Innovation and startling new flavours are the driving trends in the world of super luxury Belgian chocolates
By Anoothi Vishal
In the world of luxury foods where provenance is more important today than it ever was, one tiny country that spells decadence and indulgence is, of course, Belgium.
Posted in Destinations 
Tags: Aristocrats, Belgian Chocolate, Belgian Chocolates, Cardboard Box, Chocolatiers, Colonial Plantations, Dark Squares, French Recipes, Line Labels, Lower Blood Pressure, Luxury Foods, Luxury Gifts, Marketing History, New Innovations, Places In The World, Secret Recipe, Superfood, Tiny Country, Vishal, Warm Chocolate 
No Comments »Rovaniemi, the unofficial capital of Finnish Lapland, is enchanting alright
By Anoothi Vishal
“Rovaniemi”. I roll it in my mouth, silently. It’s a mysterious, lyrical name alright. Almost with the same haunting quality as “Rebbeca” or “Rowena Ravenclaw”, the Hogwarts witch with a lost diadem…
I can’t help but be drawn to this image that I have created in my head of a semi-magical Finnish town, situated on the Arctic circle, a portal to snowy northern realms.
Posted in Destinations Tags: Alvar Aalto, Arctic Circle, Diadem, Escapades, Finnish Lapland, Finnish Town, Haunting Quality, Lapland, Lyrical Name, Missive, Modern Architecture, Nazi Forces, Rebbeca, Rowena Ravenclaw, Santa And His Elves, School Schedules, Shoe Stores, Spires, Unofficial Capital, Vishal Comments OffBy 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 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 OffThe 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 OffTop tables
Luxury dining comes of age in the capital with the likes of Le Cirque and Lebua’s ambitious gourmet- Indian plans…
By Anoothi Vishal
Will you pay $ 400 per person on a meal for a single person at a super-exclusive Indian food restaurant—no, not in New York or Chicago or even London, but here in the National Capital Region?
Posted in Destinations Tags: Al Fresco, Asian Diner, Bangkok Hotel, Best Luxury Hotel, Deepak Ohri, Dwarka, European Food, First Steps, Food Menus, Food Restaurant, Food Writers, Foodies, Fresco Restaurant, Global Food, Le Cirque, Luxury Hotels, Management Contract, Traditional Indian Food, Tricky Territory, Vishal Comments OffBy Anoothi Vishal
If you are struggling to make “party” conversation, a safe topic to touch upon, at least in young, metropolitan India, would be, well, Masterchef. Not Masterchef India, mind you. But Masterchef Australia, arguably one of the best cooking shows in the world, and one, let me confess right at the beginning, that I am absolutely devoted to.
Posted in Destinations Tags: Cooks, Dieters, Egg, Exact Format, Gap, Glass Of Wine, Hoppers, Imaginations, Indians, Masterchef, Mummies, Neighbourhood, Party Conversation, Prime Time Tv, Stay At Home, Stay At Home Moms, Subtext, Top Manner, Vishal, Worldly Success 1 Comment »Sweet somethings during the festive season in India
By Anoothi Vishal
An interesting— if lesser known — reason proffered for failure of the uprising of 1857 had to do with, well, sweets! According to the Dihli Urdu Akhbar of August 23, 1857, chronicling those terrible days of murder and loot in Shahjahanabad, the rebels, who had congregated from other regions of the country, became “softened” with the luxuries of the Mughal capital — amongst them sweetmeats from Ghantewala, the halwai shop set up in 1790 that enjoyed the patronage of emperor Bahadur Shah.
Posted in Destinations Tags: Akhbar, Ancient Texts, Bahadur Shah, Bonhomie, Bura, Chandni, Festival Of Lights, Festive Season, Gond, Holi, Indian Sweets, Jaggery, Khoya, Laddoo, Mawa, Modak, Place Under The Sun, Refined Flour, Sweet Somethings, Vishal Comments OffForget samosas, as the season gets cooler, try stir-frys accented with pan-Asian flavours. But get the basics right first
By Anoothi Vishal
As I write this, the devout have just bid farewell to their beloved Ganpati. But even though the 10-day long festival marking the changing season is over, it continues to rain, clouding our days, bringing down temperatures and evoking amongst other things the natural desire to indulge in something hot, crisp and spicy.
Posted in Destinations Tags: Ayurveda, Black Peppers, Colds, Commercial Premise, Concoction, Flavours, Ganpati, Germs, Ginger Tea, High Temperatures, Hot Ginger, Indian Cooking, Indian Science, Natural Desire, Pakoras, Pan Asian, Samosas, Spoilage, Strict Accordance, Vishal Comments Off
