Covid has turned the world upside down. It seems to have upset our hospitality industry, bringing many restaurants to closure. But, look more closely. Have restaurants really gone for a toss or have the rules undergone a change? I have been out of Delhi from the time the lockdown started, and had returned for a…
From nawabi to five star kitchens, the king of meats has come a long way. Now chefs and hotel consultants are uncovering recipes lost for centuries, including many from the royal kitchens of the Mughals, giving King Kebabs a new lease of life. Most people read The Mahabharata for ancient wisdom. When Salma Hussain reads…
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…
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…
I have been after Chef Irshad Qureshi’s life to offer an occasional menu that offers the home food of his clan. Chef Qureshi hails from Lucknow’s famous cooking clan that started out life as butchers. In the Muslim style of Lucknow’s cuisine, butchery is no less important than spicing. It is entirely possible that there…
I thought I was going for a Chinese food festival. Instead, what I got was Kashmiri food. It was all rather disorienting till I made the Silk Route connection. Chef Li Peng, the hugely talented Chinese chef of Vasant Continental in New Delhi had put together a food festival of the Xinjiang region of China.…
If you run a restaurant anywhere in North India, one way to ensure that it does fabulously, is to have a Pakistani food festival occasionally. The presence, even on the regular menu, of Pindi Chhole, Lahori Ghosht or Chappli Kebab (the last named is known to be a signature of Peshawari cuisine) will only ensure…
Don’t underestimate Chef Prakash Pawaskar of Trident, Nariman Point, Mumbai. In the outwardly unassuming Executive Sous Chef lurks a connoisseur of the cuisine of Maharashtra in all its Spartan glory. Pawaskar’s links with the food of his home state go back to the time of Shivaji as a matter of fact: his father-in-law, from the…
The evening air was deliciously cool and every time a gentle breeze blew, I’d wrap my shawl around my shoulders more tightly. It was a decided pleasure to be able to sit out in the open, in the gardens of the majestic Minto House that wears its 110 years lightly, and not be uncomfortable at…
