aka Om Routray
There are a few days when you wake up dreaming about snow white and end up going on a date with her in the evening. I had a food equivalent of the same dream. I was frantically writing on every wall I found how disappointing Navratra thalis have been and how I am still willing to give them a chance this year. More than the preparation, I had blamed the ingredients, as if the goddess made sure no has a satisfying meal during those days….Continue Reading “Navratra thali, Punjab Grill, Saket”
Today morning was an insightful one. As I was wearing my belt, I noticed that I had gone way beyond the last hole. But a man can’t be seen without a belt. That would be the most singular sign that one has rejected civilization in its entirety. Anyway, that brings me to the topic that this little conversation is about – how to eat like a pig and not gain weight. I have been passing on the secret all around. Worrying. If you worry enough,…Continue Reading “Lost by a hole”
Monday mornings are humble moments. So, I tried to find the most humble conversation that we could have. Brought up in Odisa, my first encounter with bread pakoda was this old man in a small cabin who used to fry up bread slices wrapped in batter. The cabin was in an area surrounded by rickshaw repair shops. So, all rickshaw wallas gathered around to eat this weird stuff. But as the warm, soft fleshy fullness filled my mouth, I felt a silent, somber, shameful joy….Continue Reading “An ode to bread pakoda”
I have been in Amritsar for last few days on an invite from Punjab Tourism. We had a tour of the city, had most of the famous food and attended the launch of the book “Amritsar” by Chef Vikas Khanna. Got to see the city with him and heard him explain the food before it went into our mouths. Almost all the places we visited were personally recommended and the raids were conducted by him. Kanha Sweets, on Lawrence Road, was the first stop on…Continue Reading “Kanha Sweets , Amritsar”
Café Torque is a biker cafe, one of the few cafes in Delhi that actually claim the tag. So what is a biker café? Why should a non-biker even go there? Like many other food concepts, biker cafes are imported from the west. In the UK, these were open all day and night, the young ones hung around coffee and music and tinkered with their bikes. Thus the concept of café racer emerged. On the other side of the Atlantic, biker cafes were not just…Continue Reading “Cafe Torque – Vasant Vihar”
May be, it is not the best time. May be, it is. May be, it will melt your chocolaty hearts and drive you to a donation page. Anyway, I have been trying to write about the kids I met on the Kashmir trip and today morning seems to be the perfect time. she had just three phrases in her vocabulary. “i will throw you out of the car”, “i will throw you out of the window” and “my father will beat you up”. She wasn’t…Continue Reading “My encounters with kids in Kashmir”
Don’t question my patriotism, but I don’t like tea. I could never appreciate the lack of a strong character in the drink and the saccharine tea that we get in our homes is enough to make a man hate all beverages. In fact, morning beverage was the first catastrophic disagreement of our married life. I could die from tea overdose and wife could not live without it. So, when I was offered the fantastic sounding Philips Saeco Intelia to try, we had a serious marital…Continue Reading “Philips Saeco Intelia HD8753/83 – Your In-house Barista”
In recent past, this is the second time that we have got lucky. After two very good homestays in Chail, one of which I written exhaustively about, we got even a better turn of events in Kashmir. However, luck favours the brave. And, in this case, we had stood our ground. From the moment we booked the ticket, everything seemed to go wrong. The flight was rescheduled from an early morning one (8.15 a.m.) to 10 o’clock departure. It, eventually, took off at twelve o’clock,…Continue Reading “Travelling to Kashmir – Living like a local”
From the drawing room: Our first night in the house was our first night of marriage. Both significant, temporally important, but eventually, forgettable occurrences. Quite ironically and fatefully, I start writing this piece our last night in the house. It looks very much like the first one. The curtains have come down from the windows, and despite the five years of living, it does look unlived. Both anxious and expectant, entering a new house feels so much like entering a new relationship. Will it work…Continue Reading “In the memory of the house”
It was the first night of rain in Delhi. The weather gods were doing everything to make up for the preceding dry months. I was invited to place which had rave reviews and quite impressive interiors. Their Zomato listing had got me interested and I expected a rainy night will result in an empty restaurant which is awesome for photography. We reached at Diggin in the middle of the downpour. They are spread over two floors that can seat around a hundred. Right at the…Continue Reading “Diggin Café, Anand Lok”
Don’t look out of the window and think what a mad man will go visiting a park in this weather. We made the trip months back, I am just getting to write about it now. There are quite a few things that make Mehrauli one of the best tourist spots in Delhi. It has the most magnificent and one of the oldest structures in close proximity and given that it is not on every tourist’s list yet, it is still possible to have a leisurely,…Continue Reading “Rajon Ki Baoli, Mehrauli Archaeological Park”
I, generally, don’t respond to ads. But it’s not everyday that you see Ranbir Kapoor in an app ad. Why is that so interesting? My day job is in the app industry and it’s good to see someone can foot the ad bill. India is just opening up to the mobile market and I think better times will come once the market matures. Anyway, the Askme app is available only on Android currently. And, as you may know, I have a Nokia Lumia. I keep…Continue Reading “Askme App – Interesting road ahead”
When I recollect my time in the Delhi University a decade back, there wasn’t much in terms of food. Days on which dal in the hostel was a little too runny, we would pile up on a rickshaw and head out to Majnu Ka Tila (Tee Dee or Wongdhen House), Vijay Nagar (Zee’s Chicken) or Kamla Nagar (Momo’s Point). Hudson Lines didn’t have much in terms of food then, just parathas. These days, both the north and south campuses are choc a bloc with fun…Continue Reading “Woodbox Café, Satyaniketan”
Not all of us grow with the same kinds of friends. Some of us had imaginary, absentee and perceived friendships. I had a seasonal one – with the rains. It might seem far fetched and fictional now, but it was quite real for me. All through my childhood and well into my adulthood. A compulsive loner, there wasn’t much that I wanted to tell others. Tiptoeing around people and conversations had become a habit and I excelled with practice. However, talking was a primordial need….Continue Reading “Memories of many monsoons”
I did the first part of Office ke neeche kya hai a few months back. I tried to document food that I get around my office and wanted people to contribute. It’s been sometime now and office ke neeche ka scene has changed a little. So, it is time to take the story forward. The star this time is a couple. The husband wears formal trousers with the shirt tucked in, the wife silently rolls away puris and kachoris. The husband is all smiles and…Continue Reading “Office ke neeche kya hai – Part 2”
The ever insistent Sunny Deol, in one of the innerwear ads, gave a very philosophical advice – apna luck pehen ke chalo. I understood the true meaning of those deep words on our trip to Chail. Having never travelled in peak season before, I never knew how it feels not to find a place to stay, how to be talked down to arrogantly by hotel owners who suddenly behave like fathers of an eligible, successful NRI. Good reason apart, the primary reason why I have…Continue Reading “East View Homestay – the best place to stay in Chail”
To fall in love with a restaurant, good food is a must. But there are quite a few other attributes that define an experience – a strong character, attention to detail and risk taking ability etc. I have seen so many good places close down that I no longer believe food business is good business. So, I can’t really blame anyone for the mushrooming pizza pasta places. Matchbox Pub and Grub was a welcome change. I had looked up the menu online and it did…Continue Reading “Matchbox Pub & Grub, Hauz Khas Village”
It was the day temperature in Delhi touched 47.8 degrees. It shattered a 62 year old record and quite a few other unmentionable things. But Mango Fiesta was on at Lodi Garden Restaurant and I had agreed to a tasting. Now, there is a lesson for all those who think being a foodie is all fun and games. But once you reach the restaurant, you forget the heat. There are humidifiers all along the path and for a small second, even the outdoor seating seemed…Continue Reading “Mango Fiesta, Lodi Garden Restaurant”
Friends came over. We decided not to drive and try some local place. If you live in Lajpat long enough, all your friends fall in love with Beliram Degchiwala delivery some time or the other. This time, we decided to walk to our food. A new restaurant by the name of Super Chef had opened close to the central market and we wanted to go there for the fourth time. It had closed already. After the four storey South Indian restaurant that I wrote poems…Continue Reading “Rural Punjab, Lajpat Nagar 1”