Wholesome Dinner But Frugal Breakfast for High-Protein, Low-Carb Tiger Woods

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

A dapper Anil Chadha, General
Manager, ITC Maurya (in striped
suit), leads Tiger Woods into
ITC Maurya, where the world
champion checked in for his
first-ever visit to India   

DELHI has a new caste system. And the social divide this time round is between the select few who have partied with Tiger Woods, mostly friends of the Munjals of Hero MotoCorp (who reportedly paid a seven-figure dollar sum for the world champion's first-ever visit to India), and the rest who haven't.

I belong to the deprived majority, but I can share with you what I have learnt from the ITC Maurya about the golfer's meals at the five-star hotel where he checked in at the Grand Presidential Floor for his brief stay.

Tiger Woods, whose pleasant disposition and easy accessibility won him many admirers among the hotel staff, follows a high protein, low carb diet. For breakfast, he had oatmeal with hot milk and egg white scramble with whole wheat toast. Here's a man who clearly doesn't believe in having breakfast like a king.

The night before, Woods was more indulgent. His dinner consisted of silken chicken veloute (one of the five mother sauces of French cuisine, veloute, derived from the French word for 'velvet', is made with chicken stock thickened with butter and flour), slow-roasted duck tossed with organic rucola (salad rocket) and Nagpur orange segments, napped in green apple dressing, classic tenderloin burger, and dark chocolate hazelnut savarin (a rich yeast cake baked in a ring mould and soaked in rum or kirsch syrup) paired with almond praline ice-cream. Now, that's what I call a meal fit for a world champ!

When Woods arrived, he was welcomed with an organic sugar-free chocolate cake with roasted hazelnuts. On it were inscribed William Blake's 'Tiger, tiger, burning bright...' lines, which, I am sure, Woods must be knowing well enough to recite backwards! So much for poetic originality, but ITC Maurya will have something to dine out on for months to come.

Dining With Miguel Torres, Rock Star of Spain's Wine World, Under A Banyan Tree at Sevilla

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

IT IS not every day that you get to sit next to a wine legend at a fabulous dinner in one of the finest restaurants of Delhi on an evening blessed by the weather gods. I am talking about Miguel Torres, the Decanter Man of the Year 2002 who re-wrote the rules of Spain's wine industry in his youth and now presides over land holdings stretching across 2,400 hectares in three continents and an annual turnover of 235 million euros (Rs 1,995 crore). The setting was Sevilla at The Claridges New Delhi, which is not only the best-looking venue to go out for dinner on a balmy night, but also the restaurant with the best Mediterranean menu in the city.

Miguel Torres, Decanter Man of
the Year 2002, is one of Spain's
most celebrated wine moguls.
Image: Courtesy of
Tulleeho.com 

The Torres wine evening on February 6, sponsored by Prestige Wines and Spirits, was made magical by Executive Chef Neeraj Tyagi and his younger colleague Rajiv Sinha, who presides over the restaurant's al fresco kitchen dominated by its prized possession -- a gleaming Josper oven that turns grimy as the evening progresses because it is kept very busy. Tyagi recently toured Britain and worked with some of the finest restaurants there to hone his skills, and these were on full display as the evening progressed.

The appetisers -- patatas bravas, dates wrapped with ham and a 'deconstructed' Spanish tortilla (the thick potato omelette) served innovatively in martini glasses -- set the mood for the evening. I got a chance to catch up with Atul Lall, who has taken over as the Area Vice-President of The Claridges after a fairly busy stint at Fairmont Jaipur -- his left foot was in a cast, but he looked every inch a Jodhpuri royal. I also got to chat with the director of Prestige Wines & Spirits, Sumit Sehgal (I learnt later that the Gautam Thapar company is in talks to add an Indian wine to its portfolio), the hotel's sprightly F&B Manager, Tarun Seth, and the young sommelier and wine educator, Gagan Sharma (I wonder if his bald pate, which matches that of his multi-talented boss, Magandeep Singh, is a mandatory requirement for employment at Wi-Not Beverage Solutions!). Gently flowing conversation, tasty finger food washed down by a Vina Esmeralda (the delicate and delightfully fragrant white wine from the Upper Penedes produced from Mosacatel de Alejandría and Gewürztraminer), followed by the refreshingly fruity and slightly sweet De Casta Rosado (grape varieties: Garnacha Tinta and Cariñena).

The gathering was eclectic. It included a host of Supreme Court lawyers led by the bon vivant and senior Supreme Court advocate, Parag Tripathi. The Spanish Ambassador, Gustavo Aristegui, a remarkable career diplomat who has also spent 16 years in public life (including 12 as MP), shared the head table with Torres, as did Delhi Wine Club President Subhash Arora, who reminded us in an informative speech that our distinguished visitor owned as many hectares as are under wine grape cultivation in India, and Reva Singh, Editor of Sommelier India: The Wine Magazine, who had met Torres late last year at the Wine Vision conference in London, where she was the speaker from India along with Sula Vineyards Founder-CEO Rajeev Samant.

Sommelier and wine educator Gagan Sharma
(extreme left) with the team that ensured we
got our wines on time and at the right
temperature. Image: Arun Varma

The service was initially slow, which gave us time to digest the corporate film screened at the start of the dinner and listen privately to the views of Torres on doing business with China. The conversation gathered momentum. The Spanish ambassador reminded us that his country has four restaurants ranked among the World Top Ten and that San Sebastian has more Michelin-starred restaurants per square mile than the whole of northern Europe. And then, Tyagi and Sinha rolled in their treats -- and what treats they were for the senses!

In between courses, the ambassador talked about China and India, about political will and economic development, about how he was able to juggle political and diplomatic careers without losing his seniority in service, about the long history of the Spanish ambassador's residence on Prithviraj Road, and about his embassy being among Spain's ten largest in the world. And when, in his concluding speech, he said he had already presided over five Torres dinners in two year and would like to do so 22 more times, if given a chance, he was speaking for all of us.

Here's the menu (with my comments) of the wine dinner, which we had under an ancient banyan tree, our conversations rudely interrupted at intervals by Ferraris screeching across the neighbouring road:

FIRST COURSE

Potato gnocchi stuffed with sobrassada (paprika-spiked sausage from the Balearic Islands), shaved Périgord black truffles (from France), sage butter and Parmigiano Reggiano crumble

My Take: Absolutely brilliant; this is what gastronomy is all about.

Or: Goat’s cheese gnocchi with sage butter, shaved black truffles and Parmigiano Reggiano crumble (I didn't go for this option)

Miguel Torres Milmanda 2011

Tasting Notes: Named after a historic castle at the Milmanda estate in the Conca de Barbera region, this brilliantly golden yellow single-estate Chardonnay has an intense, complex aroma with notes of fruit, citrus and peach compote, over a fine background of vanilla, and is big on the palate.

SECOND COURSE

Pan-roasted duck breast on compressed winter berry reduction  (I opted for the next)

Or: Mini phyllo-wrapped forest mushroom with romesco sauce (a nut-and-red pepper-based sauce from Tarragona, Catalunya)

My Take: It was a heaven-made marriage of forest mushroom and romesco sauce and the combination matched beautifully with the hearty red wine served with it.

Torres Mas La Plana 2009

Tasting Notes: This Cabernet Sauvignon from Penedes attained international stardom in 1979, when its 1970 vintage trumped a host of French greats, including Chateau Lafite. Its distinguishing characteristic is its intense aroma, great body and breadth on the palate, and juicy tannins that become balanced and elegant as the wine ages.

THIRD COURSE

Char-grilled Angus with spiced potato puree, grilled string beans, and roasted forest mushroom béarnaise sauce

Or: Majorcan pistachio-crusted, pan-seared Chilean Sea Bass with fennel air, chorizo and potato ragu

My Take: I chose the Chilean sea bass over the rest and regretted the decision only because it did not match with the wine. By itself, the dish was a triumph of simplicity over form, but maybe the buttery fish would have done better with a chorizo crust and not pistachio.

Or: Sous vide rack of lamb, black olive puree and pear glaze

Or: Saffron pancakes and ratatouille, mozzarella-filled eggplant timbale with goat’s cheese fondue

Miguel Torres Grans Muralles 2006

TASTING NOTES: A seductive combination of Garnacha and the lesser-known Mazuelo, Monastrell, Garró and Samsó grapes. Intense deep red with a purplish sheen, the wine has an aroma of exotic and profound complexity, incredibly rich body and structure, hints of spices (pepper and clove), shrubs (thyme) and ripe red berries (cranberry and redcurrant) over a background of smoke, vanilla and incense. The dense but sweet tannins open up and leave a lingering aftertaste that produces instant happiness.

DEGUSTATION OF CHOCOLATE

Bavarian citrus chocolate, five-spiced chocolate sauce, white chocolate and vanilla bean jelly, single- origin chocolate bar and raspberry sorbet on chocolate soil

Torres Floralis

TASTING NOTES: Made from the Moscatel grapes celebrated by Greeks and Roman epicures, the intensely aromatic dessert wine first tantalises the nose with its floral perfumes (rose, geranium and lemon verbena) and then flirts with the palate with its voluptuous mouth feel and delicate sensuality.

TEA/COFFEE

Torres Jaime I

TASTING NOTES: Served in a wavy bottle designed by the renowned Japanese architect Hiroya Tanaka, the brandy is drawn from the oldest soleras that started off as distilled Parellada wine, enriched by the best that are at least 30 years old, with a small amount of the 1972 eau de vie of Folle Blanche lees, the rarest of grapes used to make the highest-quality pot still brandies, added for intensity of aromas. Jaime I is deep, rich and dark amber brandy characterised by a concentrated complex bouquet, with marked overtones of coconut, dried fruits and spices. Round and lush, complex and majestic, it has a lingering finish that you'd want to sip gently as you absorb the grandness of the meal that you've just had.

DINING OUT: Bread & More Returns With Much More Pizzazz

QUICK BYTES

WHAT: Bread & More

WHERE: N-17, N-Block Market, Greater Kailash-I

WHEN: 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. (weekdays); 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. (weekends)

DIAL: +91 29246301

AVG. BILL STARTS AT: Rs 200 + VAT

STAR RATING: ****1/2

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

The Raspberry Melange is a star attraction at the
new and much-improved Bread & More, which
also has some genuinely artisan breads on its
menu and Delhi-NCR's best macarons. L'Opera
now has serious, decently priced competition.  

WHEN Pishori Lal Lamba and his brother-in-law, Iqbal Ghai, opened Kwality at the Regal Building in Connaught Place in 1940, the only items on their menu were ice-cream produced from a hand-cranked machine and milk shakes. The world was at war and India had been sucked into it. The contours of the conflict changed once the United States pitched in its lot with the Allies after Japanese kamikaze pilots bombed Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941. It also turned around the fortunes of Kwality.

American GIs arrived in thousands to defend India against a feared Japanese invasion and a large contingent of them were stationed in New Delhi, at barracks in Connaught Place. They just loved Kwality's vanilla ice-cream and one of the soldiers, a big fan of Lamba and Ghai, taught the brothers-in-law how to make sundaes. Soon, Kwality started serving cold coffee and sandwiches, and the patrons of the Regal theatre next door stopped by before each show.

The story came back to me as I was being taken round Bread & More by Divij Lamba, Pishori Lal's Yale- and Cornell-educated grandson who worked at Hillary Clinton's Senate office before joining his family's restaurant empire. The ice-cream, milk shakes and sundaes have made way for breads and croissants, confections, sandwiches, and single-origin coffees, whose nutty fragrance welcomes guests as they enter the store. Bread & More has been around since 1998, but its look and menu has just undergone a delicious makeover steered by Sahil Mehta, the first Indian to be certified by the prestigious Lenotre baking school  on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, and Umesh Sharma, the Kwality Group's bakery chef. The aromas, flirting with our nostrils and doing a little tango with the senses, revved up my appetite with their promise of good food. L'Opera now has serious competition -- both in quality and in prices.

The Lambas and their bakery team operating out of the Bread & More central commissary in Okhla Phase-II have gone to lengths to ensure authenticity with quality. The starter culture for their peasant bread, for instance, is from Paris, and  it is 75-80 years old. Not a drop of water goes into their focaccia; it's olive oil all the way, just as it would have been in Italy. The hard-crust artisan breads are baked in a stone oven with a mechanism for steam injection. It is this investment that has ensured that these breads are delightfully soft inside.

Even the quantities of yeast used is less -- 16 gm to a kilo of flour, compared with 30 per cent in most commercial breads -- because even though the dough may take a longer time to rise, it has a more delicate flavour and aroma. The simple pleasures of life, as they say, requires little ornamentation. And of course, the butter used is French because it is more malleable and spreads more easily.

The menu has 13 varieties of bread, including whole wheat and oat breads for diabetics, and four kinds of croissants (each uniformly crusty outside and melt-in-the-mouth inside), and it has the old favourites (nachos, sausage rolls and Black Forest), and you can also pick up a spicy chicken galette (the pancake-like bread from Brittany is a new addition to the city's culinary repertoire). For breakfast, you can have ham and soft fried egg on brioche with piping hot single-origin coffee. You may find the seating a little awkward because of space constraints, but it is best to have the croissants and sandwiches at the store. Go there on a weekend morning, or when 6 p.m. hunger pangs get the better of you.

Among all these temptations, and the procession of truffles and pralines and gateaux, the macarons, based on the recipe of the redoubtable Pierre Herme, are Delhi-NCR's best. They start with an almost imperceptible crunch and then just dissolve in the mouth releasing a bouquet of sensations. After you've had the salty caramel macarons, you'll keep wanting more.

Remy Sula's 100% Indian Grape Spirit Brandy Ready for Release; Awaits Remy Cointreau's Green Signal

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

INDIA'S first brandy made 100 per cent with grape spirit is ready for release. It is the baby of Remy Sula, a joint venture between the Paris-based ninth largest spirits company in the world, Remy Cointreau, and Nashik's Sula Vineyards, the producer of India's largest selling wines, which is led by the Standford-trained engineer and wine pioneer Rajeev Samant.

Remy Cointreau, headed by industry veteran Rukn Luthra in India, is famous for its cognac Remy Martin (and the ultra-exclusive Louis XIII) as well as the champagnes Piper-Heidsieck and Charles Heidsieck, the mid-market brandies St Remy and Metaxa, and the triple sec, Cointreau. The brandy, whose grapes are being sourced locally, is being produced at Century Wines, Baramati, under Remy Sula's supervision.

Sources close to the development say the brandy will be released only after Remy Cointreau's experts give its their thumb. The other whisper is that the company is lobbying for an excise duty reduction on grape spirit in view of the high cost of production.

The next time you visit Sula Vineyards, you may
be able to ask for a snifter of brandy -- made
100 per cent with Indian grape spirit. Image:
Courtesy of Virgin Atlantic blog

In India, brandies made by multiple local players have a minuscule quantity of grape spirit; the basic ingredient is extra neutral alcohol (ENA) produced out of molasses, which, in fact, is at the core of most Indian-manufactured spirits, starting with whisky. Media reports peg the price of ENA at Rs 20 per litre; that of grape spirit is Rs 400 per litre. It's seriously expensive to produce brandy with grape spirit, which is why the Remy Sula product may be deserving of excise duty exemption.

The Remy Sula partnership was first off the ground when the Government of Maharashtra allowed the production of grape spirit some time back to insulate farmers from the economic setback they suffer in the years when they have excess production. Wine grapes have no other use. The demand for grape spirit therefore may provide farmers an incentive to step up their production levels.

The launch of Remy Sula's first Indian grape spirit-based brandy will mark the entry of yet another important international player in the domestic wine and spirits market. Seagram India, the local arm of the French alcobev multinational, Pernod Ricard, set the ball rolling with its Nine Hills wines made in Nashik, and Moet Hennessy India most recently launched its Indian sparkling wine, Chandon, in Mumbai and Delhi to lend some sparkle to the jaded market.

Brandy, incidentally, is big business in the south, which consumed 99 per cent (Tamil Nadu alone cornered 60 per cent) of the 45-plus million, nine-litre cases of the drink released into the market in 2012. That's a substantially bigger market than wine. Remy Sula, it's apparent, wishes to gain the first-mover advantage with an Indian brandy that is produced just the way it is supposed to be. The move will give the alcobev industry an additional push to achieve higher production levels and penetrate the domestic market deeper than ever.

At India's Woodstock, A Soul-Stirring Offering of Food, Wine and Music

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

SULAFEST, without doubt, is India's Woodstock. A celebration of youth power. A showcase of good wine, food and pop fashion. A music programme packed with the best of electronica and world music. A crowd that deserves to be held up as a model of self-discipline.

When the late lamented Chateau Indage pioneered grape stomping as a marketing gimmick to glam up the wine business, wine snobs would turn their noses up and just about tolerate the publicity that the Chateau got as a result of it. No one then could imagine that the tradition would get a life of its own and grow into a cultural festival under the leadership of Rajeev Samant of Sula Wines, the Chateau's challenger and nemesis.

Sula put Nashik on the world wine map after Samant, with help from his Californian winemaker, Kerry Damsky, changed the face of a district that was previously famous for having Asia's largest wholesale onion market. Today, Sula has 238 contract farmers, supervised by a team viticulturists, growing 17 varieties of wine grapes, some of which, such as Pinot Noir (at a place named Sangvi near Pune), were considered impossible to sustain in India. In the same way, Sulafest has ensured the district's place on the tourist map -- it's a pity that the event lasts just for two days.

When you have a 20-artiste lineup with Dub Pistols, The Dualists, Vasuda Sharma, Susheela Raman and DJ Anna leading the pack, you know Sulafest 2014 is a "gourmet music festival" not to be taken lightly. There's food for every taste bud -- from shawarma and kaukswe at the Food Court next to the Main Stage to piping hot and deliciously juicy kathi rolls at the Electrozone, which has a very different vibe and music that just sucks you in. It grows on you, especially after you've had a blueFROG bottle filled up with a heady vodka and watermelon juice combo (Rs 800). You can also have a Mount Gay rum mojito (highly recommended at Rs 300), or a shot of Grant's, or an Asahi beer, or any Sula wine that catches your fancy. If you wish to take some home, my good friend, Rinku Madan, who's presiding over the Club Sula stall, will take your order and have your choice shipped to your home.

Now in its seventh year, Sulafest has put Nashik
on the world tourism map and become
India's No. 1 gourmet music festival.
Image: Courtesy of blueFrog

Or you can grab a preservatives-free, sparkling fruit juice (Rs 100) -- apple, pink guava or passionfruit, take your pick -- from Pune's Good Juicery, which was launched last year by a South African resident of the city, Michelle Bauer, and her food technologist friend Julia Madlener. I was talking to Michelle's friend, a New Zealander named Brendan (not McCullum!), and he said the company insists on sourcing its fruits from India (each can of Good has 40 per cent fruit juice). Passionfruit is an exception, naturally, but Brendan surprised me by saying that the company has zeroed in on a vendor in Kerala. Imagine having passionfruit from Kerala! It reminded me of what celebrity chef Vikas Khanna said to me some time back: "There's nothing that isn't grown or eaten in India." Of course, he wasn't talking about fruits, but octopus cooked Keralan style!

I was lucky to catch up with Ajoy Shaw, Sula's talented and forever happy winemaker. He treated me to a Rasa 2007, a 100 per cent Shiraz, which still has maintained its ruby red hue bordering on purple, its luscious tannins slithering down my thirsty throat. Sula is re-launching Rasa 2007 as a Collector's Edition wine. Shaw said it was a pity Sula couldn't hold back stocks of its top-end wines -- my favourite, Dindori Reserve Shiraz, being one of them -- for later release. The demand for Sula wines invariably shoots ahead of the supply.

I asked Shaw about his preparations for the tough-as-nails Master of Wine examination. He said he wakes up sometimes at 3:30 in the morning to prepare for it, because he has full-time job to do. The process is expensive. It requires extensive wine tasting opportunities, which are not easy to come by in India, unlike, say, in London, where you have such events every week. And there's a lot of emphasis put on your English writing skills, which a biochemist such as Shaw may at times find challenging. I had heard the same story from Sonal Holland of ITC at the Chandon launch in Mumbai. But something tells me, both will eventually become India's first Masters of Wine.

Sulafest is not only about food, wine and music. It's also about conversations and memories that remain with you for a long time after the curtains have come down on the event.

DINING OUT: The Hidden Gem of Marina Hotel

This review first appeared in the edition of Mail Today dated January 31, 2014. If you wish to see the original, click on http://epaper.mailtoday.in/epaperhome.aspx?issue=3112014 and go to Page 27. Copyright: Mail Today Newspapers

QUICK BYTES

WHAT: Jashn-e-Lahore Food Festival

WHERE: The Great Kebab Factory, Radisson Blu Marina Hotel, G-59, Connaught Circus (Outer Circle)
WHEN: 7 to 11:45 p.m. Open for dinner only.

DIAL: 011-46909027

MEAL FOR ONE (MINUS ALCOHOL): 
Rs 1,299+++ (adults); Rs 749+++ (children)

STAR RATING: ****

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

MARINA HOTEL has always been a mystery to me. Here's a heritage hotel in the heart of Connaught Place, with a terrace to die for, and a location that any five-star hotel would give an arm and a leg for. Yet, it's hardly ever in the news, though I know for a fact that it is popular among English tourists, who check in to soak up some Raj nostalgia. And when it became a Radisson Blu hotel three years ago, immediately after its renovation during the Commonwealth Games, it was seen as a prized catch for the Carlson Group.

My curiosity about the hotel resurfaced when an old friend, Dhananjay Kumar, called up to say he had taken charge as its general manager and would like to invite me to The Great Kebab Factory. A TGKF, my favourite destination for kebabs, at Marina? The information stoked my appetite for more information on the hotel.

The Great Kebab Factory at the Radisson Blu

Marina Hotel, Connaught Place, festooned for

the Jashn-e-Lahore Food Festival

Marina is New Delhi's oldest hotel. It was built in 1934 by the Japanwalas, one of Delhi's old Punjabi Muslim families who owe their surname to their trading links with Japan. The hotel, which had as many rooms for guests as for their servants, was managed by an Italian family, but they got externed for being 'enemy aliens' at the outbreak of the Second World War. The place of the Italian family was taken by the brothers Sardari Lal and Girdhari Lal, who were from a prosperous landowning family.

Sardari Lal was a bon vivant (he was reputed to have spent more time frequenting London's hotspots than pursuing his legal studies, his official reason for being in the city) and he eventually married the celebrated Olympian and British Life Peer, Lord Sebastian Coe's maternal grandmother, Vera Swan, who was a member of Uday Shankar's dance company and was also romantically involved with the maestro. Sardari Lal and Lord Coe's grandmother came back to New Delhi to settle down, but Vera Swan wasn't accepted by the British high society in the imperial capital, so she went back to England with her two daughters and never returned to be reunited with her husband.

The hotel is owned today by real estate and publishing tycoon Shashank Bhagat and his two business partners. It carries the Radisson Blu stamp and has The Great Kebab Factory, where  a Jashn-e-Lahore food festival is now on. It was a Tuesday, traditionally a light day for most restaurants, yet the place was full. And why shouldn't it be?

I can't imagine any sane person shying away from a meal plan that includes unlimited helpings of six kebabs with paired breads, two dals, three 'main course' items, a biryani with raita, and three desserts -- all for Rs 1,299+++ for grown-ups and Rs 749+++ for children. Right from the strawberry chilli sauce that the salad is drizzled with and the signature galouti, the restaurant has zealously guarded the high standards set by the original TGKF at the Radisson Blu Plaza, NH-8. It's a Connaught Place gem that deserves its place in the sun.

I asked Anish Potdar, whom I have known since the time he was a young chef at TGKF (he's now the custodian of the brand, which encompasses 16 restaurants), about the Lahore connection. He said the festival showcases the kebabs (TGKF has a repertoire of over 500, for its philosophy is not to repeat a kebab for 15 days) whose recipes were shared by Mohammed Ikram of Pearl Continental Lahore's Dumpukht restaurant with TGKF's master chef, Meraj-ul-Haque, when they were pitted against each other on the reality cookery show, Foodistan. Talk about cross-border brotherhood!

The kebabs with the Lahori connection that I had were the melt-in-the-mouth Chicken Firdausi and the delicately textured Khyberi Chooza, and then there was the intensely flavourful mutton nihari cooked in the Lahori style. These are three good reasons for you to drop anchor at the Marina's TGKF.

FORTUNE COOKIE: Recipes for a Multitasking Generation

This column first appeared in the Mail Today dated January 30, 2014. If you wish to see the original page, click on http://epaper.mailtoday.in/epaperhome.aspx?issue=3012014 and go to Page 15. Copyright: Mail Today Newspapers.

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

A NEW generation of cookbook writers are rewriting the ground rules of the craft. It may be because of the criticism that their recipes are meant to be admired for the pictures that accompany them because they are impossible to follow. Elaborate recipe requiring numerous ingredients and many stages of cooking may demonstrate the prowess of the person writing them,  but these are impossible to replicate at home, and can be frustrating for both the homemaker and the hobby cook.

It is heart-warming therefore to see the efflorescence of cookbooks that the Regular Ritu or the Neighbourhood Neha can relate to even as she juggles the multiple chores of managing a career, running a home and raising children, who can never be satisfied with the food they get. Cookbooks must address the needs of our multi-tasking, multi-cultural urban middle-class universe, where each family wakes up every morning with one existential question: What shall we eat today that will be different from what we had yesterday?

The debut cookbooks of Kunal

Kapur (above) and Rushina

Munshaw Ghildiyal address

the needs of a time-challenged,

 multi-tasking homemaker

 and hobby cook

We have two of them that have just been published and stand out in the crowd. A Pinch of This, A Handful of That (Westland; Rs 595) is by a popular food blogger (A Perfect Bite), Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal, who lives the life of the average working mother making a desperate daily effort to prevent her children from seeking out junk food as deliverance from 'uninteresting' food at home. I first met her at a Godrej Nature's Basket cookery demo and was impressed by the turnout -- there's clearly an audience of young mothers out there among whom Rushina is the new domestic goddess.

The other cookbook (A Chef in Every Home; Random House) is by the sunny-faced Kunal Kapur from MasterChef India, a good-looking Punjabi munda whom every auntieji following the reality show co-hosted by him would want to have as her son-in-law. Away from his popular television persona, Kunal is an inventive chef who works very hard in the kitchens of The Leela Gurgaon and I first discovered him through his paan-flavoured panna cotta at the hotel's under-rated Indian restaurant, Diya, whose kitchen is now headed by an acolyte of the Michelin-starred Atul Kochhar.

In his acknowledgements, Kapur mentions an array of male relatives, unintentionally pointing to a rising constituency for cookbooks -- the urban male hobby cook, whom you'll find all over Facebook and Twitter, exchanging their recipes and holding forth on those of others on Sikandalous Cuisine, the busiest and the largest (at least in South Asia) recipe-sharing social media community. The audience for cookbooks clearly has transformed dramatically since the glory days of Mrs Balbir Singh and two Mrs Dalals -- Tarla and Katy.

The beauty of Rushina's book is that like the average day of a homemaker, it follows no order. Each page, as a result, throws up a little surprise, or an interesting anecdote, and you can start reading the book from anywhere and still find a recipe you'd want to replicate at home. You could find a recipe for something as easy as Keema Pasta or as challenging as the 13 Onion Pasta, or as nostalgia-laden as the chicken curry that is served with roomali roti at Mayo College on Tuesdays, or as exotic as the Root Spinach Soup of Istanbul's Asitane restaurant, or the South African Bunny Chow, or Pho, the Vietnamese noodle soup, or the Channa Bateta of Bhendi Bazar's Bohri Mohalla. There's something for every inclination.

Kunal's book, as you'd expect from a chef, is structured like a traditional cookbook, but its sweep is remarkable -- from Menaskai, the famous spicy pineapple curry from coastal Karnataka, Bhutte ka Shorba with Chilli Butter Popcorn and Potli Masala Creme Brulee, to Mutton Varuval, Fish Amritsari, Prawns Moilee and Char Siu Mutton Chops, the recipes come with a twist to excite your imagination. And perhaps prevent your little ones from ordering in a McDonald's lunch or Domino's dinner.

LOVE YOUR BREAKFAST? INSTAGRAM IT!

WHAT do Instagram, India Art Fair, signature breakfasts and tea-time eclairs have in common? I asked myself this question as I watched Arnaud Champenois of Starwood Hotels and Resorts walk in, his fluorescent green shoelaces grabbing my attention before anything else. We were at Le Meridien, at an exhibition of Instagram pictures of Delhi's sights and people by Dan Rubin, who with 600,000-plus followers on the picture blogging site is a social media hero. The three-city show (San Francisco and Paris are the other two big cities) is a part of the Filters of Discovery initiative of the international hotel chain -- one of nine owned by Starwood -- and the event where I met Champenois was timed to coincide with the India Art Fair.

"Mobile photography is the new language of our social media-obsessed world," Champenois said as he went about explaining the connections. After the Obama selfie kerfuffle, don't we know all about it! Travellers "unlock destinations" with the pictures they shoot with their mobiles and they have turned the social media into a global repository of these millions of "picture story books", as Champenois described them. To engage their guests in a more creative way, Le Meridien hotels (#lmfilters) around the world encourage them to Instagram or tweet their mobile photographs, and get rewarded for their work. And by connecting with the art community through the concluding dinner that Le Meridien New Delhi, where the country's many culinary traditions will be showcased to the accompaniment of music by the Bandish Project, Champenois said, the hotel is reaching out to "creative-minded travellers" who are "more plugged in" than the rest of the world.

The Dan Rubin show coincides with the global launch of Le Meridien's signature breakfast, which after nearly four years of carrying American top chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's stamp, will have a strong local flavour. You can now order a rasam poached egg served with a lentil galette to start your day, or have a baked omelette rolled in a gramflour cheela with tandoori chicken morsels and mint chutney. Craving for an eclair with your coffee? Don't miss the one with ginger and jaggery, or maybe rose and cardamom. Indulge -- and Instagram. That's the new mantra.

GOOD FOOD FOR THE COFFEE TABLE

OK, I did extol the virtues of cookbooks for the new homemaker and hobby cook in the lead piece, but there's still a market for the strikingly illustrated tome that looks good on your coffee table and also has recipes that you can attempt at leisure (and of course, if you're adventurous as well!).

One such cookbook, appropriately titled Taste (Om Books), has been moving fast in the market. You'd  expect it from a cookbook with recipes from four Michelin-starrers (Vineet Bhatia, Vikas Khanna, Frances Aitken and Marcello Tully), Australian celebrity chef Ian Curley, Michelin Rising Star Laurie Gear, and BBC2 cookery show host Anjum Anand. Creative Services Support Group's Anand Kapoor, whose grandfather's Chicken Korma and Coffee Mousse Cake recipes are the ones you must attempt at home, has accomplished the surprising feat of getting the celebrity chefs together to share their best. Having done two annual charity events with these chefs, Kapoor seems to have mastered the art of balancing their egos and managing to get the best out of them, and it shows in the selection of recipes, which are arranged in the form of meals.

Surprisingly, despite the heavyweight presence of Michelin stars, the recipes are not that hard to replicate. Start with Anjum Anand's Fluffy Spinach Koftas in Creamy Tomato Curry, or the New York-based Vikas Khanna's Octopus Chaat and Watermelon Shorba, Ian Curley's Tortellini of Pumpkin and Ricotta, Marcelo Tully's Bread and Butter Pudding, and find out for yourself how these creative powerhouses elevate the simplest pleasures of life.

With The Penguin Food Guide to India, Charmaine O'Brien Emerges as New Voice of Authority

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

AS A food writer with more than a hundred thousand words to show for all the good meals I have had, I wonder at times why the three most encyclopaedic and readable books on Indian cuisine have been written by foreigners. I am referring to Rick Stein's India: In Search of the Perfect Curry, Christine Manfield's Tasting India and now The Penguin Food Guide to India, a most delightful work by Charmaine O'Brien. To this list, the only book by an Indian that I would happily add is Eating India by Chitrita Banerji, a food scholar based in the United States.

Rick Stein is a celebrated English chef, restaurateur and television presenter. Christine Manfield is the chef-owner of Sydney's acclaimed Universal restaurant (her fifth), which she plans to close down, and she organises food tours for people who pay really serious money. Charmaine O'Brien is an Austalian like Manfield, but from Melbourne, and she's a writer (her previous books include the slightly skimpy Flavours of Delhi: A Food Lovers' Guide and Recipes from An Urban Village: A Cookbook from Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti), cookery educator, restaurant consultant and, as she describes herself, a "culinary explorer". What the three share in common is a passion for India, a magisterial understanding of our country's culinary traditions, and an abundant gift of expression. As a result, they manage to pack in bundles of information without getting boring.

Charmaine O'Brien (left) and High Commissioner
Patrick Suckling after the release of The Penguin
Food Guide to India at the Australian High
Commission in New Delhi on January 30.

That's exactly what Charmaine does in The Penguin Food Guide to India, which she took four years to write without succumbing to the temptation of over-writing. Charmaine's affair with Indian food started when she first came to this country in 1995, expecting to eat the kind of monocultural tandoori cuisine she was getting back in Melbourne. She did get much of the same stuff in Delhi, which was then truly the Republic of Butter Chicken and travel guides did not know any better. Charmaine's first meal in India was at Sagar in Defence Colony Market, but it was only after she ate her way through a thali at a highway restaurant in Hospet, the Karnataka town famous for its proximity to Tungabhadra dam, that she got a taste of the depth and diversity of our culinary geography.

Charmaine's quest to dredge this wealth out of obscurity and showcase it to the world is now about two decades old. I am of the view that Flavours of Delhi was written for the gora crowd interested only in a superficial understanding of India, but the Food Guide to India, which follows her highly acclaimed Flavours of Melbourne: A Culinary Biography, shows the breadth of knowledge she has acquired over the years. And befittingly, the book was released on Wednesday, January 29, by the Australian High Commissioner, Patrick Suckling, who has a post-graduate diploma in Hindi and was last posted in Delhi in 1997-99 -- and he got married here as well. Like Charmaine, he's an "old India hand".

There's no superfluity in the book -- it's information-loaded all the way, without the brevity of Lonely Planet, strewn instead with anecdotes to keep the reader hooked to the narrative, which moves gently from Ladakh to Palakkad in Kerala, from Bhuj to Mawlynnong in Meghalaya. Whom does one contact to organise a meal with the Khamti tribe of Arunachal Pradesh? Answer: Antena Monglon, who runs Maunglang Tour & Trade Camp. Which is the restaurant where you can relish authentic Manipuri dishes in Imphal? Answer: The Host at Hotel Anand Continental. Where in Chhattisgarh can one attend cooking classes to master the local cuisine? Answer: At Kanker Palace, Bastar, and the person who holds the classes is none other than Surya Pratap Deo 'Jolly', the hotel's owner and member of the former royal family.

Too exotic? Well, Charmaine is equally well-versed with the more familiar parts. If you wish to buy Kutchi confections from Farsaani Duniya at Bhuj, she will advise you on what to get. Craving for a Kathiawari-style thali? Charmaine advises us to stop at Avantika in Limbdi, on the highway linking Saurashtra and Ahmedabad. Even for Goa, which most Delhiites now treat with a proprietary air, she surprises us with suggestions such as Confeitaria, the sunshine state's oldest bakery, and Horseshoe, which specialises in Portuguese-Goan food cooked by Vasco Silveria, and Venite, the best place for a Goan breakfast, and my recent discovery, Viva Panjim, where she recommends that you start your meal with the Goan rumba, a cocktail of cashew feni, rum and pineapple juice. These restaurants are in Panjim, but Charmaine also has a fairly useful list for Margao, a town with picture-postcard buildings now known as Madgaon.

I can go on forever. Charmaine, after all, has 240 listings from 25 states and Union terrirotries. This is one book I wouldn't want you miss for anything in this world.

Olive Bistro Opens at DLF Cyber Hub; Olive Mehrauli Gets Winter Menu With Sujan Sarkar's Picasso Touch

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

This quirky chandelier promises
to be a conversation point at
Olive Bistro, DLF Cyber
Hub, Gurgaon

OUR Republic has just celebrated its 65th birthday and tomorrow is a working day. For most of us, it will be just another day; for AD Singh, it will be a day of managing one more restaurant.

Olive Bistro has opened at DLF Cyber City, Gurgaon, right on top of Soda Water Openerwala. Looking very much like a stately restaurant from the 1920s, it has a sprawling balcony protected from the elements by a foldable umbrella of awnings. Just right for this season, now that the sun seems to have made a comeback. I am also told that its USPs are going to be a first-of-its-kind pizza menu and never-before-seen granary breads, which are made with brown flour and malted wheat grains, added for their distinctive nutty flavour. And the picture of Olive Bistro's unusual chandelier accompanying this blog post, which I owe to a Facebook post by Singh's Guppy by Ai business partner, Rohit Grover, proves that like all AD Singh restaurants, its design will have a quirky theme that promises to become a conversation point.

When Singh had said in an interview with me last August that he was going to launch 20 new restaurants by 2014-end, I half-believed him. With Olive Bistro opening after Guppy By Ai, Soda Bottle Openerwala and Monkey Bar, I don't need more convincing. Adding to my faith in Singh's ability to pull off this dasavatara act is the new winter menu unveiled at Olive Kitchen & Bar, Mehrauli, by Sujan Sarkar, who just got married after his return to his mother country following a successful stint in London. If the dishes that Sarkar has lined up for the winter menu taste as good as the pictures, I can assure you we have a new star in our city and he's going to have us eating out of his hand.

Sujan Sarkar's wood oven-roasted baby pumpkins
with green beans (above) and pear tarte tatin
(top) are some of the picture-perfect dishes that
the newly-wed chef has put on Olive Bar &
Kitchen, Mehrauli's new winter menu

At the rate at which independent restaurateurs such as AD Singh and creative chefs like Sujan Sarkar are raising the bar for excellence, I don't see five-star hotels, the old bastions of fine dining, continuing to be relevant to the universe of Delhi-NCR's foodies. That's bad news for an industry already struggling under the twin loads of debt and mounting operating costs. They have three options: reinvent (a distant possibility because of their bureaucratic management structures), re-engage (maybe they can retrieve their dwindling F&B market by selling their restaurant spaces to inventive chefs and visionary entrepreneurs), or perish.

Keep reading to check out my reviews of Olive Bistro and Sujan Sarkar's winter menu. I have had my dinner and yet, I can hear the rumblings in my stomach.

When Singh had said in an interview with me last August that he was going to launch 20 new restaurants by 2014-end, I half-believed him. With Olive Bistro opening after Guppy By Ai, Soda Bottle Openerwala and Monkey Bar, I don't need more convincing. Adding to my faith in Singh's ability to pull off this dasavatara act is the new winter menu unveiled at Olive Kitchen & Bar, Mehrauli, by Sujan Sarkar, who just got married after his return to his mother country following a successful stint in London. If the dishes that Sarkar has lined up for the winter menu taste as good as the pictures, I can assure you we have a new star in our city and he's going to have us eating out of his hand.

At the rate at which independent restaurateurs such as AD Singh and creative chefs like Sujan Sarkar are raising the bar for excellence, I don't see five-star hotels, the old bastions of fine dining, continuing to be relevant to the universe of Delhi-NCR's foodies. That's bad news for an industry already struggling under the twin loads of debt and mounting operating costs. They have three options: reinvent (a distant possibility because of their bureaucratic management structures), re-engage (maybe they can retrieve their dwindling F&B market by selling their restaurant spaces to inventive chefs and visionary entrepreneurs), or perish. Keep reading to check out my reviews of Olive Bistro and Sujan Sarkar's winter menu. I have had my dinner and yet, I can hear the rumblings in my stomach.

To read about Sujan Sarkar, copy this link:

http://indianrestaurantspy.blogspot.in/2013/11/three-new-pedigreed-chefs-land-in-delhi.html

To read about AD Singh's business expansion plans, copy this link:

http://indianrestaurantspy.blogspot.in/2013/08/ad-singh-goes-lean-to-roll-out-20-new.html

Turning Point Wines Get A Capital Welcome as Delhi Gourmet Club Serves Paradise on a Plate

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

IT WAS only appropriate that the wines being showcased at the Delhi Gourmet Club's 68th event are called Turning Point. DGC's first-ever al fresco wazwan lunch on Saturday, January 25, was indeed a turning point for the club, which is now, despite being a 'Secret Group', a 5,000-strong Facebook community.

Delhi Gourmet Club's founder-member Rocky
Mohan (left) with Shafi Waza, one of the four
brothers who are carrying forward the great
gastronomical legacy of Khan Abdul Ahad
Waza. Picture: Shalini Chauhan

It was the first time that the club had invited a well-known catering company, none other than the inimitable Ahad Sons, which is carrying forward the legacy of Khan Abdul Ahad Waza, to present a traditional 16-course wazwan lunch. A celebratory wazwan meal can accommodate up to 32 courses, but the club's three founder-members (Rocky 'Mr Old Monk' Mohan, Atul 'The Guru of Sikandalous Cuisine' Sikand and yours truly) decided that 16 would be more than enough! And believe me, they were.

Of course, with Rocky, whose book Wazwan: Traditional Kashmiri Cuisine is the most insightful on the subject, to guide us, with the suave Shafi Waza, the third of the four brothers who are now the custodians of Ahad Waza's legacy, personally supervising the proceedings, and with Mohit 'Chowder Singh' Balachandran orchestrating the service with club member Nikhil Alung, we could expect the lunch to be a memorable affair, even though the weather wasn't.

Turning Point wines, which have just been launched
in Delhi and Gurgaon, share the limelight with
the invincible Old Monk, Ketel One and Bacardi.
Picture: Ajay Gautam

It was a cold and gloomy day (we joked that we had brought Srinagar's weather to Delhi), and the ever-hospitable Rocky, at whose sprawling Vasant Kunj farmhouse the lunch had been laid out, was worried that the chairs would be wet. The weather made no difference to the elevated spirits on the ground, for there was enough warmth to be had from the wood fires, the lavish spread of delectable wazwan dishes, and Turning Point wines, which have just been launched in Delhi and Gurgaon after a fairly good run in Mumbai and Pune.

Turning Point is the brainchild of Ashwin Deo, whom many of you'll remember as the man who steered Moet Hennessy India very successfully in the company's early days. A product of Nashik's wine lands, Turning Point is India's first wine label that addresses young people, the  country's largest population segment that hasn't evinced much interest in wine.

I suspect it is because wine has been presented in a manner that it comes across as some 'serious' drink that only 'connoisseurs' can appreciate. The truth is, wine, like any other alcoholic beverage, is meant to be savoured in the company of friends, with good food to accompany it, and not intellectualised upon. Turning Point wines draw you in with their bottle design -- it's sassy, youthful, vibrant. You just have to keep a bottle on your table to get people talking about the wine. It's a great ice-breaker.

But Turning Point wines have more to offer than their sleek bottles and meaningful conversations. The wines are made from grapes sourced with great care from contract farmers in Nashik, and matured and bottled at Ravi and Kailash Gurnani's York winery with expert advice from the roving biochemist-turned-oenologist from Bordeaux, Marc Dworkin. I had the Turning Point Rosé, made from Zinfandel grapes, and I was surprised by its lively freshness. It was not overly sweet; instead, it balanced crisp acidity with a hint of fruitiness.

I thought I would stick with the Rosé, but I changed my mind after I had the Cabernet Shiraz. It was young, flavourful and delicately balanced. The vines from where the grapes are sourced for the Turning Point Cabernet Shiraz are 10-15 years old, yet there's no rawness in the wine, which made it a perfect match for the food that was served piping hot from silver containers by by Shafi's men, all clad in white kurta, pyjama and skull cap.

And what a feast it was, from the nadru (lotus stem) fritters and mutton lahabi kebabs circulated as appetisers during the meet-and-greet hour, to the pounded mutton kofta with an apricot at the centre, the ruwangan chaman (my most favourite paneer dish), the unbeatable Hind roghan josh and its polar opposite, the aab gosht (mutton cooked in a milk curry), the unputdownable haak (Kashmiri spinach) and monje (turnips), the spongy gushtaba bearing the unmistakable Ahad Waza stamp, and the sooji halwa, phirni and kahwa (Kashmiri tea) at the end. It was a meal I won't forget in a long time.

For DGC, it was without doubt a landmark event -- a brilliant showcase of a regional cuisine rooted in tradition and a new wine label that has set out to re-write the old, cobwebbed rules of wine drinking.

Two Oberoi Icons on TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards Top Hotels List As Indians Garner 8 World and 39 Asian Honours

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

THE Oberoi Group has struck gold in TripAdvisor.com's Travellers' Choice Hotel Awards 2014. In the 11th edition of the consumer review site's annual world awards, The Oberoi Udai Vilas at Udaipur ranked No. 5 in the 'top' hotels list, pole vaulting from No. 22 last year, and The Oberoi Mumbai jumped to No. 9, after being in the double-digit territory at No. 17 in 2013. The two hotels are at No. 15 and No. 22 respectively in the pecking order for the luxury category. The grande dame of Udaipur, Taj Lake Palace, also made it to the top hotels list, but at No. 17.

The Oberoi Udai Vilas, Udaipur, has climbed from
No. 22 to No. 5 on the world 'top' hotels list of the
TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards 2014

Coorg's Orange County makes its world debut
at No. 15 in the family hotels category

These three hotels bagged five of the eight world awards that went to India -- a record for the country. The other three winners are real undiscovered gems in their categories -- Kaiya House, Varkala (Kerala), among bargain hotels (No. 12, up from 14); Friendly Villa, Jaipur, on the B&Bs and Inns list (No. 20); and the increasingly popular Orange County, Coorg, makes its debut on the list at No. 15 in the family hotels category.

In the age of digital marketing, the value of these awards cannot be understated. A study by Cornell University’s Centre for Hospitality Research notes that increases in a hotel’s user review scores can positively influence the relationship between price increase and demand. Higher review scores, the study says, allow hotels to charge more while maintaining their occupancy rate.

Hotels that are lackadaisical about their social media engagement must rethink their strategy. Here's why they must do so. Friendly Villa's Shweta Mehra reports that her business has seen a 20 per cent year-on-year growth "both in terms of bookings and revenue" in the past three years she has been winning the Travellers' Choice Award in her category. "Had it not been for the award, I wonder if I could have ever achieved so much without very painful and expensive marketing efforts," she says.

Commenting on the awards notched up by establishments in Goa, Nikhil Desai, the state government's Director of Tourism, points to the obvious advantage of this recognition. "I am optimistic that these awards will cement Goa's place as one of the best tourism destinations in the world," he says.

Based entirely on travellers' reviews and ratings posted on the site, the much-anticipated awards have brought plenty of good news for India. Indian hotels and B&Bs have also won 39 Asian awards, second only to Indonesia's 41. India's Asian tally includes a remarkable 12 wins in the B&B and Inns category -- eight of the top 10 establishments in this category, in fact, are from India. As many as 92 countries are covered by the awards, which are given out in seven categories: Top Hotel; Luxury; Bargain (hotels in the lowest 30 price percentile in a particular geography); B&B; Family; Romance; Small. India has notched up 222 awards across the World, Asia and India lists.

In India, the category leaders are: Top and Luxury: The Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur, for the second time in a row; Romance: Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur; Family: Orange County, Coorg; Small: The Oberoi Vanyavilas, Ranthambhore; Bargain: Kaiya House, Varkala, for the third time in a row; B&B and Inns: Friendly Villa, Jaipur.

Rajasthan is the topper in hospitality with hotels from the state garnering an impressive 50 awards across the World, Asia and India lists. The other top performers include Kerala (36), Karnataka (30) and Goa (17). Among metros, Delhi is the leader with seven awards; Bangalore is a close second with six. Binay Bhushan, General Manager, Delhi Tourism & Transport Development Corporation, attributes Delhi's success to the Capital's "245 B&B establishments offering approximately 900 rooms at a reasonable cost to travellers from all over the world, including different parts of the country".

Interestingly, no establishment in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Punjab and the entire north-east have got an award. Is it a reflection of the backwardness of the hospitality sectors of these states, or a commentary on their poor social media engagement?

Is there a message in these awards? TripAdvisor's media release makes a relevant point. "The competition between large hotel chains and standalone properties is heating up with the latter becoming a formidable force," it says. The chains dominate in the Luxury and Top categories, but standalone properties lead in the Family and Small categories. In Romance, the scale is only marginally tipped in favour of the chains, with them clocking 13 ranks out of 25 and the rest being standalone properties.

As Nikhil Ganju, Country Manager, TripAdvisor India, puts it, "The beauty of the awards this year is that standalone and boutique hotels overshadow the large hotel chains.”