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Dubash Marg


 Eating Out In Mumbai: The Boston Butt. 

Was it someone in Bombay Times that first called South Bombay SoBo? Most likely, no? That name is borrowed or is shared by South Boston and an internet search reveals that it is not a popular short form loved by the residents of SoBo of America. I have read somewhere about 15 years ago that it is borrowed from Boston.

The reason I am pondering aloud about the origin of SoBo is because there is a restaurant called The Boston Butt in South Bombay. It's in Kalaghoda, next to Irish House. They promise smoked delicacies made in Southern America (USA) style. The menu online looked promising and I was surprised that no one is talking about this meat place online.

I am not an expert on food, so I will not be able to tell if the food and drinks here are close to the originals on the other side of the globe but the pork ribs in Memphis style was pretty good, soft, juicy and succulent. The tenderloin steak (buff/medium with pink inside) was juicy too and the sauce had a power packed dose of Sichuan pepper.

However, the post is not about the food but these few photographs and a rant about social media advertising. I have always liked how they shoot pictures of food in the Food and Drink section of the New Yorker Magazine. I didn't have a bright enough light source to try what they do but I tried experimenting with what I had.

Examples of how New Yorker shoots food here.

The rant about social media advertising.

Social media advertising is very important for restaurants and it's sad to see that they do not do it well enough. One restaurant in Mumbai that does it fairly well is Bombay Canteen. They have explored their theme in an interesting way using their chef. They have not been able to do the same magic with their other restaurant called O Pedro (?) even though it has a nice theme.

Coming back to The Boston Butt. The name is interesting. They call themselves a Charcuterie. The idea and the menu is pretty interesting too but the communication is boring. All they need to do is celebrate food, take forward what they have said in their website into something that will make meat lovers drool. Diners will do the rest.


If they need inspiration, they can look at what food experimenters like Hungry Cat Kitchen does.

This leads to the question: Why is it that brands do not have interesting communication. 

Creating interesting communication requires people who take time to understand the brand before creating the communication. It requires investment in people and time and those two things are in short supply. People who invest crores of rupees in rent, decor, equipment and people to start a business don't see spending on advertising important anymore.





 





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