The National Abu Dhabi
Comment Essays for The National Abu Dhabi
Mozaic Restaurant, Bali. For Gourmet magazine
We couldn't get reservations at Mozaic during our first visit to Bali. It was the lean season and we were just two cuoples, but they were fully booked, they told us. The next time, we made reservations right after booking [...]
Mama Lil’s Pickles: for Gourmet magazine
Mama Lil's pickles Shoba Narayan Ten years ago, Howard Lev, then a screenwriter, drove across the Cascade Mountains from Seattle to the Yakima Valley on a camping trip. At Kruegar Farms in Wapato, Washington, he discovered some Hungarian goathorn peppers [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]