Other Topics : Art Culture - Fashion - Tourism

Latest & Hot Fashion News : 

Return to current news about latest fashion

Autumn in the air sharpens appetite
By Uma Nair, Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) With autumn in the air and the appetite sharpening, eateries across the capital are wooing diners with a variety of spreads that reflect different moods.

Celebrity chef Alan Bird from London's The Ivy is on an India tour that will take him to Kolkata and Mumbai after providing a sumptuous spread at the ITC Maurya Sheraton's West View here. 

"I am amazed at the quality of food products in Delhi," Bird told IANS.

Bird used only indigenous produce for his West View fare, delighting gourmands with old-time English favourites as well as superb Asian crispy duck - the epitome of succulence.

"At The Ivy this is the most popular dish," Bird said. "It's really strange how food preferences all over the world are changing. People want foods with a global signature and the crispy duck with watercress is definitely very Asian," he added. 

Alan Bird is part of the Celebrity Chef series at the ITC. 

The Taj group set the trend last year with its Cordon Bleu Chef series. 

"Indians are nowadays well-travelled and they know what specialty cuisine is all about," said Thomas Abraham, food and beverages director at Taj Palace, who flew in Japanese Masaharu Morimoto, better known as Iron Chef, last year.

"We realised that Morimoto had secrets to impart," says Thomas. "Other than the fact that we had a full house all days at Taj Mumbai, it was the expertise, the style of cuts, the magic of minimalist makeovers that our chefs learnt," Thomas added.

Then, there is French food.

"French food is fine, very light and keeps changing according to trends," says chef D.N. Sharma of the Orient Express at Taj Palace.

"We have a new menu for winter," he added. 

"Food is all about craving and moods," says Chef Sultan of Maurya Sheraton. "People want something happening all the time." 

After a particularly successful Tipu Sultan Festival, Sultan rustled up a salmon and caviar fest that saw connoisseurs devouring every morsel with great relish.

"We had a spread of caviars," said Sultan whose rare Beluga caviar, Sea Bass and Oscietre caviar, salmon sjomga and smoked trout tickled gourmand palate. 

After this "Celebrating Caviar, Salmon and Trout" at The Pavilion, Maurya Sheraton brought in another much sought after gourmet treat in Viva Espania - the sumptuous Paella - straight from the Valencia heartland of the delicacy.

It is quite clear that both western and eastern palates are being relished in the capital.