This restaurant in BKC is making waves for its cardboard interiors

Unreal curry bowl. Pics/Sameer Markande

The early bird might get the worm, but not the full menu. That's pretty much what happens in our case when we visit Cardboard less than a week after the BKC eatery has opened its doors to the public. The waiter hands us a few computer-printed pages and tells us that it's the tasting menu.

There is still a day left before the entire one is unveiled. And our options are thus limited to a mix and match of Indian and continental breakfast items, some appetisers and sandwiches, and a handful of main dishes.

Scrambled eggs

"So be it," we tell ourselves, and settle for scrambled eggs ('190) - served with toast, roasted potatoes and sundried tomatoes - to begin with. Why scrambled eggs? Because it's a sure-fire way to test a chef's calibre. Ask Gordon Ramsay, who tells new cooks at his restaurants to make scrambled eggs first and sends them packing if they fall short of perfection.

Getting its consistency right is deceptively tough (the trick is to keep taking the pan off the hob so that the eggs aren't overcooked). And the version here has the correct texture alright, but the problem - if anything - is that it's undercooked to the extent that Ramsay would have left the chef with egg on his face, no pun intended.

Gnarly

The other dish we order is the unreal curry bowl ('500), and this fares better. It consists of Andhra chicken curry, rice, crispy okra, two small appalam papads and - surprisingly - sautéed spinach and boiled carrots.

The meal is wholesome enough, though the "Andhra" tag for the chicken seems like cultural appropriation. Nevertheless, we wipe it off and wash it down with an excellent drink called gnarly ('200), a thick juice with apples, pineapples, grated coconut and mint leaves. So the question is, will we return to sample the full menu at Cardboard once it's ready? Well, despite the consistently good service staff there, the only answer we really have is, "Maybe."

Time 9 am to 11 pm
At Inspire Building, G block, BKC.
Call 9833144459

Murals, suspended installations, psychedelic fixtures, vertical gardens. There is so much that goes on in the decor of Mumbai restaurants that almost nothing a new entrant flaunts takes us by surprise. The recently opened Cardboard in BKC, however, is a different story. Being hailed as India's first cardboard café, its interiors, including furniture, light fixtures, a curved wall, signage as well as the menu card and bill and cutlery boxes, are made of corrugated board.

A collaboration between siblings Bhavna and Yung Dhanani, and Vishal Shetty and Shilpa Tulaskar, the restaurant has been designed by architect Nuru Karim. Haresh Mehta, whose passion for transforming the material into everyday objects - "from cradle to coffin" - stems from his business of manufacturing cardboard as packaging material, has fabricated the interiors.

There is a continuity in the theme, which shows in the lamp shades, the simple but functional cardboard menu card, bill and cutlery boxes, and a small book shelf that greets you at the restaurant

Work on the project started in September 2018. About the unusual choice of the material, Karim says, "We've been doing research on cardboard for a long time. It is recyclable, renewable, and strong and light, which a desirable combination. We wanted to unbox its potential, and see how we could start introducing cardboard into the glass hub called BKC."

One Friday morning, we pull up a curvy chair - a lightweight counterpart to the otherwise bulky wooden or wrought-iron chairs we are used to - at the restaurant, as we wait for Mehta to join us and tell us the story of how it all came together.

The first thing you notice as you enter the brown-hued space is a massive curved wall, done in Karim's signature style. Facing it is a similar but smaller wall that also extends into a table with no legs for support. "It is made of 450 individual sheets of corrugated board all carved separately for this flowy vibe. It took us a month to put it together," Mehta (in pic) shares. Pics/Ashish Raje

He arrives with a folding cardboard chair. "This is for the valet parking guy," he tells us, as he assembles it within minutes. In the next 30 minutes, he takes us through what a material dismissed as "puttha hai, nahi chalega" can be sculpted into, if treated with love and respect.

Nuru Karim

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