Journal

04th March, 2015

Perfume: The edible scent. 12 June 2015

“Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odor cannot be fended off, it enters into us like breath in our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally. There is no remedy for it” – Patrick Suskind, PERFUME. From the apothecary to […]

12th May, 2014

Fera at Claridges, London

When I last met Simon Rogan, it was the summer of 2013. We were at a charity lunch and Simon, along with many other chefs was doing a dish, his signature Beef tartare with charcoal oil. I asked him if he had any plans of coming to London and in his cheeky boyish smile, he […]

19th April, 2014

Grain Store, Kings Cross

There’s something exhilarating about waking up in the morning with the sun streaming through the whisper of a crack in your curtains, reminding you that it is indeed spring and, unlike last  year, Easter will not be a snowy, wintry affair. Fortunate enough to have a garden, I often make use of my early rising […]

03rd November, 2012

Brasserie Zedel, London

The golden pair of London’s restaurant scene have done it again. The Corbin-King partnership, spanning 30 years, that is responsible for iconic culinary institutions such as The Ivy, Le Caprice, J. Sheekey (these ones they sold) and later The Wolseley and Delaunay, now has another behemoth to their name. Brasserie Zedel, having opened just earlier […]

19th October, 2012

Lecture room at Sketch

My first memory of Sketch was when it had newly opened and I ended up doing a brief stint in the Gallery kitchen. I had no clue who Pierre Gangaire was, but that he was some big shot French chef who had teamed up with Mourad Mazouz of Momo to open an uber-luxe, decadent space […]

02nd October, 2012

Hélène Darroze at the Connaught

My first memory of the Connaught was of wheeling a very noisy trolley full of ice cream and sorbet mixes from the Claridges to the Connaught to be churned at 4am. I was working the night shift at Gordon Ramsay Claridges and our ice cream machine had broken down, and the closest ally was Angela […]

12th September, 2012

Bombay Brasserie

Being one of the old world restaurants, Bombay Brasserie is a behemoth of a dining room, fitting in no less than 300 covers. The dining room in spite of its recent refurbishment to give it the visage of a grand Parisian restaurant stands out like a sore thumb as soon as one picks up the […]

24th July, 2012

Claude Bosi at The Cube by Electrolux, Southbank

Sometime all the chips fall in the right place. A perfect summer evening, a room with a view atop the Royal Festival Hall and a meal cooked by Claude Bosi of Hibiscus in an intimate yet sociable room of about 18 people. Yes, indeed, all these chips did fall into place and the setting sun […]

19th July, 2012

Galvin at Windows, Park Lane

Olympics? Bah humbug! In the words of a once great Axl Rose of Guns n’ Roses, “I’m not the only one, with whom these feelings I share…” It truly is going to be a whirlwind of madness, insanity and a lot of annoyed Londoners. Walking by the Hilton on Park Lane, one can barely recognise […]

17th July, 2012

Morgan M, Smithfield

For very many years, on the very quiet Liverpool Rd in Highbury, lay a very discreet and quiet restaurant that never seemed to have people in it or for that matter, anyone writing anything about it. I used to always wonder about the restaurant and every now and then, look at the menu and remark […]