They’ve come, they’re conquering. Here are five new hospitality honchos, ready to take Delhi by storm Emmanuel Guemon Emmanuel Guemon, Executive Chef, Leela Kempinski Gurgaon: This is Chef Guemon’s second stint in India, the first being over 10 years ago in Amar Vilas, Agra. Every executive chef of every hotel in the world has a…
It is fascinating to know how various people strayed into the food business. And even more fascinating to figure out that how they were inveigled in and the strength of their bond with the business has little correlation. But I am getting ahead of myself. Gurgaon, also called Millennium City, is a haven for small…
A few years ago, I had been invited to sample a food festival in a hotel. The theme of the festival was the Muslim food of Delhi. The young chef was explaining to a group of us food journalists about each dish as it was brought out. For every question we had, the chef had…
A decade ago, a publisher had contacted me. He wanted to do a book of recipes from a sprinkling of royal households. I raided my address book and those of my friends, to come up with names of princely states and small heritage homes who would part with a few recipes. Or, at the very least,…
Once upon a time there lived a king and his prime minister. Each had a slew of palaces in the city where they lived, one more fairytale than the other. Cars, retinues of helpers, suitcases of fabulous gems – they had them all. Even when the privy purses were abolished, they lived happily ever after.…
In the universe of the food and beverage world, you will see several restaurant models that keep playing out, over and over again. One is the family-owned restaurant where the colour scheme has not been changed since the ‘80s. The other is the modern bar that opens in January and has shut in November, after…
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…
I have a blind spot, as everyone who knows me will readily attest: I love the homeland of my husband: Kashmir and am completely unable to separate the strands of what is Muslim and what is Pandit. To me, they are interwoven with the silken fibres of a cobweb. You have to view the cobweb…
Visit a museum, look at a miniature painting or a Bourne & Shepherd print and you’ll be struck by the sheer splendour of royal costumes of yore. Rich brocades, tiny jewel-like stitches, an unlimited vocabulary of motifs. Yesterday’s craftsmanship with its palette of warm, vivid hues seems to have given way to shoddy workmanship and…
