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Mocha and me

Besides sorbets, Mocha has interesting additions to its menu for summer. And that's what makes you excuse the slip-ups in the service

PHOTO: S: THANTHONI

SIMPLE, YET FASCINATING The new menu at Mocha

Waiters rarely get standing ovations. But, after what seemed like an interminable wait for their food, a group of five sitting beside me at `Mocha: Coffees and Conversations' bursts into spontaneous applause, congratulating the sheepish waiter, and affectionately slapping him on the back, when he placed a single chocolate brownie on their table. All of them contemplated the brownie in hungry silence. Then one of the young ladies squeaked, "Coffee and conversation? This place is more about conversation than coffee."

Mocha can give Death By Chocolate a whole new meaning.

The restaurant, however, has managed to clock an incredible average of 500 customers a day, a number that hits about 750 over the weekend. Evidently their fascinating décor — which teeters between looking like a kitschy harem and something decorated by eccentric magpies — and their fascinating menu, lush with chocolate and twanging with exotic Middle Eastern flavours, are proving to be an undeniable draw.

Possibly keeping with the languid, relaxed and Bohemian Mocha spirit, Chef Brainard Colaco saunters in one hour late for the interview, to discuss the restaurant's new menu.

Sorbets for summer

"We'll be adding sorbets for summer," he says, stating they'll come in flavours like apple, cinnamon, mango, lime and, interestingly enough, raw mango. "Mocha after all is about the simple pleasures of life."

He should know. For, judging by the menu, he's managed to weld together an array of fascinating, yet astoundingly simple food.

The `Great Shakes' for instance, which began about four years ago and now comprise 25 per cent of Mocha's sales' are one of those recipes that make you feel like kicking yourself and saying, `now why didn't I think of that.' "It's basically a bachelor recipe," says the chef. "There's no cooking involved. Just open the fridge. Pick out whatever is inside and blend it." It is, after all, chocolate (Kit Kat, M&Ms, After Eight, Lindt), ice cream and milk.

We sample their new grill menu, which has just been introduced. Making use of the restaurant's new barbeque, it features "food from around the world: Jamaican style chicken, vegetable cottage cheese steaks, Moroccan chicken skewers... "

The meal begins with a nicely done plate of ginger chicken skewered along with glistening butter-brushed corn, served with subtly spiced pasta and a refreshing Tropical Smoothie made with mango and orange pulp. They also put together an interesting cottage cheese steak, marinated in a line-up of spices, including galangal and honey. The char-grilled meticulously decorated assorted vegetables, however, are as insipid as they are pretty, largely because the kitchen seemed to have forgotten to add salt.

And that seems to be Mocha's problem. The big picture's gorgeous, scented hookahs filling the air, fairy tale lanterns and admittedly friendly service. It's in the details that they slip up. They often don't give you the right amount of cutlery. And, despite requests, the waiters deigned to give my dining companion and me just a single plate, from which we both had to eat.

But then, we were relatively lucky. The table of five next to us had to figure out how to split a single brownie, with one plate and two spoons.

SHONALI MUTHALALY

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