You guys.

Christmas came slightly early to Bombay this year…

Chef Kelvin Cheung’s new bar/ eatery, One Street Over, is officially open for business and ZOMG, it’s good!

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As they say, every cloud has a silver lining and in this case, Chef Kel’s departure from Colaba’s Ellipsis earlier this year, followed by a move to Chicago via Toronto definitely served a higher purpose… as he returned to #BomBAE with a new culinary partner-in-crime – Boo Kwang Kim, of Little Goat in Chicago!

Always keen to be the first on the scene, my cuz and I stopped by on their opening night, only to leave in a food coma a few hours later.

Situated right off Linking Road, the buzzy spot actually exudes more of a pub-like feel with simple brass-lit wooden interiors that lets the food do all the talking… The menu here is all about American comfort food with an Asian twist – a mix of Chinese and Korean influences, reflecting the respective heritage of the two chefs.

From the “littles,” we started with fresh burrata – soft and  creamy, the flavours were heightened with Kelvin’s creative use of red carrots, a seasonal special this time of year. In addition to the carrot marinara and fermented carrot vin, the dish even featured a clean-tasting pesto made with carrot-tops rather than basil!

While the potato-skins mac n-cheese were the stuff of a foodie’s dreams – panko-crumbed potato-skins fried to a crisp perfection and filled with that most comforting of comfort-foods, topped with sour cream, chives and laced with truffle oil.

Balancing out the indulgence, we sprung for the sesame-spinach salad, dressed ever-so-moreishly with mirin and sake. My new favourite way to get my daily dose of greens.

And on that healthy-ish note, I couldn’t resist the “fly lice no rice” from the “bigs”…  a genius low-carb alternative to egg-fliedfried rice, served with a smattering of veggies (championing local produce) and kimchi. It packed in a real punch.

It was then smoothly back to a #CarbsonCarbsonCarbs situation with Kelvin’s handmade gnocchi served up with a corn crema, charred corn, roasted red peppers and parmesan. It was every bit as good as it sounds if not as it looks (I had 10 seconds to try and get a photograph edgeways before everyone pounced). It was so good in fact, that we couldn’t resist scooping out the remnants of the creamy sauce on to the restaurants’s signature sourdough bread!

As for dessert – in the capable hands of dessert-maestro Kelvin, the simple combination of cookies and hot chocolate turned out to be a winning note on which to end our evening. Freshly baked and served warm, straight from the oven, the brown butter maldon salt chocolate-chip cookies had that perfect crisp exterior, giving way to a deliciously moist and gooey centre!

Seeing as it was a Monday night, we didn’t quite make inroads with the enticing cocktail menu curated by mixologist Arijit Bose. Still that provides a heady reason or two to head back to our new favourite Bandra hangout – sooner rather than later! See you there?

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One Street Over, 8/9 Navrang Building, Ground Floor, Linking Road, Bandra West