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.
Chor Bizarre
Pan Indian cuisine In a recently renovated Bikaner House Atmospherics: Suddenly, the hottest new property in the capital is Bikaner House which all of us knew as the bus adda for Jaipur. Chor Bizarre is the lone restaurant in the premises and I must say, it is a fabulous fit in the newly refurbished surroundings.…
DetailsKempinski Ambience Hotel
Kempinski Ambience: Now that South Delhi and Gurgaon are fast reaching saturation point, the one area that is left for major development is East Delhi. Always referred to somewhat dismissively as Jamuna paar; the other side of Delhi’s river is finally coming into its own. The latest development is the setting up of Kempinski Ambience…
DetailsSushi: At the Junction between Japan and India
It is not every day that a Japanese national moves to India to work in a Japanese company, falls in love with the country, leaves his job and decides to plunge headlong into a venture so novel that it seems almost foolhardy. Tomonaga Tejima’s big idea was to serve sushi to the local market 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…
DetailsRaas
The fun of going to Hauz Khas Village is discovering all levels of restaurants and bars, from the professionally run to mom’s kitchen, plus everything in between. Raas is one of the more professionally run. From the first floor, the view is of a tiny garden enclosed with an ancient wall. It is floodlit at…
DetailsThe world of vegetarianism
The whole jigsaw puzzle about vegetarians and vegetarian food goes awry in India, more or less. You see, it’s like this: in every other part of the world, vegetarians are a tiny minority, and because of that, they are perceived as exotic birds who subsist on impossibly rare ingredients. Truth be told, they are privately…
DetailsA Century of Ahdoos
Round up a motley gathering of people in Srinagar – locals from all walks of life, tourists and outsiders who have made the city their temporary home for work or business – and ask them to name a few Kashmiri brands, chances are that not many will be able to remember any beyond the most…
DetailsBangal versus Ghoti
“When I tasted my best friend’s mother’s fish curry, it had tamarind in it. I was so horrified by a fish preparation that was sour that I had to wrestle with my better self not to spit it out”. That was my neighbour Sweta talking about her class-mate. The surprising thing is that both Sweta…
DetailsCulinary Tourism in India: is it achievable?
Which is the country that has the largest variety of cuisines in the world? What country produces and consumes the largest amount of spices in the world? Where would you go for a vast variety of fruits and vegetables? The answer to all three questions is India. But the awareness is staggeringly low. Let’s take…
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…
DetailsSteamed Fish Custard
I seem to be in a minority of one. My belief is that chawanmushi, hormok and dab chingri are all related to one another. Everyone else that I have spoken to about my pet theory has heaped scorn on me and told me not to be a fool. ‘Everyone’ includes chefs from the Far East,…
DetailsSmoke on the water
A houseboat holiday As the setting sun turned the sky first golden and then rose, the waters of the Dal reflected the multitude of tints. Other shikaras were darkly silhouetted against the sun’s rays, and I supposed my own shikara was too. My shikarawallah sang a mournful ditty that made up in gloom what it…
DetailsI Love Paris in the Baking time
Not only is it a handsome, majestic city, where just walking around the streets can be an enchanting experience, but it has vast depths for whatever your interest is. Do you want to visit museums till your eyes bubble? You don’t have far to look. Do you want to explore world-class shops? You’ve come to…
DetailsIndonesia
“Hardly any of us visit the islands of Indonesia, and that’s the only reason why the cuisine is relatively unknown in India. What other explanation can there be?” This is Suddha Kukreja’s take on Indonesian food, which has a resonance with Indian food. Both cuisines depend on long cooking times, plenty of spices and relatively…
DetailsAhhh Praaague
When my son (now in his 20s) was tiny, he had gone to see a film with his best friend’s family. I never did get to learn the name of the movie, but it had a scene in it, which, described by a 4 year old, consisted of a cupboard with a door. You walked…
DetailsSweet Valley
In Khayyam Chowk, a couple of kilometres from Dal Gate, there’s a row of no-frill, basic dhabas that are fairly clean and respectable. Here you can try the mutton seekh kebabs or tikkas, served on a plate with six kinds of chutney. The best one is Imran Café, misleadingly named because you certainly won’t get…
DetailsSpice Art, Greater Noida
Serves: North Indian One of the finest Indian restaurants in the NCR Atmospherics: Rare is the Indian restaurant with two master chefs, one from Punjab and the other from the fabled Qureshi family of Lucknow. Hardev Singh is more or less the sole repository of all the most famous dhabas in Amritsar, as he has…
DetailsDiva Spiced, GK
Ritu Dalmia hits the bull’s eye Serves: South East Asian and Indian, the Dalmia way Atmospherics: Up a flight of stairs, beautifully decorated with wall-paper, Diva Spiced has moved some distance from its previous home in Mehar Chand Market to the far more accessible N Block Market (also known as the Fabindia Market!) Even in…
DetailsBottoms Up
Cuisine: Gastropub / world cuisine Blurb: Punjabi Bagh’s Club Road comes of age Atmospherics: Bottoms Up encapsulates all that West Delhi stands for, and about time too! Being a Lite Bite Foods project, the promotors could have set up shop in any part of the city, including at the airport. But they decided on Club…
DetailsAmaranta Revisited
Blurb: Fine dining at throw-away prices Cuisine: Peninsular India mostly Atmospherics: This column has reviewed Amaranta before. The menu now encompasses most of the country; not just the coast as it formerly was. The food has more emphasis on tasting menus rather than a la carte ordering (though there’s that too). However, what has brought…
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…
DetailsBernardo’s
A feel (and taste) of Goa Serving: Goan (Catholic) Atmospherics: If there was a family-run restaurant anywhere in Goa, it would be a lot like Bernardo’s, now in its 14th year of operations! There are remarkably few eateries run by individuals in the NCR, perhaps because of the sheer tidal wave of paper work that…
DetailsAbha Kohli
The advantage about being a cake- chocolate- and cookie-maker who works flexi-time from the house is that there are no overheads and consequently, no compromises in quality or menu. Abha Kohli of Vasant Kunj is one of these. Her perfectionism comes through clearly, her menu is intentionally small and her prices unbelievably reasonable. She bakes…
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…
DetailsThe Sim-ple Things in Life
I’ve always wondered exactly what an expatriate chef de cuisine does in his kitchen. Does he himself cook? Really? Every order? And here we are talking about 200 orders per day, so is it humanly possible? Or does he stand languidly by, rapping the occasional knuckle, while his beleagured team sweats it out at the…
DetailsAn Expat Chef at Hand
If it isn’t quite what the guest ordered, so what’s the value addition? What started as an exception 10 years ago is now the norm. Almost every large hotel in the metros and in popular holiday destinations today has at least one expatriate chef in the kitchen. Some exist in executive capacities: they do minimal…
DetailsKayasth Khatirdari
In Delhi, there are Andhra restaurants, Kashmiri restaurants, even Naga restaurants but no restaurants of the Mathur/Kayasth community, which is why many Delhiites are not even aware that the cuisine exists. That is something that has piqued Anoothi Vishal’s pride. This food journalist belongs to the Mathur community. As she describes it, “All Mathurs are…
DetailsCalligraphy
The recently concluded Islamic calligraphy exhibition held in New Delhi’s Iran Culture House was not the first of its kind – such exhibitions are held periodically. It’s another matter that calligraphers routinely outnumber audience. Nevertheless, the perseverance of the Culture House and the steadfastness of the calligraphers themselves are probably why the art itself has…
DetailsZaffran Biryani
I’m quite fond of the eclectic mix of restaurants that form the Kasbah complex in New Delhi’s Greater Kailash, but it is usually Café de Paris that I head for. This time, however, I was warned by fellow foodies not to miss the biryani festival taking place at Zaffran, their North Indian restaurant. Presided over…
DetailsSpiced Just Right
Subtly flavoured tandoori fare takes centrestage at Magnolia The management of Magnolia, a slightly difficult-to-find restaurant in. Sector 29 of Gurgaon, is reported to be running a couple of high profile restaurants in Washington DC. You’d never imagine it going by the formulaic desi decor, but the menu is sophisticated and the food even more…
DetailsOf Fan, Khajla and Puffs
Light as air and as flaky as a snowdrop – that’s fan for you, never mind the curious name. They’re made by traditional bakers in pockets of Old Delhi, almost always by the Muslim community, and tend to be concentrated in Muslim-dominated localities – Kallan Masjid near Turkman Gate, Pahadi Bhojla and Matia Mahal. They…
DetailsState of the Art in Kashmir
The story of art in Kashmir is bound inextricably with that of craft. While crafts – and by extension, craftsmen – are thick on the ground, art in the Valley is confined to a tiny school in capital Srinagar, which operates out of a rented building in a housing colony. While craftsmen have, by and…
DetailsMy Journey In Kutch
My journey in Kutch began at the bus station in Bhuj. It is in a sense a microcosm of the whole of Kutch. The barren land is echoed in the drab bus depot, and in contrast to the plain settings are the people who dazzle the beholder with their brilliance. After the first few moments,…
DetailsDelhi’s Eating Scene, Down the Ages
The restaurant-scape of Delhi Today’s Delhi encompasses Gurugram and Noida in its wake, and all three go to make up what is one of the largest food cities in the country. From strictly neighbourhood to completely international; from vegan, gluten-free, organic, locavore menus to pages and pages of seafood flown in from all over the…
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