On Mumbai’s loved Marine Drive at the Marine Plaza Hotel, the roof terrace with its gorgeous pool has opened up recently and is named after the blossoms
Allamanda bushes have dark green, shiny leaves and big, gorgeous yellow trumpet-like flowers. Happy colours! On Mumbai’s loved Marine Drive at the Marine Plaza Hotel, the roof terrace with its gorgeous pool has opened up recently and is named after the blossoms. The lit-up terrace, the soft sound of the nearby sea, the dark expansive sky above – all create a happy ambience, elegant and romantic, and for once one can forget the awful, claustrophobic Covid pandemic which changed our world.
Yes, masks, sanitizers, social distancing, all the alien terms that have now become common currency, are there in full force but at least one can breathe and feel as if one is outdoors. A rare precious feeling today for us city folk!
The Allamanda offered good Punjabi type food the evening we went there and we had juices with it. The menu, we were told, is changed frequently and reflects diverse Indian and regional cooking styles. The quality of the food was good and the smoky tandoori preparations, especially a delectable broccoli, were really well made. There were fat khumbi mushrooms and that inevitable Punjabi necessity: paneer. Hot, thin nans, with chopped garlic and loaded with butter, tasted delicious on a cool evening. (One hopes they make them with freshly ground whole wheat soon.) The kali dal was excellent, the yellow dal was, well, also tasty.
Dessert on the set menu was rasmalai and gulab jamun: hot, pleasant and rich. The food was good but the real charm of the evening lay in the beautiful rooftop terrace with its brightly coloured mosaic floor, a well-appointed alcove for musicians, the blue pool and the nearby sea. Drinks are offered with the menu: juices and some fruit punches. Or mocktails as they are called today. Our companion did find the drinks very expensive.... So Punjabi nourishment accompanied by soft breezes! Punjabi food is the one cuisine that travelled worldwide and came to be known as ‘Indian food’.
The Allamanda Terrace is at The Marine Plaza, Marine Drive, Mumbai. One hopes it will soon have lots of allamanda blossoms.