwich is the best in town. It is thick with the filling of succulent pieces of shredded chicken , both sides of the bread are buttered and the chicken is mixed with creamy mayonnaise making it the perfect eta-time accompaniment. The almond cube which I had opted for as my other tea-time accompaniment was made with the freshest and thickest of cream available. The flakes of almonds made a delicious concoction in my mouth along with bits of almonds and a bit of thin layer of baked cake. 

In all the visit was absolutely a superb delight. I did deduct one mark because I am still unsure of their consistency in quality. Once I visit them another couple of times and see that the quality is s delightful as this experience had been I would give it a full rating. 

As is its signature even when the quality goes down the servers are very polite and nobody rushes you through your meal or cup of tea so that conversation for hours seem beautiful. 

When in its glory, no other bakery in town can come close to what is whipped up in the kitchens of this age old tea-room. May they preserve their legacy and not fluctuate the quality.

Cha -Bar 

Anyone who loves books in this city would probably have had visited this iconic bookstore on Park Street right beside the Park hotel. Their little cafe has been there at least since 2003 or even further before that time. 

As the name suggests this is a tea-cafe more than anything else. At one point this was the most preferred place for anyone who did not want to burn a hole in their pocket. The prices are still quite moderate and this is definitely a tea lover's haven. Now we all have our own preferences , be it any type of food item and I am sure there are many a people who like their tea milky , sweet and strong and then there are those who prefer the mild taste of tea liquor perhaps with just about a spoonful of milk or some other flavour this is a wonderful place. This cafe caters to both tastes with their wide variety of offerings. 

There is masala chai for the Indian at heart and the Darjeeling tea for the true tea-snob and the herbal tea for the health conscious or the organic tea for the environmentalist and the range of flavoured tea for the adventurous tea drinkers and then there are iced teas to cool anyone on a hot day. 

What sets it apart is the fact that they use freshly brewed tea instead of the tea-bags that most cafe's use and for any tea-lover the thought of tea-bags is a horror. The tea is brewed perfectly. For the adventurous drinkers they have a wide range of tea with different flavours. 

Three chatty friends decided to catch up on hours of gossip while sipping on their respective iced teas, which all of them found perfectly brewed with the flavor of the tea along with the mild hint of the additional flavour. Two of us opted for the lime and lime zest flavour which was delciious. Our peachy friend liked her peach iced tea as well. 

On our numerous visits before I have usually stuck to their Darjeeling tea since I am a strict Darjeeling tea connoisseur and the tea seemed quite nice if not the best. 

In the Bengali language we usually have a cousin word called 'ta' (accompaniment with tea) for the word 'cha' (meaning tea) and unfortunately the variety of accompaniments offered by this place is limited and what makes is worse is the unavailability of many items. Even from the section of desserts, the only available ones were the truffle slices and black forest slices. They had a few tea-cakes and their freshly baked aroma was tempting indeed. 

If not for anything else I would definitely recommend this place for its perfectly brewed tea. 

We noticed waffles being served on the table adjacent to ours but from the looks we felt it was too dry and over-cooked. 

This tiny little place tucked up in a quiet little bookstore done up in white is a lovely place to catch up with friends or to simply purchase a book and read it as long as one wants. 

P.S. They have these decorative colourful kettles with pictures on them which nicely jazzes up the place 


I am attaching the links for any further reviews that people might want to read
http://www.zomato.com/manjari#reviews

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