Brains in Bombay

After a month of easy village living in the South of India, we took a break from the yoga routine and went up for a wild weekend in Bombay (Mumbai). There we ran into our friends in the Smirnoff Ten, and checked out a new music club called Blue Frog. In the club's brochure, the chef claims to be knowledgeable about "obscure meats" but we didn't see any on the menu.



We were told that lamb brains were on menus all over the city, so after a long walk among the grand colonial buildings of Colaba, we stepped into an Iranian restaurant north of Victoria Terminal, called, simply, "Iran Like Restaurant," with Pepsi/7UP as a sign sponsor. Sure enough, fried lamb brains was listed as a special.



The manager recommended the brain masala fry with a side of roti bread, and an order of sweet chai to wash it down with. Everything was matter-of-fact, and I didn't attract stares or smiles as a foreigner ordering something "weird", as often happens in China.

The lamb brains were soft and delicate like silken tofu, and soaked up the curry sauce perfectly. They were white in color, unlike the pink pig brains we ate before. We haven't been fond of animal brains thus far, but we really liked these, and even ordered them again a few days later. The soft smooth texture and neutral flavor compliment the spicy masala.



Iran Like Restaurant
69/73, Palton Road, Opp. J.J. School of Arts
Besides New Haj House, Mumbai 400001

Pig Brains at 4am

After another legendary party night at my current favorite bar / live music club 4 Live, I got pulled into late-night eats with my drunken friends. We ended up meeting another group at some OK hot pot place in Hongqiao. I have no idea where. It was 4am and we were all drunk. Good idea to eat a bit to soak up the beer before bed.

About 15 people were at the table, and I had no idea who was ordering the food. And more beer, of course. An endless procession of dishes -- big leafy greens, tofu-type skewer things, various meats and mushrooms -- and then, a plate of slimy pink blobs. I started to sober up. As I've said before, I'm into weird, but I'm not crazy about animal brains. These, as I suspected, turned out to be pig brains.



We picked up the plate and slid the mushy brains into the boiling pot. Half in the spicy broth, half in the mild. We let them stew for a while before digging them out, steaming and soaked with flavor. It's difficult to eat slimy brains with chopsticks, so we had to scoop them out of a bowl held up to our mouths. They were soft and succulent like soft tofu.

Despite our lack of enthusiasm for eating brains, these were fine, we had seconds, and we wouldn't turn them down again. Besides, we've had them before, pig brains in Cambodia.