DLF Promenade is fast becoming known as the restaurant mall, and not without reason. Besides a fast food counter on the ground floor and a food court, there is an endless row of restaurants on the 2nd floor, with more being added even now. The general level of restaurants is fairly high and the concepts…
Konomi, the month-old Japanese restaurant in Gurgaon’s Trident Hilton has the wow factor, in spite of being only 25 covers large. It is the only place in the country that actually serves the hideously expensive fresh wasabi. What is more is that the root is grated at your table, as many times as you require,…
Kumgang was the very first Korean restaurant in Delhi. The new version – Kumgang Gonie – still is streets ahead of the competition. There are two reasons for this. The first is that Mi Ran Lee, the owner, has been present at her restaurant during every single hour of operations. The second is that she…
In the lanes of Lajpat Nagar are plenty of options for Afghani, Iraqi and Iranian cuisines. They cater to the respective communities who visit or live in Delhi. Each place is meant to be cosy and unpretentious, where cooks of each country recreate the familiar tastes of home. Requests to Indianize/spice up the food may…
When Olive first opened its doors six years ago, it was known as the quintessential party place and was routinely slammed for its food. Now in its second innings, it is taking its food much more seriously. Does that mean that the old image of a party place will fade away? Even its name has…
One of the biggest restaurant openings that the city is likely to see this year is MEGU, the modern Japanese restaurant at the Leela Palace New Delhi. Every Japanese restaurant that sets up shop in the city raises the bar considerably for the competition. MEGU has raised the bar to an absurdly high extent: the…
Aab gosht translates, less than fecilitously, to water meat. It is more descriptive of Iran’s meat, beans and potato dish than Kashmir’s far more refined lamb cooked in reduced milk, and no! It’s not just my prejudice. Iran’s homely dish is always cooked in a stone pot with a lid. The ones I saw in…
Iran The only two cities I visited on my trip were to Mashad and Isfahan. Mashad is famous for two things. The shrine of the Eighth Imam of the Shia sect of Islam, Imam Reza, the only one out of all twelve Imams to actually be buried in Iran (all the others are buried in…
The first time I went to the spruced up Thai High (earlier the roof-top restaurant was Thai Wok, owned by the present owner plus two partners who have since moved elsewhere) I was distinctly underwhelmed. There was a Thai chef in place, but the restaurant had too many teething troubles, food being just one of…
I’m convinced that in every one of us lurks a strange beast, just waiting to come lunging out at the appropriate moment. Two years ago – even two months ago – if you had told me about Chinese watercolours, I would have stared blankly. I know as little about Chinese watercolours – any Chinese art…