OUR FAVOURITE HANGOUTS shutting shop is always heartbreaking. So, when Toast & Tonic announced it was closing last May, a lot of us rushed to get the last bites of our must-haves. And then, we were prepared to simply don our black armbands in mourning for eternity. Toast & Tonic had the soul of a neighbourhood joint without having to once forcefit that phrasing into a taut tagline, marketing campaign or PR spiel.
Thankfully, AD Singh — founder and managing director of the Olive Group of Restaurants — was simply doing a refresh of this buzzy, warm spot. And from January of this year, within the bones of the familiar, Singh has, alongside chef Dhruv Oberoi, infused a sense of fantasy too. Welcome to The Hood by Olive. It’s intimate with curtained-off seating in various corners for private whispers; diner-style booths; and other seating options to engender cross-talk; plus an inviting curvaceous bar for smooth conversations. There’s pops of jewel-tone colours, earthy exposed brick and the calm of lush plants peeping out of the most unexpected places, besides being peppered with thoughtful tchotchkes and second-hand books. And within this eclectic environment, one gets to duck and dive into a Kyoto teahouse, sit at the corner of Beirut street and saunter through Florence — by way of the menu, of course.
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Go On, Hummus A Happy Song
Slightly nervous — we feel like we’re on a blind date with the new avatar of this joint — and decide to start off with drinks. We get a Dance Of The Beirut Bandit and a Tuscan Tomato Fields Forever. Like the titles of glamorous pulp-fiction paperbacks, these cocktails hint at intrigue and they don’t disappoint. Our Beirut Bandit steals us into a chill, starlit night with its soothing warm meld of rum, coconut-sesame-saffron milk dusted vanilla, cinnamon and orange foam sprinkled with crushed pistachios. It is both snuggly and seductive. The Tuscan Tomato — a treat of sun-dried tomato mezcal, tequila, tomato water crowned with a cheese-basil foam — is like digging into a big, juicy steak; it’s savoury, sweet and full-bodied.
We graze on gyozas dressed in the crispiest skirting and stuffed with punchy, peppery mustard leaves; scooped out the creamiest, charred marrow from the bone and smeared it across our mini nigella seed khuboos; and chomped on mackerel glazed with a cumin-chilli-molasses, the saltiness of feta and crunch of pumpkin seed tabouleh — reminded my professor companion of a fried fish on the beaches of Kerala.
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We weren’t the only guests at the diner: there was a birthday bash, an infamous food influencer, couples on dates, an after-office mixer and a local politician accompanied by a towering, moustachioed bodyguard. In his shadow, it felt safe to call out for another round.
Kimono, This Is Good Stuff
We kicked off after our intermission with a Beware The Ginza Tiger, it’s a complex concoction of miso-washed whiskey sparked with nutty notes of sesame; dark, caramel kokuto sugar from the Okinawa Islands and kick of coffee liqueur served with togarashi peanuts. (We notice each cocktail is accompanied by the local ritual and a taste of the traditional touchings.)
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For mains, we asked for the Laban Immo and the Buta-don. Our Lebanese dish of goat neck seasoned with warm, savoury and spicy baharat mix and cooked in goat-milk yoghurt tenderly submitted to the first touch of fork prongs. It was brightened by the accompanying minted peas, crispy okra and the bed of pearl couscous. This dish was a yummy shimmy between flavours and textures in each bite. Our second dish, a Japanese standard, delivered: the pork belly was perfectly grilled; it was juicy and luxe, and the shards of burnt bamboo shoots was an intriguing touch scooped along with the salty, seaweed rice, which was a great dance partner.
We called it a night with a double espresso and Kasutera, a Japanese dessert made of native, brûléed Sirumalai bananas in a white miso dulce atop the airiest Japanese sponge cake – it was creamy, caramelly and disappeared in seconds.
We’re told, in a couple of months, the menu will fly us to France, Mexico and Fort Kochi. I guess, with this promise to keep returning with the best finds, we look forward to a long romance with The Hood.
The Hood by Olive, Krishna Manaera, 14/1, Wood Street, Ashok Nagar. Call 77952 80336 for reservations. Every day, 12 pm-1 am.