Maia; A wonderful concept that revolves solely around the mothers! Maia, is a greek name that means a great Mother! Maia is one of the most creative concepts in town that talks all about giving back to the moms! It’s a place that puts moms at the forefront and lets them shine 🙂
I truly believe that all that I am, or ever hope to be, is because of my mother. For years together, my mother has always been cooking up some spectacular food! For one, my palate solely revolves around the food my mother cooked while I was growing up.
When I received an invite to a new place (still under construction) close to work, I was anxious to see what this was all about. Sejal Shah, a mother herself, has taken it upon herself to create a unique space in Bangalore where mothers will be celebrated every single day!
There are several concepts that Maia brings to the table (some of which are still in the making) :
- Restaurant with Vegan Food : You heard that right! Some of the most complicated recipes that require eggs will be created using other substitutes.
- Recipe Library : They’re setting up an offline recipe library that one can visit anytime and note down recipes (created by Mothers!).
- Sustainable Food : All the food served at the restaurant will be freshly sourced from local farmers. This is truly the farm-to-fork philosophy.
- Cooking Studio : There will be a cookout studio where cooking workshops can be conducted.
- Nursing station : Mothers can come here for a meal, without having to worry about a private space where they can feed their baby or even change the diapers! The private room is also stocked up with all kinds of baby products.
- Feature your recipes : A mother could submit her recipe and actually have it feature on the restaurant’s menu. There will most likely be a daily rotating menu with about 40% of the dishes coming from the sourced recipes.
- Patisserie : They will have a dedicated store for folks who’d like to purchase some fine quality of breads and confectionery.
- Private Parties : If you’d like to throw a party for your friends and your home isn’t quite capable of hosting 30-40 people, the banquet hall at Maia is where you could throw a party! And guess what, all the food that you would have cooked up at your home, could well be re-created using your recipes. How cool is that? 🙂
Why was I invited? To get a sneak peek into what Maia has to offer, well before it’s launch in September. They have managed to get hold of a beautiful 8000 sqft property that has so aesthetically been designed by a renowned architect, that I’m sure you’ll fall in love with it 🙂
The 5 course meal that I had here was one of the best vegetarian meals I’ve had in the recent past.
We started with a warm Roasted Pumpkin soup! The occasional crunch of the seeds with the creamiest of creamy soups was probably the best way to start off the meal!
For me, the dish that totally hit a home run was the Signature Fattoush Salad, with some cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumber and my favorite Feta Cheese, drizzled with some secret dressing of theirs. The next time I visit Maia, I know which recipe I would steal!
There probably cannot be a meal without a deep fried dish that’s either got potatoes and/or cheese! There’s french fries and cheese balls and every other dish on one side and then there’s Farali Patties on another! This Gujarati dish was just the most amazing potato based dish I came across. With an equally awesome chutney made with potatoes (again) and tamarind to go with, you can’t really go wrong with this one!
I do follow a gluten free diet and that means I’m mostly restricted to rice based dishes. Akki Roti is something I have once every couple of days for breakfast. It was nice to see the same dish on the menu here. However, over here, the roti wasn’t the usual white and uneven in terms of the texture due to the pressing the dough with fingers. Here, it was a rolled smooth just like a regular Indian flat bread. The two chutneys to go with these rotis were tomato and coconut.
Lauki Koftas were a pleasant change from the usual Malai Koftas! Served with Kachori Pooris, it was a dish that I fancied over the Subz biriyani they had to offer! And that speaks volumes of how good this main course dish was!
Subz Dum Biriyani
We finished with 3 desserts, but what impressed me the most was the Gajar ka Halwa, a recipe of which was lent by a grandmother and followed to the ‘T’ by the chefs!
With such a unique space, I’m sure Maia will come a long way. I wish them all the very best and thank them for thinking about Mothers!
BUTTER THEORY 