DESPERADO (HOT)Glass: Old fashionIInnggrreeddiieennttss::

45ml brandy 1 cinnamon stick2 cloves 1 tbsp honey2 wedges of lime Hot water

Method:1. Pour brandy in a glass.2. Add all the spices, squeeze twowedges of lime and drop it in.3. Pour hot water over a steel spoon(to avoid cracking the glass) to fill halfthe glass. Stir and serve.Garnish: Lime wedges and spices in

the drink itself are the garnish.

UTTERLY SIMPLE (HOT)Glass: Wine glassIInnggrreeddiieennttss:: 45 ml Dark rum

120 ml apple juice Cinnamon stick

MMeetthhoodd:: 1. Rim the glass with cinnamon pow-

der and sugar. (Dip the rim of theglass in sugar syrup and then dip itin cinnamon and sugar).

2. Steam apple juice with cinnamon sticks.

3. Pour dark rum in the rimmed glassand pour the hot apple juice in theglass with a cinnamon stick.

4. Garnish with apple slice and cinna-mon stick.

GGaarrnniisshh:: Cinnamon stick and appleslice. a_ankit@dnaindia.net

ESPRESSO MARTINI (COLD)Glass: Pre - chilled MartiniIInnggrreeddiieennttss:: 45ml vanilla vodka 30ml black coffee 15ml coffeeliqueur 5ml Hazelnut syrupMMeetthhoodd::1. Put ice into the Martini glass and keep it for chilling. 2. Fill the mixing tin half with cube ice.3. Add all the ingredients over ice.4. Shake it well and pour it into a pre chilled Martini glass. 5. Garnish with two polo rings.GGaarrnniisshh:: Two polo rings and two coffee candies.

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ANKIT AJMERA

BEFORE dinner if you drink whatyou want, it wouldn’t matter muchbecause your stomach is empty. Butif you are in the mood to have some-thing after your dinner, you need tothink and make the right choice.Mixologist Shatbhi Basu gives a few‘after dinner’ drinks which also canbe a very good substitute for hot beverages such as coffee and tea aswell as those for desserts such as ice-creams, cakes and sweets.

Over time things have changed asfar as after dinner drinks are con-cerned. Shatbhi defines the progres-sion of this change. “In the old days,an after dinner drink was either a cognac or liqueur like Kahlua orDrambuie with a coffee or a liqueuron its own, or then even an aged portor sherry. As time progressed, inter-est in good whisky and malts grew.And so, a nice sipping 25YO blendedscotch or fine single malt finished ina port pipe has become an after dinner drink,” she says. Sippingrums joined the brigade. “Then cameIrish coffee and stayed around for along time, especially when it wasmade at the table, flamed and thenpresented in style,” she adds.

Today, however, drinks have gonebeyond the conventional approachand have adapted liquid dessertstyles. “After dinner drinks now aremore about flavour. Some almost ‘icecreamy’, others with warming liq-uids,” she informs.

Shatbhi prepares three hot andtwo cold cocktails for readers with amix of rich-yet-fun ingredients suchas chocolate, ice cream and spices.

RREECCEENNTTLLYY, I was on Cloud Nine. Fluffy, furrysnowflakes were transforming this glitter-ing city of Europe into amagical Christmas card.What Milan is to Italy,Dusseldorf’s “Konigsalee”(Kings alley) is to Germany.But you can bet it’s no“shopping whopping” forme. For just across the KOshopping style mile arethree historical foodiemeccas which have beendrawing me here regular-ly. As have the most warm-hearted German families.

NAPOLEON ATE HEREWe love the “world’s longest restaurant,”the picturesque old town (Aldstadt) whichbustles with old breweries, bars, Japanese,Spanish, Chinese and Italian restaurants.Napoleon not only ensured that thesycamore trees were planted along the Kobut also ate regularly in the breweries here.I have memorable gourmet meals in theoldest German restaurant Tante Anna with

the most affectionate Ingo, Ingo Jr, Gerdaand Karen Bohlken, Bob and Edith Jansen. I

get high on the deep dark Alt beerand Dusseldorffer Zempf (mustard).

BEYONCE’S FAVOURITEHowever, it is in theBreidenbacherhof, thatalong with BrigetteWagner I taste my finestFrikadeller (the traditionalGerman meat ball) bril-liantly rendered with the

finest ground Nebraska beef,onions and spices on a bed of

pea puree with truffles. Favourite ofBeyonce, Tom Jones and the chancellor ofGermany.

THE FAMILY STEIGENBERGERA stone’s throw away from theBreidenbacherhof, I not only trip out on themost exquisite pumpkin soup but also onthe cookbook of the family Steigenberger.And all this while the soft snow falls outside. Lovely!

HOPEFULLY by now, Ray’sCafe will have got its liquorlicence. Located as it is in the

yard overlooking the wine sectionof Nature’s Basket, it was a wee bitfrustrating to look at all those lovelybottles of wine and drink cranberryjuice instead! This cafe is just thatand has a delightful feel to it. Theoutdoor section was full so we hadto settle for the air-conditioned bit.

The menu — apart from no boozeand cranberry juice — had salads,pizza and sandwiches. The pizzaswere recommended by the staff, sowe tried out a prosciutto with rock-et leaves and also ordered a charredvegetables and couscous salad. Thesalad was good — lots of lettucewith assorted grilled peppers and asprinkling of couscous. It was use-ful for a “pretend” healthy feelingbefore the pizza arrived.

The ham — prosciutto — androcket leaves on the pizza were notcooked with the rest of the pizza,which made it an interesting choice.My only complaint was that the hamwas not cut into small enough pieces,so one bite of pizza meant all theham was gone at one go unless youdid it yourself. But the taste and thefreshness of the meat and the rocketleaves was a pleasant surprise.

The speciality of the Cafe,informed the staff, was the Ray’sspecial pizza, which was a pepper-oni. Ray’s offers the choice of order-ing by the slice, so we asked for two

and were rewarded with massiveslices of pizza, dripping withcheese but not so much, itmust be admitted, pepper-oni. Pizza is in one way sovery basic and in anoth-er, can be so fulfillingand Ray’s manages themix. It is also a welcomechange from the chain piz-za places and their processedflavours.

The disappointment was the

sandwich — and my companion didnot like his ginger lemon fizz(which the bill has put down as “ex-otic drink”) but is that because itwas not a pinot noir? We shall never

know. We ordered a Ray’s special,which had German ham, dill,

jalapenos, onions, cheeseand then some. Again, theham was uncut or in longstrips so one bite pulled itout of the whole sand-wich and somehow the

combination did not work.However, I would go

again for the pizzas and the at-mosphere. For dessert we had an

apple pie, which was good enough. Ioverheard someone saying thatthey outsource the desserts butwhen I went the cafe was just twoweeks old, so they have time to get itall in order.

A good fun place.b_ranjona@dnaindia.net

Milind Shelte

LIGHT BITESA new cafe has a funatmosphere and somedelicious salad andpizza on the menu

DusseldorfDREAMIN’

Sip to your

soiree!

Mixologist SHATBHI BASU preps up your ‘after dinner’ cocktails with ingredients like ice-cream and spices

■ Photo: Amol Kamble ■ Photo shoot courtesy: On Toes - Bandra

Pepperoni pizza, anyone?

BRIGHT BITES: At Ray’s Cafe

.BON APPETIT. Mumbai, Saturday, March 13, 2010epaper.dnaindia.com IIhrs.

RANJONA BANERJI

RAY’S CAFE AND PIZZERIAGazebo House, 133 Hill Road, Bandra (West),

Mumbai 400050, TTeell:: 2266445511661166,, 2266445511441144

RATING:MEAL FOR TWO

(with juices, exotic drinksand no alcohol): Rs1,300

1 Eat at home 2 Almost there 3 We’re going back 4 Scorching 5 Steal the chef!!

Rashmi Uday Singh, food authorTravelling Foodie

THE papaya is gaining recognition in Western medicinefor its anti-cancer powers, with a University researcherclaiming that the power fruit thwarted growth of cancercells in lab tests.

University of Florida researcher Nam Dang document-ed papaya’s anti-cancer effect against a range of lab-grown tumors. Researchers used an extract made fromdried papaya leaves, and the anticancer effects werestronger when cells received larger doses of the tea. Thepapaya extract did not have any toxic effects on normalcells, avoiding a common and devastating consequenceof many cancer therapy regimens. —ANI

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Z. Papaya may harbour cancer cure