Wine and Wasabi

Swipe Right on Bananas this Quarantine Season (there’s recipes!)｜Wine and Wasabi™

Bananas are cheap and easily available even during the lockdown. They can be had raw or cooked. They are easy to work with and are brilliant fresh or frozen, ripe or rotten. Learn how to make the best use of them, using as few ingredients as possible and as little time as possible, while still managing to make something interesting out of it.

This is the first of a series we’ve planned that feature one versatile, inexpensive ingredient and provide short, quick and simple recipes (with stories, always stories around it) featuring it as the main ingredient, that we think will hopefully help you get more creative in the kitchen and help you beat the lockdown blues. Scroll down if you wish to skip straight to the recipes!

I remember clearly how much I hated bananas. If I took one to school I’d remind the banana how much I hated it after every bite. Friends found it amusing but it was a very serious affair. The issue was on my end so I had to let the fruit in question know respectfully that it tasted like ass.

Perhaps it was the sickly sweet smell that wafted through the air if they were kept on the table, not strong enough to demand immediate attention but there to distract you if you were just close enough. Or it could have been the colour, yellow wasn’t among my favourites, and this yellow went through far too many changes in intensity for me to be enamoured. It was an imposter, this fruit. So many other nicer fruits were always a dull or bright version of their outsides but this one was white, even as it pretended to be otherwise. Could a kid really be expected to trust a banana?

Quarantine Content: Thoughts on Food Writing and a PSA｜Wine and Wasabi™

Being stuck at home has not been easy, there’s a lot to do but the uncertainty of our current situation is proving to be more of a burden than the endless list of chores. Even as we’ve tried to wring out every ounce of productivity and positivity from within, we’ve had a hard time understanding where and in what capacity we’d like to add to the noise, or if at all.

Hi!

Hope you’re safe and at home as you read this.

Things have been changing rapidly around the world and it’s taken us at Wine and Wasabi™ a while to process what’s happening and get to a place where we’re comfortable writing or talking about anything. Everyday there’s new information to process and accept, and it’s all a little overwhelming. We’re slowly getting accustomed to our new way of life but it’s still work in progress.

Last night, during a phone call with my partner, I was struck by how the two of us have been struggling with our mental health. And how, although we weren’t bothered by distance at the beginning of this unplanned lockdown, it has managed to take a toll on our relationship as well. We were feeling rather smug about it all after our first online movie date this year, but wow, what a departure it has been, all in the course of a few weeks.

La Dolce Vita : A Valentine’s Dinner｜Wine and Wasabi™

Our first pop-up dinner of this decade celebrates both the joys of being single and having brilliant friends, companions, or partners who make an otherwise awful day better from far or near, just by being there. Book a spot now!

“There is no love sincerer than the love of food.”
George Bernard Shaw

Till date, the best Valentine’s Day I’ve ever had is one I spent drunk out of my mind with my best friend, back in 2016. We were both very single, hated the idea of the day being only for couples, wanted to shake things up, and more importantly, take control.

With my partner, V-Day feels like a bit of a farce. As mushy as we might be, heart shaped pizzas aren’t really for us. After several failed attempts at meeting all kinds of impossible expectations, we decided to host a dinner last year to celebrate a truer love: the love we have for food.

But over the years, I haven’t been able to forget the day I spent with Besto and how much it has come to mean to me.

And so our first rooftop dinner of this decade celebrates both the joys of being single and having brilliant friends, companions, or partners who make an otherwise awful day better from far or near, just by being there.

The new seven-course menu is inspired by the various girls nights I’ve had over the years along with traditional romance/breakup flavours and is a selection I turn to often for comfort in my pyjamas, complete with shots (so no driving on the way back, please)!

Details:

Date: 14th February, 2020
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Cover charge: ₹2000 per head (all inclusive)
Address: Accessible area in Salt Lake, Kolkata (easily reached via both City Centre and the Bypass).
Contact: +91-8697406710

Simply fill up this form and we’re good to go!*

*limited spots, as always

Food Writing 2019 ｜Wine and Wasabi™ Recommends

2019 is coming to an end and we are moving towards another decade which is already looking like something out of a Margaret Atwood novel, so I’m forced to will myself into finding positivity in the form of food once again. A big part of this has been reading, especially this year. Here’s a few that have comforted and inspired me to learn more, rediscover myself, cook, be unapologetic and become a better eater.

2019 has been a lot. Just… a lot.

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Oddly enough, it’s been quite a spectacular year for food writing. Food became part of mainstream political discourse in earnest and has stayed relevant. More people are slowly becoming aware of food and its impact on the environment in varied parts of the cycle from production to consumption. The industry is branching out and the Indian scene is moving towards catching up to the global scene. There’s been significant strides towards blurring of lines between stories and recipes.

My partner, who truly believes he knows nothing about food at all, came up to me and mentioned how he’s slowly learning more, independently, which to me means food writing is branching out. On a personal note, I discovered some brilliant new authors and found areas of interest related to food and life I didn’t even know existed.

But at the same time, some books got more undeserved attention than others and that is a bit of a shame. A certain Bon Appétit contributor’s book comes to mind (as petty as that makes me sound, I couldn’t not mention it). Please comment below on which one you think I am referring to and let’s talk about that.

My list is coming out rather late. I missed all the opportunities to publish something earlier on–unlike every other massive publication–but then again, we’re two people and they’re 20 at least, if the food department is modest. Between ‘spring cookbooks 2019‘ and ‘the cookbook gift guide that covers everyone you know 2019‘ there’s a mind-numbing number of lists featuring food writing.

Dissendium: An Evening at Hogwarts｜Wine and Wasabi™

Bring your love for the wizarding world to this one-of-a-kind eight-course dinner that no Potterhead would want to miss!

A disappointed muggle goes about her life still believing in magic. It’s a little weird to explain to people, and lonely even with the massive fandom all around you.

There’s so much about that world that I wanted to experience. Most importantly, but probably not limited to butterbeer.

Wands and charms and everything else aside, butterbeer – whatever this curious alcoholic, caramel flavoured, hot/cold beverage is – seems like it’s something us muggles will have to only wonder about forever. No matter how ‘authentic’ a version they’re serving at Harry Potter World pales in comparison to the taste and meaning of the real thing.

Butterbeer, Hogwarts, and everything around it has come to mean so much to our world over the years. A symbol of warmth, friendship and belonging for the magical folk, yes, but Merlin’s beard! It’s exactly the same for us non-magical folk too…

“All I want to do is be at Hogwarts with you, eating turkey legs in the great hall while listening to the carols of the ghosts gliding past us. Then maybe we can go to Hogsmeade to get a butterbeer.”
Eternal Youth by Maria Elena

This world is a place where we feel like we belonged more than where we are at times. It’s unrequited love. It’s the little things. The sense of familiarity and camaraderie you feel when you come across someone else who recognises the most subtle of references, or isn’t bewildered by:

“I’m so hungry I could eat a Hippogriff…”
Ron Weasley in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

You waited for that letter and were crushed when it didn’t arrive. I know I was.

It would’ve been the stuff of your wildest dreams or a ticket to get out of where you are and wanted to escape from, or anything else. No one hopes for a letter from a boarding school, and yet…

It’s taken you years to reconcile yourself to your non-magic fate.

But. Here’s an escape for a night. A chance to find that hidden passageway away from whatever it is you need a break from. It’s temporary and inspired from a place of intense longing, love and the delicious food that always appears out of nowhere.

“zis ‘eavy ‘ogwarts food”
Fleur Delacour in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

This eight-course dinner is back for food lovers to enjoy a meal in the company of similar minded people and experience an open day at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…through food!

Pssst….we’ll be preparing a few intoxicating potions too and recommend you don’t drive home.

Take the Knight Bus instead!

Details:

Date: An Evening in December, 2019 (exact date forthcoming)
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Cover charge: ₹2300 per head (all inclusive)
Address: Accessible area in New Town, Kolkata (easily reached from Novotel).
Contact: +91-8697406710

Simply fill up this form and we’re good to go!*

*limited spots, as always

Kitchen Control 101 : Cook/book｜Wine and Wasabi™

Healthy, sugary, savoury, maybe even nothing at all–the possibilities are endless when I’m in charge. The following list of books has been a massive help to me and others I know from the food community when we started cooking for ourselves regularly, when I realised that maybe shopping and cooking for one is kinda tougher than for eight, when I was a little in over my head with it all and mum was unavailable for recipe advice.

At a little over 23, I’ve had the privilege of living away from home a couple of times already and each time, the experience has been different due to differing circumstances.

While living in a hostel, student accommodation facility or PG can give you the comfort of having someone keep warm meals ready for you at the end of a long day, I’ve found that after a while it becomes repetitive, and sometimes might even seem like a bit of an inconvenience.

Also let’s be real, the timings for these set meals are a real bitch.

It’s a privilege to come back to prepared food when you’re away from home and can’t cook (or be bothered to) but unless it’s the kind that helps you miss home a little less, what even is the point? I find myself lacking that ‘magic something’ in food that is batch prepared at canteens and served by semi-polite people who don’t really give a shit all the time.

I’d much rather be in control and not bound to have puri and dal (a reference based on recent experiences) on a Monday morning just because the canteen thinks it’s the best option to kick start a work/school week.

The Way Out of these Elections is Through Our Stomachs｜Wine and Wasabi™

Food is often overlooked by the average voter when thinking of politics but it is often used by politicians as an insidiously powerful tool to further their agendas. The election season we are in now is no different.

Food is often overlooked by the average voter when thinking of politics but it is actually used by politicians as an insidiously powerful tool to further their agendas.

The election season we are in now is no different. The present government continues to use food to both galvanise and alienate voters with the obvious intent of remaining in power for another term and rewrite India in their own image, for good (pardon the dramatics, these are trying times).

So many of the things we consume have been catalysts for major administrative changes in Indian polity over the years. The 1857 Uprisings and the controversial ‘Chapati Movement’ before it (when something as simple as our round chapatis being distributed from hand to hand in the country set the ball rolling for the freedom struggle) are pertinent examples of the power of food to instigate unrest or disturb the status quo.

“A chowkidar–an Indian village watchman. All Indian villages had one, and it was these men, running between their homes and the nearest neighbouring settlement with chapatis, who so effectively raised panic among the ruling British.”
– Smithsonian

This election and India’s current state of affairs going back especially to the last five years seem to be moving in an eerily similar space. Only instead of a united movement against a government clearly not suited to lead in these changing and fragile times, opposing forces have still ended up standing against each other.

There’s no simpler way to say this: this is an clearly election fuelled by divisions of caste and creed. Those vying to (re)gain power get this very well and are making unflinching use of it for electoral gain.

Jolly Good Food: The Enid Blyton Pop-Up｜Wine and Wasabi™

“A large ham sat on the table, and there were crusty loaves of new bread. Crisp lettuces, dewy and cool, and red radishes were side by side in a big glass dish, great slabs of butter and jugs of creamy milk. ”
Enid Blyton, Five Go To Billycock Hill

Be it The Famous Five or Malory Towers, these simple, yet appealing descriptions form the heart of the love so many of us share for Enid Blyton and her stories. From ginger beer or Silky’s pop cakes to the plain boiled egg, these stories found a way to make them all feel very mouthwatering and exciting.

The entire journey of Wine and Wasabi™ started out with us trying to create our own tribute to these escapist treats in the best way we know : cooking! That became our first pop-up, and the rest (hopefully) is history.

Caving to requests, we’re doing it again. This time with a new menu (see below) to make things more interesting. Bring your love for these cherished childhood classics to this one-of-a-kind six-course rooftop dinner that no fan would want to miss!

Details:

Date: Saturday, 30th March, 2019
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Cover charge: ₹1000 per head (all inclusive)
Address: Accessible area in Salt Lake, Kolkata (easily reached via both City Centre and the Bypass).
Contact: +91-8697406710

Simply fill up this form and we’re good to go!*

La Dolce Vita : A Pop-Up Dinner｜Wine and Wasabi™

Celebrate food, it’s with you from the very beginning, through your first dates to your breakups and everyday in between with a multi-course Italian (with a dash of the French) inspired rooftop dinner by Wine and Wasabi™.

“There is no love sincerer than the love of food.”
George Bernard Shaw

Valentine’s day is built up (and sold) to be so much (and so many) things at the same time, but ultimately never is. Be it because of people involved or just because of how things are, things (or someone, or a dynamic, moment, or day) are so rigidly supposed to be a certain way but either simply aren’t or worse, cannot be at all. It’s tiring, even stressful sometimes. And it can begin to get stifling…

Not the case with food however. You know exactly what you’re getting in for, are rarely disappointed, and with us there’s an almost guaranteed happy ending in the works for you here.

This dinner is to celebrate food (whether alone, with your loved ones, or with interesting strangers), that which is with you from the very beginning, every step of the way, in every kind of relationship, including through your first dates to your breakups and everyday in between with an eight-course Italian (with a dash of the French) inspired rooftop dinner by Wine and Wasabi™.

Details:

Date: 13th February, 2019
Time: 7 pm – 9:30 pm
Cover charge: ₹2100 per head (all inclusive)
Address: Accessible area in Salt Lake, Kolkata (easily reached via both City Centre and the Bypass).
Contact: +91-8697406710

Simply fill up this form and we’re good to go!*

*limited spots, as always

Honey Cake, Or the Importance of Eating in Earnest｜Wine and Wasabi

Have you ever felt like you’re stuck in a rut and even when you’re doing what you love, it’s all a little too monotonous and no longer as exciting as it was when you started? This winter, I received a book which had recipes surrounding the memories of the author’s life. I made a piece of cake, the kind that takes you back to your first baking memories. It’s important because it reminded me of why I like to cook and brought back the feeling of unadulterated excitement and joy, the kind I hadn’t felt in a long time while making something. It’s the perfect surprise to myself and I am better for it, inspired and prepared for the future!

Have you ever felt like you’re stuck in a rut and even when you’re doing what you love, it’s all a little too monotonous and no longer as exciting as it was when you started?

I bake and cook for a living. It’s what I want to do for the rest of my life. But I also want to make new memories around food, discover and learn about other cultures, and grow. Working in a kitchen, making the same recipes doesn’t really allow for that.

Not as often and as much as I’d like, anyway.

My customers are amazing people who give me the chance to be an integral part of their special days and I am grateful for that – that something I do on occasion makes someone smile. It’s a special feeling, and any chef you will ever meet gets off on it, specially the pastry people.

However, there are a few things that are set in stone when it comes to us apparently: