Restauranthesis: Mamagoto @ Rcity Ghatkopar

Mamagoto literally translates into “Play with food” a fun exercise for infants to identify food items and the strapline for Mamagoto the restaurant stands ‘fun Asian eating’ . It was a Friday evening and we were early birds at the place with a couple of other tables occupied. The decor was indeed artsy and one can spend some time figuring out the pictures on the walls,fancy cushions (it’s merchandise on sale), stained glass et all and their chairs I thought were perfectly ergonomic.
The menu again came in a flourescent orange shade which added to the fun and mood uplifting decor. Along side the main menu was a momo menu and the drinks list. We skipped drinks however I thought their wines were really expensive, 1900 + taxes for a basic Indian varietal was steep.
Their menu was categorized into small bites, soups, salads,  Robatta grill, signature, woks and curries, noodles and rice and lastly dessert. ‘Robata’ is an ancient technique of Japanese cooking wherein food is cooked around a fireplace, basically meat/veggies on skewers are placed around live charcoal and cooked slowly to retain the flavour and gain amazing texture. We ordered the following
Small bites: Vegetable Basil cups, Hua Hin highway rolls
Signature: Teriyaki meal in a bowl
Woks and curries : Thai Style stir fried veggies with Jasmine rice

The vegetable basil cups (Rs 230), brunoise of shitake (could not get the pungency of the shitake in there though) and Zucchini in light soy and ground pepper presented in lettuce cups was a good way to start the meal, was a healthy option too. The accompaniment for the same was medium spicy Sambal sauce a red chilli sauce from Indonesia/Malaysia. The Hua hin highway rolls, basically cheese and asparagus spring rolls were mediocre with thick skins which went hard by the time we went the last piece and the filling had nothing Asian about it. The accompaniment ‘mama’ dip; a gooey orange and ginger dip was interesting.

With the mains came 3 more sauces, a chilli and garlic sauce, black bean sauce and a chilli and lime sauce. On inquiring about the last one which was fabulous, the staff and the chef claimed it was “Ishan” sauce of chinese origin, google could not find it though!! For the mains was the teriyaki meal (Rs 495), a bowl of sticky rice covered with big cubes of tofu and spring onions tossed in teriyaki sauce. The best tofu I have had so far. The Jasmine rice (Rs 160), again a sticky style lacked the fragrance and we ordered it with some Thai style greens (Rs 295) against the advice of the staff who suggested curry with it. We knew it would not be a suited combination but we were open to explore. The Thai greens were perfectly done but the portion size was depressing, the chef on duty saw something amiss and it was very kind of him to get us some extra veggies. We tried the rice with the condiments and the veggies and we realized we were literally ‘mamagotoing’ aka playing with food and having fun too.

800 a head is not affordable but it brings to you good food with no MSG,great ambiance and warm service. So I don’t mind saying, highly recommended!