This South Mumbai restaurant puts you on a waitlist to get extra-special tacos

It’s a Wednesday night and the cool set of South Bombay and beyond have descended to Otra for a quick post-work drink and OG masa-made tacos. If you were to go by our recommendations, you must try the hamachi tartare tostada for food and Carajillo, a rum-based cocktail featuring espresso and cocoa nib to complement it. For everyone else who trusts Alex Sanchez’s cooking, knows that there won’t be anything on the menu that you’d sink, and feel anything less than exhilarated. For that is the magic of Sanchez. 

For the uninitiated, Sanchez started off as the head chef at The Table in 2010, and went on to open Americano—a friendly neighbourhood restaurant where Colaba and Cuffe Parade food enthusiasts throng—in 2019. Otra is his third culinary stint. Another reason why congratulations are in order for him is that his business and life partner, restaurateur Mallyeka Watsa, delivered a baby boy, just around the time when the restaurant was ready to open its doors. “Teething issues could mean two very different things around here,” Watsa jokes. She usually looks right out of a magazine, polished, warm, casual and in love with Sanchez(‘s food). Behind the scenes, from defining the voice and vibe of the restaurant and managing the team to conceptualising the menu and making sure guests have a wonderful time, Watsa does it all. “You should definitely try the rice pudding,” she says before we start the meal. 

Sanchez explains the menu to have big Latin American roots; it’s a coming together of sights and big flavours. Take for instance their crunchy green plantain-based tostones served with a fiery, creamy green sauce made with jalapeños and the aji amarillo pepper. The dish instantaneously reminds you of a popular South Indian snack, aratikaya. 

 

Every dish on their menu, from the vibrant beetroot tiradito (inspired by the original raw fish version) to the bean ceviche, is a contemporary take on a traditional recipe and we are not complaining. The sizzling rice ‘chaufa’, a combination of crispy rice and oyster and trumpet mushrooms, comes with a side of aji amarillo ‘sizzling sauce’, and takes us back to the 90s’ when sizzlers were all the rage in Mumbai. 

 

But in the midst of all these flavours, two elements tie all the dishes on Otra’s menu together. One is their masa, a pure corn dough, which is made from a special variety of corn grown especially for the restaurant by Three One Farms in Punjab. The other common element for all the dishes, including mocktails are subtle hints of spices.

Sanchez is clearly in love with his masa gnocchi chochoyotes, where the masa is hand-rolled into mini gnocchis and served in a yellow tomato passata, balanced with aji amarillo (of course) as well as radish and cilantro for freshness. It is accompanied with a raw tomatillo salsa verde (cruda) on top.

The red snapper aguachile, shrimp tacos, and pork belly ‘pernil’ also come highly recommended. The pork belly ‘pernil’ is a scaled down version of the traditional Peurto Rican roast pork which is usually prepared in large quantities (nothing less than one full roast will do) in home kitchens for a typical Sunday feast. Sanchez quickly assures us, “The flavours are all there, only the size has been reduced to befit a restaurant portion. Every time we prepare the pernil, the aromas remind me of home.”

Otra is the first restaurant in the city to bring traditional Latin American flavours to the dining scene, and while being the first in line to do something is exciting, for Sanchez, introducing these authentic flavours to the city seemed an onerous task. “Yes, there is excitement but there are also the nerves. You are not sure how the audience is going to take to the restaurant and the learning curve is usually big.” 

 

Otra’s desserts are star-like, but Watsa-recommended airy and light rice pudding with whipped cream, layered with dulce de leche and topped with candied pecans was a smooth end to this meal.
 

Feature image credit: Sahil Behal

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