With the advent of bigger and better home entertainment systems, more and more people (including yours truly) have started staying within the comfortable confines of their homes rather than hitting movie theatres. Sadly, one basic movie viewing experience was still missing and as a comic book would tell you, Batman is only half good without his favourite sidekick – Robin. What good is a movie without some Popcorn! And the sad fact about this entire affair though is that for no matter how good your culinary skills are, it is very difficult to replicate the texture and taste of popcorn served at the movies.
Recently, I stumbled upon something which has the potential of filling this void – a popcorn store. WOW Popcorn as an idea originally started in April 2013, with its flagship store at Napeansea Road. Since then WOW Popcorn has opened three more outlets in Bandra(W), Kandivali(E), Ghatkopar(W) and Malad(W). Each store is equipped with state of the art popcorn machines (yes, there are such things) with a variety of the ingredients being imported. I also learnt that their kernel (imported) is carefully selected as they do not compromise on the quality of their main ingredient. Each store is manned by at least 2-3 crew members and a managing staff. We went to their Carter Road outlet this Saturday. The store manager Ajay informed us that the majority of their patrons prefer ordering in. All flavours can be ordered in three different quantities – Small, Medium and Large (by volume).
WOW Popcorn serves six savoury and two sweet flavours (Click here for the flavour catalogue http://www.wowpopcorn.com/Flavours.html) They let you sample all flavours before deciding which one to order. I found the flavours very generous, well except ‘sizzling pudina’ which I found a little too mild for my taste. But I was told that each flavour is based on customer reviews and people actually liked the milder flavour better. A big cheese fan that I am, I instantaneously fell in love with their cheese popcorn, dubbed ‘say cheese’, so cheesy! but then again, that’s the whole point.
Now to the sweet flavours and this is where Wow Popcorn actually steals the show and separates itself from the regular popcorn served at theatres. Take caramel popcorn for example. You may have had caramel popcorn an infinite number of times, but I bet most of them came out sticky, but not Wow Popcorn’s ‘famously caramel’. It is so caramelly and yet so crunchy, it’s unbelievable, plus the corns aren’t stuck to each other like those regular ones.
I have saved the best for the last- a flavour they call ‘cocoamello’. It is caramel popcorn topped with chocolate! I mean caramel itself is divine, but topping that with chocolate was a masterstroke. Order this and your are in for a treat!
Contrary to popular belief, popcorn has nothing to do with pop culture or pop music! Popcorn is in fact short for popping corn, a name derived from the popping sound a corn kernel makes when it is heated in a certain way. This new piece of unnecessary and undesirable information kept me thinking of ways to re-establish a common ground between them and then it hit me. Popcorn is barely real food, just like pop music is barely real music. By any stretch of the imagination, they are not the best forms of what their respective categories represent. At best, they are accessories to something grander or significant. One simply does not have popcorn for its nutritional value (by the way, popcorn has surprisingly high nutritional value), or because it is really that easy to prepare a fresh batch of popcorn. One has popcorn because of the situational demands and because it has NO substitute, which is also true for pop music. This is indicated by the fact that while people generally are very intolerant towards unwanted noises in movie theatres (specially crying babies), they usually let one exceptions sneak by– the sound of someone munching on a mouthful of popcorn.
WOW Popcorn not only helps in bringing the theatre experience home, it does something better – it saves your pocket from bleeding to death every time you order popcorn in a multiplex. You can order in and they will deliver. And guess what, they also take party orders and personalize boxes if you are ordering for an event, function or a party. These were my personalised boxes filled with cheese and cocoamello popcorns 🙂
For me, I know what I will snack on while on a stroll at Carter. This is one of those rare occasions when a sidekick saves the day. WOW Popcorn is that Robin.
Do try this, and if you do, do share your experience with me 🙂
Enjoy.
Love,
AS.
the versatile woman 