The Commonwealth Games are sure to flood Delhi’s restaurants with foreign patrons. Why not take a cue from South East Asian restaurants and treat them to spot of Indian culture while they’re tucking in? Now that the Commonwealth Games are round the corner, I wonder how many hoteliers and restaurateurs have given much thought to…
The Lalit Grand Palace makes you feel like royalty in this romantic city with picturesque lakes and historic gardens. God has given a gift to romantics and it is called The Lalit Grand Palace Srinagar. The first time I caught sight of it, it was hardly visible, wrapped as it was in mist that hung…
You don’t want to visit an Indian restaurant in London?” My friend, chef Vivek Singh of Cinnamon Club, was incredulous. “That’s plain bizarre! Everyone knows that the best Indian food on the planet is in London.” It was my turn to be shocked. The whole point of visiting a new city in another country is…
There’s no doubt about it – the high point of my trip to Kerala was a trawl through the backwaters in a houseboat. My hotel – Kumarakom’s Radisson Plaza – has its own houseboat, but getting a houseboat on hire is hardly rocket science: in the course of around six hours, I probably passed eighty…
Ethnicity and modernity go together very well. On my first trip to Hong Kong five years ago – which was also my first trip to South East Asia – I was wonderstruck by the forest of looming skyscrapers that were lit up with Chinese characters. The road with the most western name – Des Voeux…
Lakakhis are fond of comparing their cuisine with that of Tibet and they have a point. A huge range of soups, whose names change whether they have been made with barley and stock, plain stock, fortified with hand-made pasta or mince-filled dumplings; hardly any greens and just a few types of breads – it is…
Its name translates as “The Fragrant Harbour” and depending on whether you love or hate the food in China’s newest state you’ll either agree vehemently or disagree strongly. Speaking for myself, I think that the finest food in China comes from Hong Kong, and there are a couple of reasons for it. During the Cultural…
Your complete guide to the unexplored treasures of the breathtaking Kumaon hills in Uttarakhand A is for apple, which together with apricots, peaches and plums constitutes Kumaon’s fruit crop. Centred around Ramgarh, country houses belonging to the Scindias, Birlas and Dalmias dot the hillside, surrounded by orchards bursting with blossom. B is for bungalow. There…
Genuine marble inlay can be expensive; but make sure you’re not getting dyed mother of pearl in the name of the original. When Shah Jehan commissioned the Taj Mahal for his beloved empress, marble inlay was to form the single most important decorative element in the complex. Records inform us that semi-precious stones were brought…
How you can take photographs of the Taj Mahal for best results. As the most photographed edifice in the country, images of the Taj Mahal have appeared in books, magazine articles, calendars, postcards, even on t-shirts and as advertisements for tea and Scotch whisky! You’ll find it at once marvellously easy to photograph, as well…
