A pop-up at Colaba's Bombay Vintage will feature dishes you will only find being prepared in a Koli home

In 2005, Rajhans Tapke, resident of Versova's Koliwada village approached community members with the idea of launching a hyperlocal food festival to promote their cuisine. The concept was met with sniggers. Some though, decided to take their chances.

"What started with five stalls, has spread to 50 with people fighting over space to set shop. They've now started raffle sheets for this," says Aneesh Dhairyawan, co-founder, Authenticook.com, who has collaborated with the Tapkes in the past to provide a dining experience at their home. This time, however, the family decided to take their food out of Versova, to the other end of the island.

Pankanchi made with pomfret

This weekend, the Koli family along with the food start-up will present their cuisine at Bombay Vintage, Colaba. The spread will include all that you never get to sample commercially. "You'll get to taste food that is eaten at Koli homes on a daily basis," says Harsha, Rajhans' wife, who has curated the menu with help from family members. While Harsha has held pop-ups in Kolhapur and Pune, it's their first in Mumbai.

Sumit Gambhir, co-owner at Bombay Vintage, says the idea is to pay tribute to Mumbai's local communities. "We started out with the Bombay Catholic menu, followed by rare dishes of the Parsi lagan nu bhonu. We wanted to keep the momentum going. There's so much about the Kolis that we don't know," Gambhir says.

Bombay Vintage's Sumit Gambhir, with Aneesh Dhairyawan of Autheticook

Realising that most people are familiar with the popular varieties of fish, such as rawas, pomfret and Bombay duck, the makers have decided to throw in a good amount of lesser-known local fish like baby mori (shark), clams and karandi (small prawn). The menu curation, Harsha adds, has been a family affair with her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, Leelawati, heading to the restaurant a couple of times in a month for tastings. While crowd favourites such as prawn fritters and rice-crusted Bombay duck feature on the menu, there are surprises in store with items like chimboori (crab) rassa, mori fry (chunks of baby shark dipped in a spicy batter and fried) and tisrya masala made in Koli style.

Harsha Rajhans Tapke and Leelawati Pradeep Tapke

With all appetisers, there's a tangy dip that's served. "I made it on a whim when some guests who had come over to our house for a meal asked for ketchup to go with the fried fish. I felt ketchup would kill the taste, so I whipped this up using raw mangoes."

The spice levels have been toned down for diners. "A regular guest won't be able to handle it. It's extremely tikhat (spicy)," she says. But there are exceptions. Take pankanchi, for instance, which is a broth-like curry made using kokum. "It's something that's even fed to babies," she adds. Needless to say, it's only fish on the menu. Gambhir is aware that the menu might shrink their guest pool, but "it is what it is". "We didn't want to tweak anything just to attract more people. It has to be authentic," he says.

WHEN: Available on Sunday, March 3, and 8 to 10, 12 noon to 3 pm and 9 pm to midnight
PRICE: Rs 1,500
TO REGISTER: authenticook.com

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