A Perfect Sunday - Barrio's Boozy Brunch

What's your idea of a perfect Sunday?

My "Perfect Sunday" can be many things... A rainy day spent curled up at home reading a book or watching my favorite TV show; a Sunday spent experimenting in the kitchen with some new dishes and then feeding family and friends; or a Sunday that starts with the perfect lazy brunch followed by a dip in the pool and a couple of hours at the beauty parlor getting a massage and a pedicure!

When the gorgeous and bubbly Amrita (The Bacon Jam Girl?) pinged me about Barrio's Boozy Brunch, I knew it was the perfect way to unwind on a Sunday with the husband and our friends G&A.

Barrio's is located inside the "Inch by Inch Body Temple" in Versova, Andheri. And honestly, I had no idea a place like this existed! Started just a couple of months ago, the Sunday Brunch is definitely a great pull.

We were told the Brunch would be on from 12 till 5pm and we reached the place around 12.30pm on really hungry stomachs! I think we were probably the first people to arrive. Though we were welcomed warmly by the PR team, everyone else looked a little lost. Most of the brunch dishes hadn't been set up and the cooks at the pizza and waffle counters looked a little baffled whether to start serving us or not! 

But thankfully, within 15 minutes, the place started buzzing and how! By 1.30pm there was live music, people were milling around the bar, the pizza counter had started serving warm pizzas to everyone and Barrio had transformed into one of the most chilled out yet fun Brunch places ever!

The Bar

The Seating Area

As soon as you enter, to your right is the bar and straight ahead the pool. Tucked behind the bar is an open-air but covered seating area with fans and in spite of the summer heat, it was pleasant for most part of the afternoon.

Jodhpur Food Trail

I am one of those people who hates "sight-seeing" on a holiday. I find it tedious and predictable and utterly commercial. But a city or town with character, now give me that any day over a city where you have to go on a crowded sight-seeing tour.

A couple of years ago, we went on a trip to Jodhpur and Jaisalmer with our friends G&A. And it was one of the most fabulous holidays ever. Every place we stayed at, had so much character, so much history...  And the food! It was a culinary experience that we won't forget for a long time... 

Even though this trip happened many many moons ago, this post has been long overdue. So here's a quick glimpse at the Jodhpur food trail...

We stayed at the beautiful Haveli Inn Pal, a gorgeous yet affordable heritage hotel that had a distinctive old-world charm. I cannot urge you enough to stay at this hotel. The rooms, the view, the hospitality, the food, the entire colonial yet traditional Rajasthani feel...

It had a rooftop restaurant and our breakfast on arrival was just perfect - hot pooris, aloo subzi, and honey-filled banana crepes. Comforting, tasty and filling.

The Birthday Food Trail

There is so much to update all you guys on!! Now I know none of you has really been waiting with bated breath for me to get back to my blog (except maybe this really nice girl called Nafisa who actually mailed me asking where in hell's name I was :D). Nevertheless, I will proceed to tell you how exciting my life has been in the past few months... and you will agree that blogging really HAD to take a backseat!

• I discovered this awesome TV series called 'The Vampire Diaries' and watched 3 seasons back to back! That's a total of 66 episodes. And if you are making faces about vampires and equating it to 'Twilight' already, I will personally come and kick your shins. Watch it. Its wicked, funny, crazy and has a breakneck speed to its plot! Not to mention, the sexiest men on Television...

• I have been making multiple trips to Chennai on work, eating a lot of the awesome Chennai sea-food, and along the way, managed to put together our first big South TV event successfully :)

• Attended a full-on Delhi type wedding in the winters and had soooo much fun! The sarees, the clothes, the jewelery, celebrating Karwa Chauth, rehearsing for Sangeet performances... obsessing over hair and make up, matching shoes and bags, and of course - dancing like crazy to Bollywood numbers! Radha on the dance floor, anyone?!

• Went for a friend's rocking birthday party and woke up in her house with very little memory of the previous night :P Hehehe... ok, not all that bad, but trust me when I say it was that kind of a fantastic party. 

• Met up with one of my favorite film bloggers - the wonderfully witty, sweet and namkeen, intelligent, beautiful Dolce and Namak who was in Mumbai on her first Indian trip. And what a great time I had! I had gone with trepidation wondering if one lone desi girl and 4 goras from Canada would have anything common to talk about... But I really shouldn't have feared. Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood, food, filmy gossip, we covered everything and there was still so much we could have rambled on about!All aided by a wonderful meal at Zaffran...

• Planned a fantastic Bachelorette trip for a very dear college friend (now colleague) in Goa with 6 other utterly fabulous girls. And what a Hen party it turned out to be! But but but, what happened in Goa, stays in Goa. Sooo... my lips are sealed ;)

• And in the midst of all the above excitement was my husband Sid's birthday.

Now all those who know me personally, know that the husband is a weird creature. Mine in particular. He doesn't drink (not even wine), doesn't smoke, doesn't like meeting people, and warns us every year to not make a big deal about his birthday. Yet, who doesn't like a special birthday? So you can imagine what a tough time I have every year trying to plan something that doesn't involve drinking, people or loud music.

This year, inspiration struck. The hidden genius within me awoke from its sleep and came up with a foolproof plan. Now what's the one vice that Sid has? Its his love for food! Ok, you might say its not a vice really. But hello, we are talking about a man who will finish a full meal of 5 rotis with dal and veggies, and then just because someone is offering hot rotis, will proceed to eat 5 more. Yep. Vice.

So my genius plan - A Birthday Food Trail! The 3 days leading up to Sid's birthday on Monday was to be declared the Birthday Gourmet Weekend. The idea was to research restaurants we have never been to, that serve food that Sid would love, and take him there for a surprise meal.

Sounds simple, right? Nah. Sid is a foodie but his true love is Indian food. So Italian, Chinese, Japanese, everything went right out of the window. The deal was to look for places that serve authentic regional Indian cuisine. AND to keep it a secret. Phew.

SATURDAY LUNCH: So the Food Trail started on a Saturday afternoon with lunch at Purepur Kolhapur in Vile Parle. Yes, authentic, fiery Kolhapuri khaana. As usual, the party consisted of me, Sid and our close-as-family friends G&A. And man, were we in for a treat... Sid was gobsmacked. He had never even heard of the place and kept guessing where we were headed. And even after we arrived at the little, inconspicuous eatery, he didn't know what to expect.

PUREPUR KOLHAPUR

A wonderful Sunday & Plum -Cherry Cobbler to round it off...

I had a fantastic weekend! Erm... even though my whole weekend constituted of just the Sunday. Now that I’m back at work and have only alternate Saturdays off, Sundays just whizz by. By the time I’m up and awake half the day is gone… and then by the time I catch up on all the newspapers with their weekend supplements and magazines, sort out the house, and plan the meals, the rest of the day is gone too! But this Sunday, we decided to go to town for lunch to celebrate Sid and his writing partner G finally taking a break from the crazy world of Television writing.

Now those who are familiar with Mumbai will know that for us suburbanites, going to town is an event. On weekdays with the kind of crazy traffic there is, going to town, i.e. South Mumbai, takes almost 2-3hours! And that for an actual distance of about 30-40kms… But on Sunday, the roads are empty, the drive is lovely and you begin to understand why ‘town’ is all that it is made out to be.

Just after crossing the Bandra-Worli sea link... overladen sky above and swirling waters below!