Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
Christmas in the Maldives
Christmas in the Maldives I spent Christmas in the Maldives which is sort of surreal for someone who has spent the last 15 years enjoying a white (or gray) Christmas in the Northeast. The Maldives is a toy country, a group of atolls really which is geography-speak for tiny islands speckled across the Indian Ocean. The capital, Male has around 70,000 people and is about the size of say, JFK. The people are mostly Muslim but progressive and the streets are orderly and clean. Most tourists however don’t even touch Male. They get into a speedboat and go directly to [...]
Why tasting menus are a rip-off: enjoyed writing this piece for Gourmet magazine
SHOBA NARAYAN MATTERS OF TASTE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED OCTOBER 2003 They offer diners the chance to sample many dishes. They offer chefs the chance to show off. But before you order that tasting menu, you might just want to read on. Daniel Boulud never orders them when he dines out. Neither do Alice Waters, Danny Meyer, Drew Nieporent, or Bobby Flay. Mario Batali once said they were “for wimps who don’t have the guts to order off the menu.” And a prominent Boston chef has taken to calling them “fleecing menus.” What is it about tasting menus that everyone who’s anyone [...]
The Year in Travel for Gourmet magazine
Gourmet asked all its correspondents (including me) to fill up the following questionnaire, which they then posted on the site. SHOBA NARAYAN 2006: THE YEAR IN TRAVEL 12.28.06 What was your most memorable trip this year? The Yunnan province of China was amazing. We flew into Kunming and then drove up and up close to the Tibetan border. This is one part of China that is not cookie-cutter; native tribes are allowed to flourish. They preserve their heritage and flaunt ethnic costumes. Lijiang is a quaint World Heritage Site that looks like Old China. The closer you get to Tibet, the [...]
Udipi Sri Krishna Bhavan for Gourmet magazine
SHOBA NARAYAN AN AUTHENTIC, ALBEIT EARLY, INDIAN LUNCH 08.17.07 In my eternal quest for simple authentic Indian restaurants serving regional cuisine, I sought out an 80-year-old place in a crowded narrow street in Balepet, Bangalore, that old-timers told me had food to die for. It took a while for my auto-rickshaw to navigate the narrow roads and find Udupi Sri Krishna Bhavan. The name itself is a throwback. Modern Indian restaurants don't have four-word names. They call themselves "Sunny's" or something equally snappy. Inside, waiters in blue shirts and sarongs served steaming dishes ordered from a painted menu that hasn't changed in [...]
Dosa-do and Dosa-don’t for Gourmet magazine
The worst dosa I ate was at the Hampton Chutney Company in Amagansett some fifteen years ago.
A Delhi Food Tour: for Gourmet magazine
Delhi Journal PDF Links here SHOBA NARAYAN Delhi Journal: Part 1: Fried is Fine 06.18.07 I am not sure that I would eat the food in Chandni Chowk, but I know Americans who have and survived. They follow the rule: If it is fried, it is fine. The shops are tiny, but they offer all kinds of small delights. There is fresh paneer that will make its way to the city's top hotels by noon. There are countless dry-fruit stalls selling mounds of almonds, pistachios, walnuts, figs, and dates. Delhi homes serve these on winter afternoons, salted and fried [...]
For Forbes Life on Singapore
Singapore is an island-state full of contradictions. On the one hand it flaunts its prudishness: chewing gum is banned unless it is of ‘therapeutic’ value; pornography and homosexuality frowned upon; strict fines, caning and the death penalty are de rigueur for drug offenses; and until recently, bar-top dancing and gambling were illegal. Yet in the last two years, Singapore is racing to change its staid image with almost unseemly haste. After months of national soul-searching about whether a casino would mar Singapore’s pristine character, the government approved not one but two giant waterfront casinos to be built and operated by [...]
Eat, Drink and Stay in Hong Kong: for Forbes Life
Few aircraft descents offer as spectacular a view as the one into Hong Kong. Sandwiched between sea and mountains, Hong Kong is in many ways an ‘in-between’ city juxtaposing its Colonial past with its Chinese future; its Eastern traditions with its Western exuberance. Wealth—the making and spending of it— is a national pursuit. Naturally, luxury travelers have many pickings. Where to Stay The Four Seasons has, hands-down, the best location in town. Being within the IFC (International Finance Center) complex means that you potentially can conduct all business without stepping outdoors. Ask the concierge for a local SIM card (everyone [...]
Off Work: Bangalore. for Forbes Life magazine
Off Work: Bangalore Established as a British cantonment in the 18th century, the green city of Bangalore, India, is now famous for its late-night call centers, IT companies and BPO units. The gleaming brand names of the Indian information industry--Infosys, Wipro (nyse: WIT - news - people ) and Biocon--are all headquartered here. Together they have spawned the unlikeliest of millionaires and a wealthy young middle class. The image of bullock cart drivers with thousands of dollars' worth of IT shares is a cliché here, in a driven cosmopolis that is less abrasive than Mumbai and more cultured than Delhi. [...]
Stars of India: Jewelry: Forbes Life magazine
In New Delhi, shopping for one-of-a-kind jewelry is as much an art as the pieces themselves. When I was born, the story goes, my father bought a gold coin. Eager that this family tradition be continued, my mother repeated the story to my husband just as I was about to deliver my daughter in a New York hospital. My husband bought some cake instead, which we shared with all the nurses. And therein lies a difference between the Indian culture I was born into and the American one I adopted: Indians buy gems and gold to celebrate an occasion; Americans [...]