Sushiwallah: Mumbai chef delivers kick-butt maki

When Le Cordon Bleu (Paris)-educated Shilarna Vaze isn’t playing out her fantasy profession in her head -- Ninja Fairy, a spunky DJ who spins at Goa’s underground jungle parties -- she’s running her sushi delivery and home catering service in Mumbai's suburbs.

But Vaze spins in reality too, rolling a hundred Prawn California rolls a week as Bandra's "Ninja Sushi", a part of the moniker retained from her fantastical alter ego.

Ninja Sushi is a pretty simple operation, working with resources that include a Facebook group, two house maids and a chauffeur with an ice box who delivers spicy tuna, smoked salmon, prawn California, veggie and salmon rolls, with sides of Kikoman soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger.

"Almost like a home project," smiles Vaze.

There is however, nothing amateur about the way these pretty, intricate rolls taste. And starting at Rs 250 for six pieces, this is probably the cheapest high-quality sushi in the city and another reason to love suburban life in Bandra.

Movie stars hooked on seaweed

Vaze has whipped up a big batch of sushi for filmmaker Farhan Akhtar’s house party, and even customized a healthy roll for Bollywood star Imran Khan, one that she now dubs the Imran Khan Bodybuilder Roll.

"It comes with organic brown rice and double the fish and veggies," she says.

"We are now also doing quinoa sushi, which, I have to admit, I hadn't even seen before my friend got me to make her some diet sushi as she is on a diet where she can only eat quinoa, fish and rice."

The reason happens to be her friend's gym Body Image, frequented by Bollywood celebrities in Bandra, where trainer Yasmin has put all her members on quinoa, including actresses Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone.

"So organic healthy super food quinoa features on our sushi menu now and I am delivering to the gym almost everyday," says Vaze, who has cooked in Goa restaurants Sublime and Au Reverie.

You can also find Ninja Sushi at the newly launched Sunday Farmer’s Market in Bandra.

Bento boxes for Bandra

Vaze has localized her menu a little, into cucumber and asparagus for the city's large vegetarian population and the seasonal Alphonso mango, mint, cucumber and wasabi mayo roll.

But while customization is acceptable, blending in is not. Therefore, Vaze claims you will never see a chicken tikka sushi roll on her menu.

"I’m not going to try and force a fusion of India and Japan in my kitchen -- if you want chicken tikka, eat a chicken tikka roll," she says.

Shilarna hopes to see sushi integrate into Mumbaikars' daily meal plan soon. "Once people get more aware of the quality, and healthy ingredients that go into it, their dabbas will soon make space for seaweed," she says assuredly.

Ready for the sushi menu?

Sit-down dinners in Bollywood homes

But Vaze is more than Ninja Sushi.

This year started with her founding and running a restaurant called Gaia in Goa.

"Both a dream and a nightmare," Vaze says.

She spent two months visitng cheese dairies in Switzerland with her Swiss boyfriend, followed by some time collecting morel mushrooms and fresh honey and baking quiches in Himachal, a northern state in the foothills of the Himalayas.

"I am also catering small sit-down dinners with customized menus of French, Japanese, Southeast Asian, barbecue, Maharashtrian and pretty much any kind of food your heart desires, for a maximum of 20 people," says Vaze.  

"I just did a small party for (film producer and costume designer) Alvira Agnihotri with teriyaki red snapper, khao suey, smoked salmon salad with wasabi sour cream and quinoa sushi.

"Ideally I would like to do sit-down dinners where I can plate the food and serve it up," the chef says.

Depending on the menu the catering cost is approximately Rs 1,000 per head.

When she's not catering or packing bento boxes, Vaze has an instructional cooking show currently on air, called Firangi Tadka, that teaches housewives to make fresh pasta and the like, in Hindi, on celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor's new channel Food Food, produced by BBC Worldwide.

To order call Ninja Sushi on +91 98200 36525, visit the Facebook group.

Delivery from Andheri to Bandra, Rs 250-300 (per 6 pieces). Chef Shilarna Vaze blogs at foodfaerie.