There is an undeniable joy of digging into the sourness of mom’s pickles, or opening up a cookie box that instantly hauls you away to grandma’s kitchen. Their old aprons splattered with bits of food. Their warm hands feeding you love and leaving you full, with not just a buttery goodness, but also a lifetime of rich memories. While most of us tuck these memories deep into our hearts, a few like Rachana Shah Sony, choose to use these fond memories as the pillars of a very successful home-run, food & bake business, called Second Helping.

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In Rachana’s words, her tryst with food started at the age of three, when her grandfather taught her the secret to perfectly halved oranges. Soon, Rachana’s obsession with perfection lured her into the kitchen, where she got introduced to the vast culinary world by the women in her family, namely her mother. Clutching dearly to these jars of wisdom, by the age of 13, Rachana was deftly manning the kitchen.

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However, in spite of her passion for food, Rachana chose to pursue a career in the creative field. Armed with a degree from the JJ School of Arts, she soon awed the advertising field with her designs, but fortunately for us, God had other designs in store for her. Attributing persistent encouragement and support to her husband, Rachana finally decided to give in to her creative yearnings by founding Second Helping.

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What’s surprising is that while others would play it safe and stick to homeland cooking, this gutsy woman decided to serve only Italian and Mexican takeaway cuisine- that too all vegetarian.Lucky me, I had the good fortune of tasting both.

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My taste test started with the Corn and Bell Pepper Crostinis (a close cousin of the more popular Bruschetta). Lightly toasted bread with drops of crunchy golden corn, interspersed with the sweetness of red and yellow bell peppers- well-seasoned and enough to tease my palate.

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The next dish, which is seemingly a hit amongst her clientele, was the Spaghetti Arrabbiata. For those of you who aren’t aware, Arrabbiato is Italian for angry, and the name of the sauce is in fact, derived from the heat of the chilli peppers. However, being that not everyone likes a flaming tongue, Rachana spikes the heat levels as per your comfort zone. What I loved about the dish-simplicity and lightness (in spite of the parmesan). The tanginess of fresh garden tomatoes, blended in a robust home-made sauce, juxtaposed against the heat of the chilli flakes and some pungent garlic, all spread over a stringy bed of spaghetti, made for a complete meal.
The chef also offers the above dish with a side of Sautéed Herbed Veggies (Broccoli, Mushrooms, Bell Peppers, Baby Corn tossed around in Olive oil and herbs), which besides giving you a good dose of healthy greens, also takes your spaghetti experience to the next level.

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My Italian sojourn now over, it was time for a quick detour to Mariachi land. Decked with my imaginary Sombrero, I dived into a mouthful of Enchiladas- a rich and immensely satisfying Mexican dish, of nutritious kidney beans, curled up cosily inside soft hand-made corn tortillas, perfectly baked with a layer of mildly spiced, home-made tomato sauce and a sprinkle of cheese, lots of cheese actually.

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Like every ideal story, mine too would have been incomplete without a sugary ending. Well two actually! And both brought out Rachana’s penchant for innovation and art. Sitting pretty in front of me was a delicious visual treat of cupcakes and dessert crostinis! Who would have thought? Curious, I first tried the crostinis- a dark chocolate and strawberry ganache, spread out on slices of gently toasted multigrain bread. The ganache was a nice velvety mix of creamy-rich molten chocolate, blended with fresh strawberry puree, and topped with a garnishing of juicy strawberries on it; refreshing and truly novel. My next was literally the icing on my cake.

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Full of awe, I delicately bit into the tempting little dark chocolate cupcakes which were delectably moist and gooey in the centre, smooth butter cream icing twirling round my tongue, with artistically designed, playful candied motifs of butterflies, sunflowers and bees. The bees and butterflies now safely tucked in me, there was certainly no space for any second helping, but rest assured, one look at those cupcakes and your third and fourth will soon follow.

 

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Review highlights:
-Healthy, fresh, home-made continental food
-Reasonable pricing
-Copious portions (one dish can feed two)
-Customised/festive cupcakes in different varieties
-Party Orders
-Range of home-made sauces, sans artificial preservatives (available for gifting too)
-Jain meal & dessert options.
For orders & complete menu, contact:
Rachana Shah Sony-   +91 9920220940
Pawan Sony            –   +91 9967656878
Email: secondhelpinginservice@gmail.com

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Insia Dariwala is a graduate from F.I.T New York (Advertising and Mass communications), loves to tell stories and is a filmmaker. ‘The Candy Man’  (www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSr0ne-iizs) her hard hitting debut film on child abuse won her two ‘Best Director’ awards in India (2009, 2010) and also got nominated at Barcelona International Film Festival and the New York Short film Festival in 2010.