I have been writing about food and travel for longer than I care to remember. I have written for magazines and newspapers about my twin passions: food and travel. My ‘best’ meals have been the ones in palatial surroundings cooked by Michelin starred chefs, but also those of bajra rotis and ground chillies under the stars in a village in Banni, Kutch. I hope this site fully captures the sheer sweep of life from 1987 to the present times. All published articles that date before 2000 are in Vintage. All reviews of existing restaurants as well as those that have closed, are in Reviews.
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About Me...
About this site
Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.
― Ruth Reichl
I first started writing as a profession in 1987. For the last 15 years, I have written exclusively about food. It is a vast subject, and my weekly column in Times of India is just one aspect of food. Ingredients, spices, utensils, regional cuisines, grandma’s secret recipes, five star hotels and their chefs, the chaat-walas in the bylanes of Delhi’s Chandni Chowk and Lucknow’s Hazratganj – all are equal contributors to this impossibly rich medley. I hope this site does justice to all of them.
In the Valley of Flowers
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…
DetailsCurry Singh
Blurb: a one-woman band that creates serious music Cuisine: home-style Punjabi food Atmospherics: in the newest part of ever-expanding Gurgaon, Sector 50 has a couple of busy shopping complexes; Rodeo Drive will be just as happening in the next few months. Right now, you can sit outside the restaurant at dinnertime and conjure up the…
DetailsVega
Vegetarian dining It is not the most fashionable dining space in this day and age of PR-led restaurants. It is pure vegetarian to the extent that you cannot get onion or garlic while you’re inside. And the chaat alone is worth a visit, especially if you want the taste of chaat in the 1960s, when…
DetailsTerminus 1
World food, progressive Indian Surprisingly good food in an unlikely spot Tucked away near Lifestyle on the second set of escalators in Ambience Mall, you are likely to miss it altogether because of the slightly obscure location. Once inside, it looks like a teeny bopper’s hangout: none too comfortable chairs, a colourful open kitchen, a…
DetailsThe case for and against branded restaurants
I’ve done nothing but gossip these last few days. And the results have been fascinating. But first things first. In the last one year alone, three major restaurant brands have opened in the country. Hakkasan made its appearance in Mumbai and Le Cirque in Delhi. Very soon, Megu is going to open, in Delhi, on…
DetailsMilitancy’s Child
Fear and other emotions are alien to a generation of Kashmiri youth who grew up under the shadow of militancy.. In 1991, when militancy was at its peak, Omar Jan was three years old. It was the year I got married and travelled to Kashmir as a bride. Before that, my visits to Kashmir had…
DetailsSpice Up Your Life
What is the spiciest dish you’ve ever eaten? I’ll bet you’re thinking only of fiery hot red chillies. Yet, other things than chillies can blast off the top of your head. Japanese wasabi paste comes to mind. Korean cuisine has a yellow mustard that’s ear-burning too. I was once invited to a Korean banquet where…
DetailsCirca 1193
The chattering classes of Delhi are talking about Circa 1193, a restaurant in the shade of the Qutub Minar. It is an unusual venture for several reasons. The first is the location: from the terrace on the second floor you can see no fewer than 26 heritage buildings and structures. The second is that it’s…
DetailsThe Cachet of Chocolate
When Andreas Roesing, Pastry Chef of the Grand Hyatt Delhi, visited friends in the French town of Tain-l’Hermitage, his chief memory was the all-pervasive aroma of chocolate in the air. “Every time we’d open the door, it would envelope us. I can hardly remember anything else from that trip.” Chef Roesing may have been visiting…
DetailsInvasion of the Food Brigade
It’s reasonable to expect that expat chefs are essential if the quality of five-star cuisine is to remain international When chef Gabriele Montevechhio of Hyatt Regency’s La Piazza is called out of the kitchen by guests, he generally knows what is ,in store for him. “I get so many puzzled enquiries from guests wanting to…
DetailsKerala Fish Curries
Last week, within the space of five days, I had tasted close to thirteen fish curries. I’m sure I haven’t plumbed the depths of all the fish curries in God’s Own Country: it is just that time and my appetite conspired against deeper ‘research’ into this fascinating subject. It all started in Radisson Plaza, Kumarakom,…
DetailsTamil Nadu’s Hidden Cuisines
There’s a certain point on the map of India, north of which ‘South Indian food’ tends to be a one-size-fits-all panoply of dosas and sambhars with minor, if any, variations to distinguish them. In fact, all four southern states have an abundance of cuisines. Geographical location – coastal or interior – and community both play…
DetailsGrinding and Pounding: Mortars and Pestles
Where there is spice, there are kitchen implements to grind them. And because Asia grows and uses quite a large proportion of the world’s spices, most of the spice grinders have an Asian sensibility. Depending on their job: pounding, dry and wet grinding all have different shapes of implements, they are variously made of limestone,…
DetailsKashmir and the Mughal Connection
In 1598, Emperor Akbar annexed the Valley of Kashmir to the Mughal Empire. In one fell swoop, the Mughal emperors acquired a summer home. Kashmir in turn, acquired some of its most important heritage sites. Emperor Akbar’s contribution was limited to the wall around the hill of Hari Parbat, which still stands today, complete with…
DetailsLeela Palace Udaipur
My first glimpse of Leela Palace Udaipur was not of the building itself, majestic as it is, but of the way the management looks after its guests. Shortly after a date for my visit was set, I received an email. Would I please list out my preferences for music, beverage and reading material. And while…
DetailsYellow Brick Road
When it came into existence some ten years ago, it became a sort of cult to be seen there. In the intervening years, Yellow Brick Road at the Ambassador Hotel has acquired a few more layers insofar as cuisine goes. Its sunny yellow interiors have worn well, and it still looks as fresh and chirpy…
DetailsKhaaja Chowk
Khaaja Chowk One of the most quirky eateries in the mall Serves North Indian Atmospherics: This is one of Gurugram’s oldest mall restaurants, having opened its doors well before the present stampede for eateries started. Khaaja is the name of the little fried papdis made of what is essentially flaky pastry and what the restaurant…
DetailsMagique
Food personality, wedding caterer, TV show host and restaurateur – Marut Sikka’s larger-than-life personality dominates the garden restaurant in the slightly out of the way Garden of Five Senses. It is supposed to be a de-stressing zone with soft music, heaters in winter and mist fans in summers to take the edge of Delhi’s infamously…
DetailsRestaurants in the Time of Covid
Covid has turned the world upside down. It seems to have upset our hospitality industry, bringing many restaurants to closure. But, look more closely. Have restaurants really gone for a toss or have the rules undergone a change? I have been out of Delhi from the time the lockdown started, and had returned for a…
DetailsSearock Cookhouse
Peninsular cuisines have finally come into their own Serves Food of the southern states Atmospherics: Right next door to the gigantic Haldiram’s in the Outer Circle is this modest eatery. Nothing typifies the diverse ways of doing business in the opposite ends of our country than Searock and its neighbour. One has bright, well-lit signages…
DetailsRepublic of Chicken
You’ve heard of a seafood restaurant. Now hear of a poultry restaurant, because that is exactly what Republic of Chicken is. It is the front face of a huge poultry company that processes chicken in more ways than the average delicatessen does. Some of the delicatessen products – mortadella, chicken sausage, chicken ham and chicken…
DetailsWitches’ Brew
Jancis Robinson, the well-known wine writer, and Silverio Cineri, master chef from Italy, occupy two ends of the spectrum of food and beverage. But last week, both found themselves in New Delhi. While Robinson, on a private visit to the Capital, was co-opted by The Oberoi to hold a wine workshop for the staff, Cineri…
DetailsAll Things
Have you ever gnashed your teeth, wondering why we in India cannot get great chocolate? Luscious, dark chocolate, made of real couverture with no compound (vegetable oil), wrapped beautifully. For years, it has been but a dream. Until a couple of bars landed up at my door last Christmas. At first, I assumed it to…
DetailsPriti Goenka
Go Goenka When you come from a Kolkata-based family that is famous for cooking, and the gastronomically inclined in-laws hail from Kolkata via Churu, cooking professionally as a passion is a natural corollary. That is what Priti Goenka has been doing, ever since shifting to Delhi. Her forte? Marwari food that has the flavours of…
DetailsMilitancy’s Child
Fear and other emotions are alien to a generation of Kashmiri youth who grew up under the shadow of militancy.. In 1991, when militancy was at its peak, Omar Jan was three years old. It was the year I got married and travelled to Kashmir as a bride. Before that, my visits to Kashmir had…
DetailsChef Vittorio Greco
He hails from, not one country, but two, and both are in different hemispheres. Chef Vittorio Greco may have been born in the North of Tuscany, but what shaped his culinary style was his move to Brisbane, Australia, where he cooked for a largely non-Italian audience. His live-wire energy is his defining feature, and in…
DetailsRohit Aggarwal: The Trekking Caterer
“I am a failed trekking caterer”, Rohit Aggarwal of Lite Bite Foods tells me, with a woebegone look on his face. I assume he is joking, and guffaw appreciatively. After all, he and Lite Bite partner Amit Burman are among the three largest players in the restaurant industry currently in India, with no private equity…
DetailsFamily Feasting and Fasting
DELHI’S FIRST FAMILY OF MUGHLAI CUISINE, THE OWNERS OF KARIM’S, HAVE TRADITIONAL TASTES AT HOME AND AT WORK The building in a narrow, sunless alley just off he imposing bulk of the Jama Masjid is just like any other in the neighbourhood. There’s nothing — absolutely nothing — to mark it as one of the…
DetailsRed Blooded Royal
“Cumin and asafoetida is an appropriate combination, as is onion with garlic. Just don’t go mixing up the two combinations.” I was learning how to make the Rajasthani signature Lal Maas (which translates less than felicitously as red meat) from Arvind Singh of Mewar, Maharana of Udaipur. Shreeji as he is called affectionately, reportedly keeps…
DetailsDum Affairs
North Indian/Lucknow Blurb Forget the corny name: this menu concentrates on the finest from Lucknow Gourmet Gallery, never known for the excellence of its cuisine, has just acquired a new Indian restaurant. Award winning food, a steal at the price, its elegant surroundings embody five star comfort. Atmospherics: the small, elegant restaurant could give a…
DetailsTaiwan
About as large as Sri Lanka, this island is one of Asia’s easternmost outposts, wedged in between China to the west, Japan in the north and the Philippines in the south. Taiwan may be best known for its computer peripherals industry, but it’s a largely undiscovered gem for those who are looking for somewhere off…
DetailsUmmami
Ummami is a fine dining restaurant built over a huge scale, in a building that is, as yet quite empty. It is in the corporate office area of Gurgaon and both times I have visited at lunch time, it has been full of corporate honchos having lunch meetings. The wine library is not just a…
DetailsQash Qai
The tiny, narrow staircase in the Outer Circle of Connaught Place, opposite Super Bazar, does not do justice to an interesting new restaurant cum club with a surprisingly high focus on food. The menu is a fresh look at the cuisines of the Mediterranean world, in which there’s conventional restaurant seating in one area, a…
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