The first time I ever saw a saffron field, was in the autumn of 1987. It was a moonlit night and I was being driven back to Srinagar from Pahalgam. I had finished the last of my slide film in Pahalgam, and I sat back in the ageing Ambassador, smug that I had done a…
Gurgaon is in for a treat Serving: Peruvian inspired Atmospherics: In the spacious courtyard of One Horizon, a particular doorway buzzes incessantly with activity, and that is Whisky Samba. Maybe it is the name – an intriguing blend of an alcoholic beverage and a Latin American dance – or maybe it is the glorious sight…
Well-known chef, Michael Swamy blazes a new trail Serving: South American Atmospherics: At the heart of any restaurant is the menu, and at the heart of every menu is the novelty factor. Make it too exotic and you’ve lost the popular vote; keep it dumbed down and the cognoscenti stays away. Michael Swamy’s greatest achievement…
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…
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…
First Nobu, then Morimoto, now Reina Nagai Serving: Japanese Atmospherics: Want to know how authentic a Japanese restaurant is? Look around at the Japanese guests there. If they constitute over 90%, authenticity is guaranteed; if it is next to nothing, be sure it is a crowd pleaser for the desi palate. But what about a…
An enormous menu that actually works Serving: South East Asian, western, Italian Atmospherics: The Amici of old has suddenly metamorphosed into a far more attractive version, with excellent food. Whereas there were formerly no doors, now there are glass partitions with black frames and a couple of shelves laden with mainly Italian ingredients, in the…
Cuisine: Italian bar snacks Atmospherics: The best little bar in the city. The music doesn’t blast your ear-drums, there’s none of the ‘open tab’ accounts that are the norm in places where crowds have to roar to make themselves heard. This is a stylish bar, in the manner of an Italian bar where an espresso…
Drift at Gurgaon’s Epicenter is several notches up from Habitat Centre. Both are run by the same person, yet Drift has an evolved modern European menu featuring duck, sea bass and salmon, all of which are notable by their absence at IHC’s outlets. What remains the same is the cultured, arty crowd; before long, Drift…
Don’t go looking for a gourmet treat. At Rs 100 per head, on a Daryaganj pavement just under the overhead footpath, Chicken Plaza won’t give you a five star meal, but you will have a surprisingly tasty snack at laughably low prices. Chicken Plaza is right by a tiny mosque, which makes it less than…