Pune's pride possession Mastani comes to Mumbai

We sample Pune's pride possession, a milkshake named after Peshwa Bajirao's lover, now available at Vile Parle

Let us start by saying, Pune has a rather amazing habit of giving nicknames to just about anything. A sev potato dahi puri becomes SPDP and a busy market street of Appa Balwant Chowk gets shortened to ABC. For an outsider, these abbreviations can be overwhelming, but you know you have been accepted by the locals, once they start calling you by a name they have picked for you.

Mastani is one such interesting name in the culinary scene in the city of Peshwas. Mastani is a milkshake that comes topped with a dollop of hand churned ice-cream. While that's a basic structure of the drink, some people also add fresh cut fruits, dry fruits and even whipped cream. The recipe for this was first designed by a cold drink centre called Kaware. It is believed that when guests tried it for the first time, they would exclaim 'masta' (awesome). And 'masta' drink that was available on Peshwa Bajirao's homeground got named after his lover — Mastani. It has now become a part of Pune's food heritage.

Puranpoli icecream with chunks of the crushed sweet flatbread

You can now try it at a tiny dessert parlour in Vile Parle called Karandikar Mastani House. Sandwiched between provision stores, it offers eight flavours starting from mango to an interesting Irish pudding mastani. They also offer some interesting flavours of ice cream. Don't go expecting too much, it's a simple store with a couple of chairs. The menu has been handwritten with sketch pens on a chart paper. Take two minutes and read the testimonies from family and friends and you will know that this is a family business, supported by its community.

We started off with a mango mastani (Rs 100) as it is considered to be the most traditional of the lot. The trick to drinking it is that you first finish the milkshake halfway through and then scoop out the ice-cream. Just as we would have liked, the milkshake wasn't overly sweet and the ice cream creamy enough. Next, we opted for the sitaphal mastani (Rs 120),. The milkshake in this one was at room temperate and the ice-cream lacked the flavour of sitaphal. While the taste for the mango was spot on, unfortunately, the paper cups that it was served in was a kill-joy as it kept spilling every time we tried to take a spoonful. While we get the ban on plastic and appreciate omitting plastic straws, we would have liked to enjoy our drink in a glass.

The ice-cream menu excited us with Puranpoli ice cream (Rs 60). The scoop came with some chunks of crushed Puranpoli and has the right amount of sugar and cardamom in there. The modak flavour (Rs 60) had sharp hints of the coconut filling that goes as a stuffing for the dish. Having said that, it could have also passed off as a naralachi vadi (coconut barfi) or a karanji too.

If you've never tried a Mastani before, Karandikar Mastani House could be a good introduction to the drink.

WHERE: Shop 4, Shree Kalpataru Co-operative Society, Gujarat Society road, Vile Parle East
CALL: 9769493735
TIMINGS: 5 pm to 11 pm

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