Home - Marryam H Reshii

About Me...

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 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.

Recent Articles

360 degrees
December 29, 2020

State of the Art in Kashmir
December 22, 2020

Canton Capers
December 21, 2020

A Century of Ahdoos
December 17, 2020

A look back on the year 2008

2007 was the Year of the Chinese Restaurant. Some whoppers opened this year, among them, China Kitchen and China House in Hyatt Regency Delhi and Grand Hyatt Mumbai respectively, My Humble House at ITC The Maurya Luxury Collection, Hao Shi Nian Nian and Noo Ba in Gurgaon each with a slew of chefs from Sichuan…

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The Wine Company

Sarah Todd has hit the jackpot! Serves Mostly Indian flavours Atmospherics: Ever since its inception, The Wine Company has been known for its superior, user-friendly wine list with unbelievably value-for-money pricing, but except for its famous karari roti, as large as a sombrero, nothing on the menu was particularly noteworthy. Suddenly, in comes Sarah Todd…

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AnnaMaya

Not a café, bar or restaurant. It’s a foodhall. Serving: Indian and western Atmospherics: Airy, bright with primary colours (the juice bar and dessert counter are positively radiant). Inside the main enclosure, cleverly broken up into open kitchens and seating spaces; chairs and sofas, you can order your entire meal at the table, or choose…

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Beckoning and Beautiful Bali

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The World’s Best Chocolates

The best chocolate certainly comes from Western Europe. But, the question that needs to be asked is: does chocolate have to be made in Europe alone to be considered good? Not really, but making chocolate – as opposed to growing the cacao bean – does require a temperature of about 18 degrees Celsius. Warmer than that…

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Baluchi

It is heartening to see that Baluchi has undergone a total revamp. All too often, makeovers are merely cosmetic. There is path-breaking stuff happening at the restaurant. For one, the menu represents all the properties of the group, no matter in what part of the country they are. Thus, you’ll find a couple of Kashmiri…

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Coastal Fish Curries

Kaveri G Ahuja from Coorg remembers the simple fish curries her grandmother used to make in Coorg. Swarms of tiny fish used to feed in the rice fields on either sides of the weir. Once the weir was opened, the water would recede and fishermen used to catch the fish. Kaveri says that they were…

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Dishy Delhi

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Matamaal

“My granny cooks the best” Kashmiri Atmospherics: The modest-sized restaurant that has a full-sized shikara inside (it doubles up as a table!) is run by a delightfully hospitable Kashmiri couple. Surinder and Nalini Sadhu are the eponymous ‘grand-parents’ (Matamaal means naani’s house) and it is they who greet first-timers and regular guests with the famous…

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A Theory of Butter Chicken

Last Sunday, a friend and I were having an animated discussion about where in Delhi one goes for the best butter chicken. Rahul said Mini Mughal; I said Swagath. Many other suggestions came up and were shot down. Both of us thought that Moti Mahal had no consistency between branches; that dhabas got the dish…

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Kitchens all over the world

Think that commercial kitchens around the world do nothing but churn out food? Imagine that all chefs think and behave in the same fashion? Some of my chef friends reminisce about kitchens on the other side of the globe. When Chef Ravitej Nath, Executive Chef of Trident Gurgaon went to Hilton Beijing for an Indian…

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Priti 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…

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Pangot

If you’ve never heard of Pangot, it means, quite simply, that you are not a birder. It’s one of the prime spots in Kumaon for bird watching, where regular sightings of the notoriously shy chir pheasant take place. In addition, Pangot has two added attractions: you’ll find more types of birds here than in any…

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The Olive Tree in the Mediterranean Basin

It was my first day in Tunisia and I had been whisked off by my hosts to visit a museum. Not any old museum, mind, but one that had mosaics as its theme. Bardo had mosaics on the walls, on plaques, on the floors, even on the ceiling. Most of them were old and faded.…

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God’s Footprint

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Smoke 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…

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Magic Carpets

Buying a carpet is a life-long investment for most people. So, it is a trifle surprising that not many people know what makes a good carpet, or even what are the factors that affect the quality – and by extension price – of an heirloom that is passed on from one generation to another. There’s…

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In the Shadow of Shahrukh

It was 1988 and I was wending my way to Khajuraho in June. I remember that trip with clarity, despite the 26 intervening years. Partly because the muddy dull light of the height of summer crept into every one of my photographs, whether I took them at 6 am, 3 pm or 7 pm. And…

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Embassy

The winner of the CP dowagers’ marathon Serves unashamedly multi cuisine Atmospherics: In the beginning, there were a dozen or so gracious restaurants dotting Connaught Place, the only venue that was deemed fit to host restaurants that catered to western and Indian tastes, with a bit of Chinese thrown in. Some have downed their shutters…

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Yi Jing

At last, a restaurant serving the real cuisine of China Serves: Chinese (Sichuan) Atmospherics: The Panasian of old has given way to Yi Jing, with a brand new, bold black, white and red décor and a chef from Sichuan. Recently married Chef Zheng Wei is extremely proud of his home cuisine, speaks fluent English and…

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Curry 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…

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Trishna

Atmospherics: Most Gomantak/Mangalorean restaurants serving seafood are of the strictly no-nonsense variety. However, you cannot be in 1 Style Mile and still be no-nonsense, so the interiors (after a slightly grungy entrance) are stylish without being fussy. There’s an extremely popular terrace with gazebos, a small dining room and tables under the trees. Downstairs is…

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Civil House by Hemant Oberoi

A match made in culinary heaven Serves: western Atmospherics: I had visited this pleasant (if unexceptional) eatery a few months ago, little realizing that it was to be the classic case of the mouse that was about to roar. A month or so ago, celebrity Chef Hemant Oberoi joined hands with the management, and things…

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Music & Mountains

You’ll lose yourself in the mountains Serves: western casual Atmospherics: After a day spent tramping about the city, retreat into the mountains, right in the middle of Greater Kailash Market. The (mostly retro) music is played at a low volume, the lights – that replicate candlelight – are low (you’ll have to use your cellphone…

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My Last Supper

If you feel sad when nice guys finish last, the reverse must also be true: that you become ecstatic when nice guys finish first. Chef Amit Chowdhury, Executive Chef of Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi, is one of the nicest chefs I know. Completely non-political and with a disposition that would give a ray of…

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Dining with the Jalalis

“Our food has influences from Delhi and Lucknow, Rampur being equidistant from both cities,” Osama Jalali greets us at the door of the restaurant where his festival is in full swing. The Jalalis are from the principality of Rampur; in fact, Osama’s wife Nazia Khan is a Rohilla Pathan, a community well represented in the…

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The Great Indian Thali

Flip through Facebook, and you’ll see that the rules of the boasting game appear to have altered slightly. Instead of your friends crowing about the Sacher Torte they enjoyed in Vienna, now it is about a Sambalpuri thali from Orissa or an incendiary meal from Rayalseema. 2016 must go down in history as the year…

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Deepak Ohri

Deepak Ohri was on one of his famous flying visits to the capital when Upper Crust caught up with him. So, was he here to look out for a property? Was he here to recruit staff for Lebua, Bangkok? Or was it some other mission entirely? Ohri has a mysterious smile, and he used it…

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Fratelli Wines and Tuscan Flavours

Meeting Chef Francesco Costagli is a revelation because of the refreshing perspective he brings to his kitchen. He was born not far from the village of Castellina in the Chianti region, and Castellina is where his Michelin-starred restaurant is. Costagli’s zero kilometre cuisine is a concept that he has worked on, virtually since the start…

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Rathin Mathur and his Hmmmutton

Rathin Mathur has been a corporate honcho with two decades of experience behind him, but, as the saying goes, there’s no tie quite as strong as that of blood. So when he comes home after a tiring day in the office, he likes to relax by exchanging his blazer for an apron and getting into…

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Srinagar, An Insider’s Guide

Exploring Srinagar is largely a matter of personal choice: the delight of a shikara is its stately, unhurried pace; a cycle ride around is the perfect answer for seeing what you want. Stop every ten feet to take the perfect shot without disturbing anybody, travel by yourself if you are a loner, or with a…

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Ahaar 2008 (equipment)

It is the largest hospitality industry trade show in North India, and it is a perfect mirror of the trends in the market. A couple of years ago, Ahaar was full of ice cream machines that had been made in India, inspired by Italian gelati machines. Every second stall showcased imported commercial gelati mixes. This…

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Gujarat : Land Of A Myriad Hues

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Red 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…

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The Kitchen

The Kitchen, Defence Colony, is a new branch of the original in Khan Market, but never was there more of a difference between two outlets of one brand. The Khan Market place is dark and cramped and serves oriental food as well as Indian and western; the Defence Colony branch is as peppy as it…

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Militancy’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…

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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

Recent Articles

Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.
― Ruth Reichl