You ‘cran’ have breakfast all day with this fusion cuisine

CHENNAI: Mount Road Social has specially curated an all-day breakfast menu called the Ameri-cran Dream, a 7-course meal, starting at 11.30 am till 7.30 pm. It attempts to fuse cranberries, a fruit consumed by a major population in the US, in Indian dishes, adding a playful sense of bitter-sweet spice. The menu is the brainchild of Anoothi Vishal, who is a food historian. The idea was put to work by Chef Shamsul Wahid.

The dishes are very experimental in taste and challenge a regular palate not used to the piquancy of cranberry in their average Indian meal. The menu definitely complements the ambience, a vintage American beach-themed diner.

We started off with their cranberry and cashew samosa chaat. The dish was exciting in the sense that it was a regular samosa with generous potato filling topped with cranberry sauce drizzle. The dish was both sweet and spicy living up to its name. As you keep eating, the sweetness feels slightly loud; to balance this, the dish is served with channa masala at the base of the samosa. It is rich and the sense of familiarity soothes the palate.

Their pulled mutton nihari with cranberry baos absolutely stole the spotlight. The bao was soft with cranberry baked into the bread. The sweet bread complemented the spicy and palatial mutton nihari so well that the dish seems like a hug to your taste buds.

Their cranberry moongore with mint chutney is a bite-sized dish with dal, green chilli, and cranberries, topped with cranberry sauce drizzle. The chutney strikes a balance between the sweet and spicy nature of this dish and makes it interesting, offering a blast of flavours. This dish will go well with drinks that are citrus-based.

The cranberry sabudana khichdi was a no-go. The texture of the dish was very unpleasant and unsettling while the cranberry in the dish did not help to make it any better. But, if you are someone who has a taste for sabudana khichdi, you might as well give it a try.

A special mention to the rousing cranberry lehsun chutney which went well with most of the dishes. The chutney, which does not really have the texture of a chutney, is a flaky mixture consisting of diced garlic, chilli flakes, and cranberry.

The quantity is generous with value for money; starting from Rs 190. The staff are hospitable and obliging. The curated Ameri-cran dream menu will end on August 15. For anyone looking for a food adventure, this is your chance.