Yeoor Hills Drivethrough Part 1

Part One - Dinner at Mindspace

O.K so I know I haven't been updating the blog with accounts of the last few trips I took, so let me make amends by making a feeble attempt at describing the latest one - a night trip to Yeoor hills. The other 3 trips deserve more detailed write ups.

The last week of October was pretty terrible - a combination of me being really sick, losing my glasses, and being swamped with work. The long weekend, and my subsequent birthday, helped rejuvenate me to some extent. Still, I had nothing planned for this weekend except more rest, when I got a call on Friday night asking if I'd like to join a two bike, four person night expedition to Yeoor hills, Thane. 

I said 'yes' immediately, for it is in my nature to believe that any activity outdoors makes for a better story than an activity indoors, though I had my doubts about the amount of adventure one could have in the dead of night, in a dead area with nothing but forest. Still, I went ahead, wondering all through Saturday if I had made the correct choice and if I should not perhaps allow for some sort of sudden scheduling conflict to annul my plans, if this was indeed going to be as boring as I felt it would. But since we were going to be meeting for dinner, I decided to at least do that, since nothing bad can come of a meal with friends.

So off I went to Jogeshwari to meet NS, famed travel and food blogger extraordinaire, who, much to my dismay, upon meeting me a tad late at our designated rendezvous at Jogeshwari East, described in detail his most immediate encounter with the city's traffic problem, and it's effect on our common meeting point in Andheri. It was henceforth decided that we meet the remaining biker at Jogeshwari West instead, which we did soon after. It was then decided that, for want of decent nightly nourishment aka dinner, in Jogeshwari West, we might be better off travelling to Malad to fill up and meet group member number 4. 

Unfortunately, traffic is what you would expect on a Saturday night in Mumbai. Fortunately, our two biker heroes come from only the finest biker lineage, and I can say with almost absolute alacrity that the only vehicles they succeeded in scraping or being scraped by were each others bikes. But do not be alarmed , dear readers, for is it not in the biker handbook to strive to always attempt to be close to your fellow biker? I was almost inspired, and I would have been, if it weren't for all the petrol fumes wafting around.

So we made it to Mindspace, my home away from home, a place I shall always have the fondest memories of. Now despite the world's notions about my perceived perfection, I would like to assure my readers that I do make mistakes, though these are so rare, they tend to become the stuff of whispers and legends, the kinds that evolve into those 'Once upon a time in Mumbai...' tales, which might even one day become excellent children's bedtime story material.

But getting back to my dinner adventure before my Yeoor adventure, I advised said bikers of the high probability inherent in finding good food at Evershine Nagar, and further advised them to take the back road, the one that runs along behind Inorbit, all through to the Mindspace Paradigm buildings, and parallel to Link road. A quieter quicker road, but where we ended up missing all the more cost effective restaurants on Link road, and eventually scouring the Evershine area, three hungry individuals on an ever frustrating quest for cheap food. 

We decided to go back to Mindspace, but via Link Road this time, where I spotted a familiar establishment by the name of Rasoi. My previous culinary experience at this particular eatery had only been at it's Borivli branch, but it was satisfactory. However, NS, the foodie that he is, insisted that we go to Dum Laga Ke, a Mughlai/Biryani theme place that he had been to before but whose location he hadn't the good sense or memory to remember. His sumptious review of a sumptuous restaurant can be found here. 

The main points I took away from the experience are - 

1. I loved the Bheja Fry. It was some sort of butter garlic concoction and was tastier than any other brain that I've tasted any other place, and for Rs 170,  was a good starter for it's taste and quantity.

2. The tables were high and the seats were low. This phenomenon, while irritating, gets a 5/5 for making me feel like a child at a restaurant all over again, especially while I rested my elbows on the table.

3. The Biryani's were filling. One was just enough for two, and at Rs 150/biryani, were suitably priced, their only fault being not containing enough prawns in the prawn biryani, and having Chicken Tikka that didn't taste like Chicken Tikka in the Chicken Tikka biryani.

The damage came to 200/head and we waited outside for a while snapping away and mulling over our next move. Group member number 4 was otherwise engaged, and our waiting for her will hopefully be mirrored in your waiting for the next half of this enlightening wondrous little story, dear readers. Soon.

Yeoor Hills Drivethrough Part 1