Of Birthdays and Burgers: Comfort food that champions quality over counting calories

THERE ARE BIRTHDAYS, and then there are birthdays that arrive bearing meaning—less about candles, more about care; less about spectacle, more about spirit. Mine arrived gently, almost a month late, in Alibaug, carried on the quiet conviction of Ana De—Anandita to those who know her best—who believes that celebration, like wellness, should never be rushed or rationed.

Ana’s life is a study in self-authorship. Having once wrestled with obesity and the exhaustion of living unkindly toward one’s own body, she chose discipline over denial, movement over misery, mindfulness over math. Sixty kilos later—lost through exercise, portion control and an unwavering commitment to quality rather than calorie-counting—she embodies a gentler, more sustainable truth: Wellness is not punishment, but precision. Not austerity, but awareness. Joy, she insists, must remain intact.

So when she decided to throw a birthday bash, it was never going to be joyless. It was going to be intentional indulgence.

Two Sagittarians—myself and Meenakshi (Matthew)—shared the afternoon, the salt-laced air of Alibaug softening time itself. The catering came from Burgers & Booch, and with one confident spread, they dismantled every lazy idea of what a burger can—and should—be.

There was kombucha first: tart, alive, lightly effervescent, its probiotic lift cleansing the palate, a thoughtful counterpoint to richness. Then came the burgers, and conversation paused in that reverent hush reserved for revelation.

These were burgers with backbone. Unctuous but balanced, moist without mess, smoky without swagger. The char announced itself, then stepped aside. The buns were beautiful but behaved, understanding their supporting role. Sauces and condiments arrived layered with nuance, texture unfolding like a sentence that knows exactly where it is going. Each bite carried intention. Whether eaten as tidy sliders or tackled with both hands as gloriously chunky handfuls of pleasure, they recalibrated expectation.

From classics executed with restraint to bold local inflections—thecha’s fire, ghee roast’s depth, fish that remembered the sea, vegetables treated not as compromise but as crown—chef Pratik Vichare and founders Rose Pardiwala and Mishal Pardiwala have built something quietly radical, a place where wellness and indulgence are not at war but in conversation.

Here, Ana’s philosophy returns to the table. If she—whose life is anchored in intention and movement—can eat these burgers with pleasure and without apology, then perhaps the rest of us can rethink our own binaries. This is food that champions quality over counting, satisfaction over shame. Food that reminds us a good burger can still be a dream.

Alibaug, long a coastal escape, is slowly becoming a culinary destination and Burgers & Booch feels like a marker in that shift. The space is modest, the confidence unforced. You leave, not weighed down but buoyed—by flavour, by care, by the sense that someone cooked for you.

What made the afternoon feel held—rather than merely hosted—was the presence of the people behind the plates. Harsh Kini, Pratik Vichare, Niraj Singh and Samishra moved through the space with quiet choreography. Hospitality here was not a transaction but a transmission: of pride, of pleasure, of purpose. The burgers carried smoke and swagger, but it was this quartet who gave the meal its soul.

Word is, if destiny and demand align, this Alibaug original may soon travel—perhaps as a franchise across India. Cities should be ready. Because these are burgers that don’t just feed you; they remind you how joy tastes when it’s done right.

A birthday, then, not just marked but meaningful. Of bodies reclaimed. Of friendship that shows up. Of balance restored. And of a table by the sea where indulgence and wellness finally learned to sit together—unafraid, unashamed, entirely at ease.