11:31 am Vineet Bhatia All Set To Create Culinary Record by Cooking for Charity at Everest Base Camp
8:13 pm Delhi Finally Has A Vegetarian Restaurant It Can Keep Going Back To
12:23 pm From Pirates to Prank, Inderjeet Singh Banga’s Amazing Journey from Obscurity to Awards
11:51 am High on Thai: Zorawar Kalra Smartens Up a Familiar Cuisine and Gifts New Landmark to Mehrauli
Vineet Bhatia All Set To Create Culinary Record by Cooking for Charity at Everest Base Camp
THE CREATOR of Modern Indian Cuisine, Vineet Bhatia, who was most recently in the news for having to shut down his Chelsea restaurant, VBL, on the day it was awarded a Michelin star within a week of opening, is all set to scale those heights of gastronomy that no chef has ever been to before. […]
Newbie Vegetarian Yuvi Launches Deal-Rich EazyDiner Prime with Amex; Zomato Gold to Feel the Heat
IN THE BATTLE to make the dining experience easier on the wallet for the growing class of gastronomically mobile Indians, restaurant concierge service EazyDiner, steered by Kapil Chopra, who recently stepped down as president of The Oberoi Group, has set a new benchmark with its Prime offering, which, for the next three months, has been […]
Raise A Cheer to The Lord of Beer: The Beer Cafe’s Rahul Singh Opens World Cuisine Restaurant, To Venture Into Wine
RAHUL SINGH moved to Gurgaon in 1996 because it was cheaper to buy a house in Millennium City than in Delhi, for Haryana was then a dry state. Little did he know then that, 22 years later, he would be presiding over the country’s first and unsurpassed chain of beer cafes created out of mortgaging […]
Indian Accent Rises 11 Notches on Asia’s 50 Best, Topped Yet Again by Gaggan, But Is The List Worth Our Attention?
FOR A much-anticipated list that makes or breaks restaurants, the newest Asia’s 50 Best, released tonight (March 27, 2018) amid the usual grandeur in Macau, which is celebrating 2018 as the Year of Gastronomy, has been completely without any spark of excitement. As Indians, we have a good reason to celebrate — Indian Accent, powered […]
Anubhav Sapra of Delhi Food Walks Puts Capital’s Street Food Culture on the Global Map
DELHI’S VIBRANT street food culture has had two diligent chroniclers. Rahul Verma of The Hindu (who now also writes for the digital edition of the Hindustan Times), in the lively old ‘hole-in-the-wall’ writing tradition of the late Behram ‘Busybee’ Contractor, ventured into the by-lanes of Shahjahanabad much before anyone else saw any merit in it. […]
As Preferred Hotels & Resorts Turns 50, CEO Lindsey Ueberroth Makes a Pitch for Sustainable Luxury
AS IT celebrates its golden jubilee year, Preferred Hotels & Resorts is looking at growing its South Asian footprint to 50 hotels — up from 40 at present — by the year 2020. The Imperial New Delhi was the first Indian hotel to open Preferred’s innings here in 2002. Since then, the number of Indian […]
Jean-Charles Boisset Ties Up with Fratelli to Produce Indo-French J’Noon Wines
IT’S A TREAT to imbibe Jean-Charles Boisset‘s wine wisdom over a leisurely lunch that touches upon a cornucopia of conversation points, from The Oberoi’s new cigar room to Sonam Kalra’s haunting Sufi music. Boisset, though, is not some wine greybeard spouting vinobabble — and impressing you with knowledge he knows you don’t possess. If comparisons […]
After Tying Up With Ministry of Crab, Bharti Scion Ramit Mittal Shows His Appetite for Novelty with The Runway Project
RAMIT MITTAL could have taken the easy path of a business scion and walked into an inherited office, but the eldest son of the Rakesh Mittal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Enterprises (and Chairman Sunil Mittal‘s elder brother) opted to take the plunge into the uncharted waters of the food business. Leaving a […]
From Organic Produce to Transparent Food Labelling, Chakki-Fresh Atta to Greek Yoghurt, to Faster Onset of Food Boredom: Trends That Define Dining Out in 2018
TAGTASTE, the online community of food professionals launched formally last month by Jaspal Sabharwal of Everstone Capital and startup maestro Arun Tangri, has released its first ‘Insights’ report distilling the market predictions of 57 chefs and F&B executives, 153 grocers and 353 consumers on the dining patterns and preferences of the two demographics — the […]
ITC Hotels CEO-in-Waiting Sanjay Sethi Quits Waiting, Headed Back to Mumbai; Prashant Gaurav Gupta, Resident Manager, ITC Maurya, Hired by DLF to Beef Up Luxury Retail Division
THE OFFICE of the COO at the ITC Green Centre, Gurgaon, the corporate headquarters of the cigarettes and FMCG behemoth’s hotels division, appears to be seriously jinxed. Two of its recent occupants have quit within months of moving into the office, the latest being Sanjay Sethi, who put in his papers over the weekend, […]
Delhi Finally Has A Vegetarian Restaurant It Can Keep Going Back To
Restaurant: Kiara Soul Kitchen Address: M-30, M-Block Market, First Floor, Greater Kailash-II Cuisine: Inventive Asian Vegetarian Meal for Two: Rs 2,200/=. Awaiting Liquor Licence. Dial: (011) 4036 7904 Timings: 12:30 PM to 03:30 PM; 07:30 PM to 11:30 PM EazyDiner Link: https://www.eazydiner.com/delhi-ncr/kiara-soul-kitchen-greater-kailash-gk-2-south-delhi-653446 THE OTHER DAY, as I was listing my go-to ‘North Indian’ (Mughlai/Punjabi) restaurants for […]
From Pirates to Prank, Inderjeet Singh Banga’s Amazing Journey from Obscurity to Awards
WHEN I first met Inderjeet Singh Banga at Prankster in Gurgaon, after much persuasion by nearbuy’s Ajay Singh, a big fan of his successful Pirates of Grill restaurants, I was struck by the ease with which he is able to strike a chord with a stranger. A conversation with him is like a taking a […]
High on Thai: Zorawar Kalra Smartens Up a Familiar Cuisine and Gifts New Landmark to Mehrauli
After creating signature brands such as Masala Library, Farzi Cafe and Pa Pa Ya, Zorawar Kalra has dished up another super-hit, Bo Tai, next to Olive Bar & Kitchen in Mehrauli FOR MOST of his life, Zorawar Kalra has lived in the substantial shadow of his father Jiggs Kalra‘s reputation as a food writer and […]
The Story of Daniel Humm, Chef of the World’s No. 1 Restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, Who’ll Have Delhi Eating Out of His Hands This Weekend
Daniel Humm, the Michelin three-starred Swiss-American chef who has taken Eleven Madison Park to the top of the World’s 50 Best, will be cooking for American Express Centurion Card owners at The Leela Palace New Delhi this weekend. IT IS the visibly voluptuous global spending power of our millionaires that has been drawing international chefs […]
AnnaMaya: German Chef with ‘Make in India’ Vision Creates a Winner Restaurant with Food Stories to Tell
WHEN I first met Alex Moser last year at a food awards event, he had been in India for barely a week and was already a worried man. “I have been asked to source 401 traditional ingredients for my hotel’s upcoming all-day restaurant, and I have been able to identify just five so far,” the […]
Delhi’s Must-Have Streetside Vegetarian Treats That Are Yet to Make It to Any List
Akbar had nine jewels who adorned his court; Delhi’s street food universe has many more, beyond the done and dusted favourites of Chandni Chowk and Jama Masjid. The city’s walking chronicler Anubhav Sapra shares his list of ten vegetarian haunts you cannot afford to ignore. ANUBHAV SAPRA, who moved to Delhi in 1999 as a student […]
Delhi Celebrates India: The Masala Trail by Osama Jalali and the Birth of a New Food Republic
If there’s one trend that will define Delhi’s cosmopolitan palate in 2017, it is its growing openness to our wealth of regional cuisines I GREW up in a Delhi where anyone from the South of the Vindhyas was a Madrasi who ate only idli-dosa-vada-sambar, where Biharis were the Harrys taking over Mukherjee Nagar, where Bongs […]
Meet the Man Who Launched Chor Bizarre 25 Years Ago — And Then Made History with Indian Accent
BACK IN 1990, Rohit Khattar was 27 years old, and running the popular Hotel Broadway at the point where Old and New Delhi intersect on Asaf Ali Road. Wanting to do more than just be the custodian of a family legacy, he was overcome by the idea of launching a restaurant that would be very […]
With Sahil Mehta’s Midas Touch, Cravity Promises to be Delhi-NCR’s Newest Go-To Gourmet Dessert Destination
AFTER consulting with The Artful Baker and Breads & More, and establishing his credentials as Delhi-NCR’s most inventive young pastry chef, Sahil Mehta has teamed up with 25-year-old Rachit Goil to launch Cravity, a 550-square-foot, 16-seater cafe and chocolate shop, at Hauz Khas in South Delhi, bang opposite the old Dr Dang’s Lab. An investor […]
Pa Pa Ya Set to Open at Select Citywalk, Saket, with Menu Loaded with Novelties such as Sushi Burgers & Chilli Hoisin Duck Dog
WHEN Zorawar Kalra‘s Pa Pa Ya opens at Select Citywalk, Saket, in less than a fortnight, it will not only be the young and successful restaurateur’s most expensive project (pegged at $1.5 million, or a little over Rs 10 crore at the present exchange rate), but also have a 70-foot-high design feature, The Dome, that […]
Soul Food at Attari: Chargha Chicken from Punjab Grill, Courtesan Tales & Songs of Peace at India’s Final Frontier
In the shadow of the BSF’s last outpost on the Amritsar-Lahore road, little over a kilometre away from a bunker of the Pakistan Rangers, we savoured the flavours of Punjab as the state’s favourite folk singer, Gurmeet Bawa, sang songs of peace. AMRITSAR resides in the imagination of all Indians as the city of the […]
AGRA STREET FOOD CHRONICLES: Gorging on the Road in the City of Love
IT IS one of history’s many ironies that Agra, which was the seat of Mughal India at the time of Akbar and Jehangir, and of Shahjahan for some years (from 1556 to 1658, to be precise), doesn’t have any visible legacy of the robust cuisine that we attribute to that era. This accident of history […]
A Discovery of Punjabi Cuisine in the Mustard Fields of its Heartland
A group of journalists from across the country, hosted by Punjab Grill, savour the depth and diversity of the Punjabi table beyond the stereotypical butter chicken THE world believes butter chicken and daal makhni are the two poles of Punjabi cuisine, with chhole-bhature somewhere in the middle of this sea of butter and cream. I […]
Why Bangalore is Blessed to Have Karavalli, Chef Naren Thimmaiah’s Garden of Gastronomy. Plus: At 94, MTR Looks Set to Score a Century, and More.
WITH Middle India’s palate rooting for local flavours, and with the glamourisation of the tastes and textures we have grown up with, the rise of regional specialities to national prominence was only to be expected. This national wave of nostalgia for ‘my grandmother’s kitchen’ owes its origin and sustenance to restaurants that have given a […]
It’s Time to Say Namaste Stockholm!
You’ll find a little bit of India in nooks of Stockholm, but that is not the only reason for you to go to the Swedish capital to recharge your batteries WHEN you’re at the Nobel Museum (http://www.nobelmuseum.se/) in Stockholm, a treasure house of inspirational knowledge despite its cramped location in the Old Town (), you […]
Vile Feni? Give Up That Stinking Thought and Shout Viva to the Cashew Liquor When You’re in Goa
FENI is not a drink you’d serve in polite company. Even back in the 16th century, when people were more accustomed to quaffing rough drinks, the Italian traveller, Ludovico de Varthema, wrote that feni “will affect a man’s head merely by smelling it, to say nothing of drinking it”. Having spent three days drinking it […]
Leisure Inn Grand Chanakya Revives Old Jaipur Favourite; Offers Starred-Hotel Comforts at No-Star Prices
IT’S A COMMON refrain of hoteliers at every industry meet to extol the virtues of branded budget hotels. They say this under-developed category, ignored by established hotel chains, caters to not only the vast domestic leisure market, but also mid-level executives travelling on work to Tier-II and Tier-III cities and towns. It’s all talk. None […]
World Champion Pizza Acrobat Twirls & Serves His Signature Pizzas at Mumbai’s JW Marriott
Pasqualino Barbasso, the Sicilian pizzaiolo from Cammarata, may be the pizza world’s ‘twirling dervish’, but he says he’s as good as the 70-odd original pizzas in his repertoire, which is why he’s so picky about his flour. Barbossa can be seen in action at the Mumbai JW Marriott’s Lotus Cafe (9:30 p.m.) and Mezzo Mezzo […]
Emirates Woos Busy Indian Market With New Menu to Tickle Regional Tastebuds
This article appeared this morning in the Traveller section of Mail Today. It transports more Indians abroad than any other carrier operating in the country. Now, Emirates has become the first international airline to cater for India’s diverse taste buds by introducing region-specific meals. Even Air-India hasn’t done it. NUMBER CRUNCHER 135K … Average no. […]
Dubai Restaurant Recreates Fairytale City’s Modest Past With Its Emirati Menu
THE YEAR 1966 is a watershed in Dubai‘s short but eventful history. That was when oil was first struck in the desert emirate that at once transformed what was once an overgrown village by the side of a busy port into a wonderland drawing people from all over the world with the promise of the […]
From ITC Maurya to Marriott’s Top Echelons: Rajeev Menon Shares His Career-Making Moments and Leadership Mantras at HOSI
WE ALL have our career-changing moments, but the kind Rajeev Menon, COO (Asia Pacific – Excluding Greater China), Marriott International, has had in his 27-year career as hotelier have not always been, to put it gently, a walk down the garden path. Back in 1989, when he was a management trainee at the ITC Maurya […]
Enter, The Indian Expat General Manager of an International Chain Hotel: Barun Jolly Moves to Indonesian City Close to Borobudur as Crowne Plaza GM
QUICK BITESWhere: Bor IT IS NOT unusual to find an ‘expat’ general manager of a hotel in any part of the world – in fact, there was a time when Swiss and German hoteliers were most sought after for this position – but it is hardly as common to find an Indian leading from the […]
Meet Amuleek Singh Bijral, Chaiwallah from Harvard, & Savour the Chai Point Success Story
India’s First Tea Chain Banks on Sustainability, Systems & Sexing Up Its F&B Menu AMULEEK SINGH BIJRAL discovered the power of the chaiwallah much before Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When he was an MBA student at Harvard Business School, Bijral was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and his class project, which he refined under the […]
World’s Leading Hospitality School Pitches Global Programme and Wellness Management to Indian Students
WHEN the global market research company, TNS, surveyed the top hiring managers of the international hospitality industry in 2013, Les Roches figured among the world’s leading three hotel management schools. It is hugely popular among Indians because unlike its competition, the venerable École Hôtelière de Lausanne, Les Roches is an English-medium institution located in the […]
ChefsRUs: Home Cooks are Dishing Up A Storm and Getting Five-Star Hotels to Align With Them
WHEN The Oberoi hotels held their annual chefs’ conclave in New Delhi less than a fortnight ago, the person who ladled out dollops of insights into the intricacies of Awadhi, Rampuri and Dehlavi cuisines was not an acknowledged master of five-star kitchens, but a soft-spoken homemaker from Old Delhi. Nazish Jalali moved from Rampur to […]
Hotelier and Art Investment Guru Kapil Chopra to Open Gallery at Lado Sarai’s Art Mile
KAPIL CHOPRA, President, The Oberoi Group, who heads the luxury hotel chain’s operations in India, is all set to open artdistrict XIII. It is the newest gallery on the ‘art mile’ in the gentrified south-west Delhi village of Lado Sarai and, as you’d expect a venture by Chopra to do, it will open with a […]
As Wasabi By Morimoto Turns 5 in New Delhi, Grand Master Hemant Oberoi Shares His Inspirations
A MEETING with Grand Master Chef Hemant Oberoi can only mean an explosion of new ideas. As we waited for journalists and bloggers to trickle in for the media lunch organised to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Wasabi by Morimoto at The Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi, he had me riveted by recalling how he, […]
BIZ BUZZ: Beer Cafe Dispenses 1.5m Pints of the Brew; Aims for 33 Outlets by 2014-End
Founder-CEO Rahul Singh, a former textile engineer and avid single malt collector, says his dream is to make his brand the “Starbucks of beer” CAFE Coffee Day and Starbucks are two names you’ll hear quite often in the course of a conversation with Rahul Singh, Founder-CEO, Beer Cafe. “Do you know how many CCDs are […]
Kunal Kapur Launches His Must-Have Cookbook For ‘A Chef in Every Home’ At Diya
WHEN Kunal Kapur was a kitchen trainee under the redoubtable Chef Arvind Saraswat at the Taj Palace, New Delhi, he had the most unnerving experience on the day each member of his batch was to present a three-course meal for evaluation by their guru. An eager-beaver, who made a mark on his first day at […]
Groupon India CEO Bets Big on F&B and Sees Internet on Mobile as the Top Story of 2014
Ankur Warikoo shares the spectacular success story of Group India, which in three years has extended to 12 cities, signed up 6,500-plus unique merchants (including 56 per cent repeats), and almost every major hotel and restaurant in the countryWHEN Groupon India teamed up with Delhi Gourmet Club last year to launch Delhicious Week, the challenge […]
After 28 years in active journalism, I have decided to quit the hurly-burly of daily newspapers and the joy of editing (massacring?) the copy of helpless souls, and become the master of my own time…
Vineet Bhatia All Set To Create Culinary Record by Cooking for Charity at Everest Base Camp
Delhi Finally Has A Vegetarian Restaurant It Can Keep Going Back To
Veena Bhatia on Vineet Bhatia All Set To Create Culinary Record by Cooking for Charity at Everest Base Camp
May 13, 2018 at 6:47 pmSourish27Bhattacharyya on Newbie Vegetarian Yuvi Launches Deal-Rich EazyDiner Prime with Amex; Zomato Gold to Feel the Heat
April 24, 2018 at 10:14 amRohit Dasgupta on Newbie Vegetarian Yuvi Launches Deal-Rich EazyDiner Prime with Amex; Zomato Gold to Feel the Heat
April 23, 2018 at 11:59 pm