Based out of Andheri West, O’Tenga is an Assamese kitchen serving authentic Assamese dishes to food lovers in Mumbai. It was founded by Joyee Mahanta, a former HR professional who loves to experiment in the kitchen, and Priyangi Borthakur, a film professional with 8 years experience who is also a self-confessed foodie.
Tell us a little about how O’Tenga came to be.
We are both from Assam and moved to Mumbai 14 years ago to pursue our graduation and consequently started working in the city. We have always missed homemade Assamese food and wondered why our ethnic cuisine was not available here.
Whenever we have had friends come over for an Assamese meal, they have always been surprised at how different the flavours are and the unique ingredients we use.
There was so little know-how about the cuisine that we felt that it was time that more people discovered it and relish it as well. That’s how the idea of starting O’ Tenga came up.
You will be hosting pop-up lunches and dinners this month, what kind of dishes will you be serving and how much will it cost?
It will be a wholesome meal and will include khar, pitika, bhoja, xaak and tenga; and non-vegetarians dishes as well.
We are celebrating this Bohag Bihu with our first round of pop-up lunches on 14th and 15th April. Those who are interested can visit our Facebook page for booking details. It would be best to book early as we have limited seats.
You are also planning to start home delivery, what items will be on the menu and are you going to deliver all over Mumbai or in certain locations only?
We will have an elaborate menu with plenty of vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. Our menu will include fish, chicken, mutton, pork and/or duck preparations made with herbs and vegetables sourced from Assam. There are plenty of vegetarian options as well, which include xaak, khar, pitika and tenga.
Our delivery kitchen is in Andheri West, so our delivery radius will be around this area.
What about the ingredients, will you have access to all the ingredients needed to cook authentic Assamese delicacies or are you looking at some kind of fusion of flavours?
Our aim is to provide an authentic Assamese meal experience to our diners. There are many ingredients which are not available in Mumbai and some which you do get in the markets here but taste quite different from the Assamese variant. Hence, to maintain the traditional flavours, we are sourcing them from Assam.
You can reach out to them through their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. Their handle is @otengamumbai.
You can also write to them at [email protected]
