It never fails to amaze me how Kashmiri wazwan has percolated the consciousness of every foodie in the country, yet how few know anything at all about Kashmiri bread. At the most basic level, there are three types of bread that are eaten morning and evening: tchot, lavas and tchachvoru. All are made with wheat…
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…
Ritu Dalmia, the feisty lady behind the Diva brand in Delhi, turned 40 a few months ago. Besides the frenetic juggling that she does, between writing cookbooks, managing a fine-dining Italian restaurant and five cafes across Delhi, catering for top parties in Delhi, Mumbai, Thailand and Italy travelling across the globe like a restless ghost…
Under One Roof was set up around fifteen years ago. Was the market ready for a pair of restaurant consultants, where husband Manu organized the food, wrote the menu and trained the chefs, while wife Sonia trained the staff and organized the bar menu? As Manu Mohindra said in their salad days, “We’re doing this…
A mere year-and-a-half after it opened its doors to Delhi’s public, Hotel Ambassador’s Yellow Brick Road, the brightest, sunniest coffee shop hereabouts, has acquired a cult status among its patrons. This tiny 48-seater has a distinctive personality, the best cold coffee in town, and an eclectic menu. It has taken the city by storm for its novel rendering…
There is very little in the way of Mughlai food in Gurgaon. This is the venture of a Gurgaon-based entrepreneur with a taste for the culinary treasures of Old Delhi. Atmospherics: on the ground floor facing the road is this modest sized eatery with a bhatti and a tandoor outside. It looks contemporary enough but…
Lucknavi with fairly grand, all-mirror interiors. Atmospherics: Hyatt Regency Gurgaon is brand new. It is situated almost at the toll plaza that enters Gurgaon from Manesar, so that, while it is dauntingly far from Delhi, it is still a good proposition for residents of Gurgaon. The hotel is situated close to the industrial area of…
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.…
When Ismail Merchant brings back souvenirs from his many travels, he doesn’t put up them up on his drawing room shelves but in the refrigerator. For Merchant is at once a gastronome, a citizen of the world, a film-buff and a film-maker. His varied interests show up as much in the spread he lays out for…
The rise of North India’s first family of food can be traced to one man alone: master chef Imtiaz Qureshi of Dum Pukht, the signature restaurant at Maurya Sheraton Hotel and Towers in New Delhi. Chef Imtiaz started his career in the family’s butchery business. Like the other two well-known Muslim cuisines of India: Kashmir and…