By Anoothi Vishal
In an Italian cheese town, we discover violins and, well, Punjab.
You wouldn’t find it on usual touristy maps. But should you decide to stop by at Cremona, an ancient town in Italy’s Po river valley, home to some of its best cheeses (as also the Roman poet Virgil, who went to school here), chances are that you will feel quite at home.
Posted in Destinations 
Tags: Capital Of Italy, Cheese Town, Continental Air, Cotechino, Dairy Capital, Electronic Age, Epitomy, Grana Padano, Italian Cheese, Musical History, Northern Italy, Po River, Provolone, Roman Poet, Salame, Shahrukh Khan, Sparkling Water, Stradivari, Violins, Vishal 
Comments OffCustodian to a huge repertoire of elusive, regional recipes, the royal family from Sailana is finally serving up the secrets thanks to revival efforts by the Park hotels
By Anoothi Vishal
Unlike France, where culinary maps, strictly-followed recipes and clearly etched-out techniques define the practice of cuisine and, even, say Thailand, where funeral books are strangely popular not in the least because they carry prized family recipes, India has never had a tradition of codifying recipes.
Posted in Destinations Tags: Akbar, Bevy, Cookbooks, Custodian, Family Lore, Family Recipes, Funeral Books, Ganga, Grandmothers, Indian Cuisines, Legacies, Mughal India, Princes, Regional Recipes, Royal Family, Tomes, Traditional Recipes, Vegetarian Food, Vishal, Word Of Mouth Comments OffA serviced apartment is a type of furnished, self-contained apartment designed for short-term stays, which provides amenities for daily use.
Serviced apartments can be less expensive than equivalent hotel rooms. Since the beginning of the boom in cheap international travel and the corresponding increase in the level of sophistication of international travelers, interest in serviced apartments has risen at the expense of the use of hotels for short stays.
Posted in Heritage Tags: 8020, Cambridge Road, Cheap International Travel, E Mail, Indiranagar, International Travelers, Lavelle Road, Mail Info, Mayfair, Melange, Renjith, Residences Locations, Room Tariff, Rs 6, Rs 8, Self Contained Apartment, Service Apartments, Serviced Apartment, Serviced Apartments, Sophistication 1 Comment »By Anoothi Vishal
A bunch of determined protestors offended by a book-that-shall-not-be-named stalled proceedings at the Jaipur fest; others, denied access to overcrowded sessions, sought their festive fix in laal maans and kachoris
Like someone sensible tweeted, the Jaipur Literature Festival should just drop its middle name and be true to what it really is: A festival; full of noise, food, booze, consumption and people dressed up in all their finery as any true-to-type Indian festival is these days, in our recession-defying, money-having-moved-east moment under the sun.
Posted in Destinations Tags: Booze, Chinaman, Debut Work, Finery, Fringes, Influx, Jamboree, Literature Festival, Media Critics, Mega Bytes, Middle Name, Month Old Baby, Networkers, Prize Money, Protestors, Self Importance, Sensitive Men, Shehan, Star Of The Show, True To Type Comments OffBy Anoothi Vishal
Beginning-of-the-year food forecasting can get downright absurd. This year, for instance, popcorn has been deemed a big trend, at least in the US, where popcorn patrons are expected to consume buttered, honeyed or otherwise versions in copious quantities, just as another trend anoints customized French fries as the new “It” thing.
Posted in Destinations Tags: Ayurveda, Brave New World, Catfish, Caviar, Charaka, Copious Quantities, Different Seasons, French Fries, Indian Cuisines, Indian Khana, Luxe Restaurant, Mad Rush, Norms, Pop Charts, Popcorn, Restaurant Space, Science Of Life, Seasonal Ingredients, Turmeric, Yin Yang Comments OffBy Anoothi Vishal
Over my monthly lunch with S and A (this time though it was more like a quarterly lunch), I discovered the best soup in Delhi. S is a member at the snobby Gymkhana; so we sat around a table in the dining hall, trying to look older and distinguished enough to fit in with all the other diners, to speak in hushed whispers and to not give in to the temptation of looking into our silenced-cellphones to check whether there could have been any other calls at all from non-random PR people.
Posted in Destinations Tags: Beet Soup, Best Food, Butter And Cheese, Caramel, Cellphones, Clubby, Continental Food, Diners, Dining Hall, Hallowed Portals, Hushed Whispers, Kiev, Last Meal, Many Things, Paen, Repute, Rite Of Passage, Temptation, Vishal, Waiters Comments OffSmoke House Room in Delhi was quite the launch of 2011, I checked it out some time ago. Here’s how it went…
By Anoothi Vishal
First impression
The sleepy Crescent Mall, much of whose top floor Smoke House Room takes up, lies in darkness when I give my car to the valet.
Posted in Destinations Tags: Area Of Darkness, Ashwin, Chutney, Different Kinds, Ferro Roche, First Impression, Green Apple Martini, Launch, Light Bulb, Long Haul, Platters, Prune, S Green, Sangria, Service Staff, Single Woman, Sprinkling, Tasting Menus, Top Notch, Vegetarian Menu Comments OffBy Anoothi Vishal
Not because I wanted to particularly celebrate the Delhi Durbar of Dec 12, 1912, where George V may well have been following, ironically, the grand Mughal tradition of holding an ostentatious audience with his tributary princes. Not even because the day should be celebrated — with or without the government of India pitching in to mark what it does not quite what to acknowledge: the country’s colonial past—as the beginning of a newer, more powerful Delhi.
Posted in Destinations Tags: 100th Anniversary, British Monarch, Chicken Sandwich, Cold Chicken, Coronation Chicken, Crown Colony, Curry Powder, Delhi Durbar, Delicious Twist, Engla, Fashion Food, Finger Sandwiches, Food Art, Fresh Herbs, Government Of India, Jewel In The Crown, Monstrosities, Shahjahanabad, Tea Room, Twists And Turns Comments OffA meal in a library with some of Europe’s oldest recipe books and menus is even more special because of the gourmet cooking class that precedes it
By Anoothi Vishal
Last week, in the heart of Parma, that lovely region of Italy known for its ham and cheese amongst other things, I got a chance to live out my masterchef, er, apprentice dream!
The prettiest places to eat out at this season
By Anoothi Vishal
Unlike in other colder parts of the world (and country), winter is not a season full of blues for most of us in the Subcontinent. Instead, it is a particularly salubrious time; where the terrible heat and dust and sweat of the rest of the year give way to Lodhi Garden picnics, farmhouse revelry, Christmas lunches, beach BBQs and, in general, to much all-round consumption.
Posted in Destinations Tags: Agrarian World, Bbqs, Brunches, Christmas Lunches, Country Winter, Food Retail, Heat And Dust, Inexorable March, Jaggery, Maternal Grandparents, Mild Sun, Propound, Puffed Rice, Seasonal Produce, Sweet Shop, Vishal, Waistlines, Weighing Scales, Winter Harvest, Winter Traditions Comments Off
