Tingling and licking

"Our exclusive menu is inspired from different parts of India with specialties appealing to a diverse clientele,” announces the website of Tingling Taste­buds, the new restaurant launched by Farah and Cyrus Manekshaw in Mississauga, Canada. With extensive experience in Indian and Parsi catering, the owners state, "If your tastebuds are tingling for an Indian dish that is not on our menu, we shall try our best to prepare that for you too. The elegant dining room would be "the ideal place to stop in for a bite to eat, for a drink or for a small business meeting or family get-together and celebrations. Join us for a quick lunch from our combo or à la carte menu or enjoy a sumptuous buffet,” declares the website.

Made operational to the public on May 3, 2010, the initial response has been encouraging. "Since we are located in a commercial district, we get a good crowd in the afternoons for our buffet/lunch combos though dinners are still a challenge,” says Farah. With greater emphasis on advertising and promotion they hope their venue will be popular after sundown too. Their 45-seater restaurant can conveniently accommodate almost 60 for a celebration party, points out Farah. While Cyrus and a helper hold the fort in the kitchen, Farah and a helper are in charge of the dining area.

"Everyone is welcome to taste the delicious food by Farah and Cyrus and experience service in a warm and friendly ambience,” announced Zareen Karani Araoz, founder of Zoroastrian Women’s International Network (ZWIN) adding, "This is a dream come true for these two entrepreneurial and hardworking youngsters. Let us all encourage and celebrate with them by visiting their restaurant… and telling our friends about it.”

The decision to start their own venture was triggered when Farah was laid off from her job at Cara Corporation that manages six brands of restaurants. Cyrus working in the kitchen of a different unit of Cara had a stronger job hold. It was only in the week before the takeover of the eatery that things actually fell into place, with the loan being sanctioned and the rent/security amount being finalized.

Introducing Farah as an "active ZWINer” who was assisted by many from the ZWIN fraternity, Araoz recalled the restaurateur’s struggle. In a telephonic interview we learnt that after her graduation from Bombay’s Elphinstone College Farah chose to study hospitality in the US. She then returned to Bombay, married her childhood sweetheart and returned with him to the US where Cyrus gained on-job training. Initially working in a restaurant in Florida his expertise was later used to start an eatery in Boston. They worked hard till late hours and roughed it out in Boston for two years before migrating to Canada. While working to save money for their dream eatery for seven years they raised a child. Farah is happy that Tingling Tastebuds being just 10 km from their residence, four-year-old "Arzaan bhi sachvai jaay (son is well taken care of).”

"This is truly commendable and I wish them the very best,” encouraged UK’s famous restaurateur Cyrus Todiwala of Café Spice Namaste remembering "having been through a million upheavals in our lives and often still struggling to meet those obstacles that life and fickle politics throw at us…”

(Above) The kitchen and dining area of Tingling Tastebuds; (far left) Arzaan; specialities Nali Ghosh (center) and Bhare Hue Shubnum Purluft

On the menu at Tingling Tastebuds are starters, soups and wraps, entrees, rice and breads, desserts and drinks. Their starters include non-vegetarian items like Murg Nafeez, Lahsouni Jhinga, Sheekh Kabab starting at $ 10 with the vegetarian ones like Saag Aloo Tikki, Nilgiri Paneer Tikka, Hariyali Dip costing upwards of $ 5.25. Their lunch specials include dal+rice/naan with variables like butter chicken, chicken palak, chicken korma, beef curry, lamb curry, kheema, shrimp curry, achari shrimp for the non-vegetarians in the price range of $ 4.99 to 6.99 plus taxes. For vegetarians the optional dish could be mix veg korma, paneer makhanwala, palak paneer, veg palak, aloo gobi in the price range of $ 4.50 to 4.99.

With 60 percent of their customers being "gorias (foreigners)” and 40 percent "desis (Asians)” the Manekshaws’ ultimate dream is to start restaurants "in pockets that have no or one Indian restaurant with possible specialization in takeaway/fusion/ice cream/ice gola/juices…We want to get India here.”