But these dishes were creatures of their time. Just as Escoffier was God’s gift to the dairy and milling industries because all his dishes required cream, butter and flour, the great Indian chefs of ...

A last point: perhaps somebody at Random House should have read the book closely before writing the inside jacket flap. Pratibha’s point is that the biryani’s origins are shrouded in dispute. (Was it ...

Vijay Mallya provokes strong reactions. Among people who don’t know him, he is seen as a glamorous jet-set figure, fond of fast cars, fast horses and the fast life. His wealth seems limitless.His ...

His wife has, famously, described him as a ‘crisis junkie’, but that’s not how Nusli Wadia likes to think of himself. He frowns a little when I remind him of the description and says, ‘ That’s very ...

Vir Sanghvi is the best-known Indian journalist of his generation. His career straddles print, television, books and now, new media. Vir Sanghvi was born in London in 1956 and educated at Mayo College ...

But the French are also familiar with the fish of the Mediterranean and it is in these temperate waters that you find another kind of lobster – one that has no claws and that is usually a little ...

Few hotels spawn legends as easily as the Taj. Here’s one that I think will be repeated in all future histories of this grand hotel. According to British newspapers, one of the tourists trapped at the ...

The Taj is also a symbol of Indian goodwill. Each time I spend too much money at one of its restaurants I always reassure myself that I have done my bit for charity. Until Indian Hotels, the company ...

Jairam Ramesh’s massive and painstakingly researched biography covers all of Menon’s life, from his birth into a wealthy Malayali family, to his early association with the Theosophical Society (he ...

There are some surprises in this year’s list. For instance, non five-star restaurants and outlets have done very well in areas that were traditionally dominated by the hotel sector. For instance, the ...

The first time I had an authentic Peking Duck in India was at the Great Wall restaurant at the Leela Palace in Mumbai twenty years ago. I was having lunch with Captain CP Krishnan Nair, the Leela ...