The last time I wrote about the things that frequent travellers wanted from hotels – and rarely got – I ended with a threat: I would be returning to the subject with further installments.

This week, I am going to focus on hotel food. Because India is still to develop a full-fledged restaurant culture, it is the hotels that have become centres of F&B excellence. Read more

Most of us never get to see a truffle. When we do experience the taste or the aroma, it is in the form of truffle oil, truffle paste or truffle butter. If we do see truffles, they tend to be of the preserved variety (canned or, more usually, bottled) and their flavour is so minimal that we wonder what the fuss is about.
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The simplest egg dishes that we eat at breakfast are the hardest to make. And most Indian restaurant kitchens don’t know how to cook them properly. So, I’m not the only one who loves eggs! When I lamented, a couple of weeks or so ago, that Indian cooks were unfairly neglecting one of nature’s great treasures, I portrayed the egg as a humble object, passed over by mighty chefs as they reached for the lobster, the lamb or even, the chicken. Read more

Anyone who has been to China will tell you that the principal difference between a real Chinese menu (i.e., at a restaurant meant for Chinese people) and an ‘international’ Chinese menu (at a place frequented by foreigners) is the nature of the ingredients. Read more

Four internationally renowned chefs – Nobu, Giorgio Locatelli, Santi Santamaria and Michel Rostang – opened restaurants at Dubai’s newest luxury resort. Will the food approach the levels it reaches at their principal restaurants? Read more