Restaurants We Know You Want to Put on Your Radar: O Pedro at Intersect by Lexus

We’re going to go out on a limb and guess you probably don’t have a Goan restaurant in your neighborhood. It’s understandable. The Portuguese-Indian cuisine is rich in history, yet its presence in the United States is relatively obscure. That’s why we’re happy to see O Pedro, one of Mumbai’s most popular restaurants, make an appearance at everyone’s favorite fancy drive in, Intersect by Lexus. And after dining here, we’ve got a few tips that we think you should follow if you want to navigate this menu the right way.

If you’ve never dined at Intersect by Lexus, it’s a two-story building with a cafe on the ground floor and a full service restaurant up top. The restaurants change after several months, and typically include a chef from abroad offering a cuisine that you probably are not familiar with (think Argentinian-Jewish). Oh, and if you’re alone and seeking companionship through food, you’ll be happy to know you can dine at the chef’s counter, where the staff will graciously explain the dishes you’ve chosen and break down the intricacies of their craft. But they probably won’t sell you a Lexus, which makes us think: what if chef counters were staffed only by luxury car sales people? Or what about used car salespeople? Either way, we’d pay to get a glimpse of that, and we imagine it would go something like this video we put all the way at the bottom of this page.

BRAINS!!!! Photo: O Pedro/Facebook

At O Pedro, there is a starter you must try called the lamb brain guacamole. It’s made with lamb brain soaked in milk, and a curry, and a masala, but no avocados. It’s creamy and should be scooped up with any piece of carb put in front of you. The menu is broken down into quarter, half, and full plates, and the full plates are indeed meant to share between at least two people. You can absolutely make a meal out of a few quarter or half plates, and the choriz tacos and quail piri piri (which is served with a ranch dressing and piri piri sauce) are a few of the dishes this writer chose on his inaugural visit. A full menu can be seen here and if this writer had any friends he would have totally gone all in on the dry aged duck and the whole red snapper. But you do you.

Get up close and personal with chefs at Intersect. Photo: @intersectnyc

There’s also some intriguing cocktails like the Mapusa Market made with cashew-infused cognac, bourbon, tamarind cordial, and pomegranate-garam masala honey. There’s plenty of wines by the glass and bottle, especially from from Portugal. Ask for the sommelier. She is lovely. And will guide you down the right path. For desserts, expect to find a few intriguing sweets as well as the infamous pastel de nata (egg custard tart) that we suggest putting on your table no matter what the circumstance. They’ll make a great breakfast the next day if you can’t clear your plate.

Don’t forget to save room for dessert like this crepe cake Photo: @intersectnyc