I chose to eat at Mayura Indian with a group of girlfriends the other week. I’ve made a number of my friends through my blog or through my Instagram profile. We will ping messages back and forth and then eventually transition from pixels to pavements.
Common characteristics of my met-via-the-internet friends are: they hail from somewhere else but have chosen Barcelona as their home, they are active in the world of food (writing, cooking, photographing, food tours), they tend to be social people who enjoy reaching out and creating new projects / new friendships and lastly all are creative.
I decided to start a small initiative to bring some of these people together, informally over food. I handed the ordering over to Anjalina Chugani (author of Soul Spices, cookery teacher at various schools as well as blogger and youtuber.) Joining us that evening was Sara of Appetite and Other Stories, Victoria from Corazon & Zanahoria, Sarah a chef, Marwa – founder of Wanderbeak boutique tours and Katie a brand new acquaintance who had worked over at ITV UK and was still deciding on her online Barcelona persona.
Anjalina zipped up to the counter and came back ebulliently, clapping her hands for effect. “Done.” Soon after, platters of food started to make their way over to our table: plain and regular naan, cooling cucumber raita, makhani dal, lemon rice, palak paneer, salmon tikka and the show stopper of the evening – individual Flinstone sized rack of lamb. There were some of us who deftly rid the bone of any meat using cutlery and those of us who grabbed an end and set upon it with our teeth.
The conversation was raucous, so much in common, so much to share. Maybe because of this and our wanting to split the bill 7 ways, our service was mixed. We seemed to disgruntle one waitress by asking her for the bill “This is not my table.” she harrumphed. Our actual waitress appeared dour throughout but then unexpectedly smiled at us at some point. Not awful service but not charming either.
At some point we all turned expectantly to Anjalina. “Is this good?” we asked referring to the food we had eaten at Mayura Indian. We believed it to be but we wanted to know from our appointed expert. “Well yes – this is food my family eats. I know Mayura (the owner for whom the restaurant is named) from our school days in Bangalore. She opened this place a decade ago and the food has always been authentic.
So pronounced, we all turned back to finish off the mountain of food that had been ordered for us while rattling off food related stories to one another.
Mayura Indian
Carrer de Girona, 57
08009 Eixample
www.mayuralounge.es
facebook.com/mayuralounge
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