Michelin Star - What is the difference?

What is so special about a Michelin star chef? The cook at the local restaurant can cook without being rated by a Michelin Star! Read on to know if they really need to be marked or the star is just a media bubble.

So what is so different? Is it about small quantity and high prices, names in European lingua? Is it about the ambience or the presentation of food? All these questions get answered when one has the privilege to taste the food created and I repeat ‘created’ by chef Igor Macchio.

Igor Macchio is a chef who runs an eatery in Italy called “La Credenza”. Chef Igor has been rated with a single Michelin Star which means that La Credenza is the best in its category of food creators of Italian food. This also means that Chef Igor caters to anonymous inspectors about 6 times a year and successfully assures them that his title of Michelin star is the basis of subjective and critical acclaim.

If not in Italy where can one taste the best Italian cuisine from a Michelin star chef?

Vetro – The Oberoi (Left on the lobby) has a round door, which I thought was unique and confusing for a new visitor; because the glass and wooden door is completely spotless. Vetro means “glass” in Italian personifying its allegiance.

The restaurant is designed to exploit natural lighting using a curtain of coloured glass. The interior designer obviously made a killing on creating lines of glass holders and filled them with randomly coloured glass (probably left over from a previous job) which lacks imagination. I would not speak much of the décor, as it only reminds me of the lounges in an international airport. However, there is a little corner that contains a wine library and wine tasting table that is perfect for a group session adorned with some of the finest Italian wines.

I walked straight into the clean and organized kitchen where Chef Igor was in the process of creating a lamb marinated in Xanata coffee and served with sweet corn sauce garnished with cress. If you can digest the real name for the dish, “Agnello marinato al caffe’ con ragu’ di mais dolce e germogli lamb marinated in coffee, sweet corn ragout and aromatic cress.”

The Italians speak with their hands and work their mouth on every word rounding off the ends with precision and Chef Igor did the same with “scho-cho-laat’se” and “baat-saar”. It is quite a fresh breath listening and watching the chef make a complicated recipe sound like a tomato toast. While the presentation is a la 5 star complimenting the real test has always been the taste. So we sat in the Vetro over a glass of divine white wine while the chef explained the veg dish; pumpkin ravioli created in amaretti milk known in Italian as, “Ravioli di zucca con schiuma agli amaretti e pesto homemade pumpkin ravioli, pesto and amaretti milk foam.”

The taste of melting pumpkin ravioli is so different from the ingredients in solitary albeit precatory, cuts your interest in the world around you while you digest each sense on your face. Some of the recipes are more than 24 hours in preparation time to serve up quarter of a plate of mind watering taste, aroma and experience. For instance the fine risotto topped with a swirl of anchovies.

The staff at the Vetro comprehends Italian cuisine and aspire to learn more. They work in the background interacting with you in the most subtle manner to make sure that you need not lift hand or open mouth for service. The air-conditioning keeps you comfortable shielding the sun’s heat rays.

The Mumbai based Nariman Point restaurant has all the requirements that an Italian restaurant may require. A perfect destination for Chef Igor through his world tour promoting his piedmont style promising cuisine of exceptional quality. Chef Igor does not use garlic unlike most Italian chefs and yet has a clear understanding of why certain things are done the way they are. He explains, “We always puts the dra-ssing on the top and the sauce at the bot-tom as the garnish may lose frashn-ass as the sauce may bees hotz!” The whole process of cooking is about precise measurements and precise ingredients and combinations, to make sure that food is tasted in perspective of the right combination.

I believe that such hard work and precision can only come with substantial skill and experience and deserves a star rating which is done with equal diligence. Vetro is worth a visit not just by Michelin Star chefs but also Italian savouring audience. Are you one of them?

Feed a child and save hunger!

(source: akshayapatra.org)

My family has been a member of Iskcon temple for more than 10 years. As a kid I remember sitting in the huge meditation hall in Bangalore and listening to the soothing chants. Even at the age of 14-15 years old; I would be transformed into a divine space and would feel internally at peace. I will not deny the fact that it was also their prasad that  used to make me come back for more....
During our darshin to the temple; one of the Iskcon representative came up to my Father and requested him to take some time off and explain to him about their new programme called mid-day meals for school children(that was the time when it first started in Bangalore). My father heard him out completely (now you have their website to tell you what exactly they are doing) and decided to contribute. Since then my father has been contributing in the name of the entire family.

Mid-day meals today feed 120million children and is still growing.The food is prepared in extreme hygiene condition; with centralized and decentralized kitchen (cooking activity takes place in an area close to school and the best part is that the women who cook are cooking for their own children).They have two menu set in for South Indian meal - consisting of rice, sambar and curd and North Indian meal - consisting of roti, sabji and rice.For more information on decentralized kitchen click on the video below.




You must be wondering how will your contribution/donation help....
- avoid classroom hunger,
- increase school enrolment,
- increase school attendance
- improve socialization among castes
- address malnutrition &
- empower women through employment
 (Source: akshayapatra.org)

Let us all take part and contribute in helping the children.

(source: akshayapatra.org)

Sea Princess Hotel Restaurant – ‘Shagun’

The waves of Juhu beckon the wealthiest to the nonchalant strides of mumbaikars. One such wave that has been on the shores of Juhu is the Hotel Sea Princess. A sea facing hotel that stands on the affluent fare Juhu Tara Road of Mumbai.

The sea princess has an entrance that is covered in short steps rather than a horizon stretch lobby that comes with old world charm.

Shagun: Shagun means a good occasion in Sanskrit. That is what it was when we walked into the restaurant décors with a rich moghul feel encased in a combination of red and gold. I particularly liked the live ghazal music that was neither too loud nor too soft. The songs were enchanting and what was even better, it was LIVE!

While the multi-page menu makes it difficult to choose, the food is a perfect theme fit into the moghul décor. The soup comes in great quantity with just the right spice. ‘Tomato Pudina soup’ can warm a tummy to anything that comes its way.

The food is served in regular white cutlery and clean white waiter sleeves to ensure hygiene as a compliment to the affable staff. The starters in veg can be quite a miss on the taste buds. ‘kebab e gulzar’ keeps your taste buds confused on feeling the warmth of the kebab and nothing else, while the ‘murg malai paan’ is a saviour on the starter platter.

The main course had really nothing that caught my attention except for stretching my muscles on a piece of roganjosh, resulting in more josh less mutton. ‘Paneer Lababdar’ can only be pronounced while munching on the less than sufficient flavour of this paneer.
Take a ‘dal peshawari' for every bite of conversation as this is a great place for a family chat over a jal jeera or scotch. The scotch keeps you in the mood for ghazals and the inebriation will create a taste for less than spicy food.

If you would like to sweeten the ambience further try the 'moong dal badam' halwa that gives you a perfect blend of sweetness and satisfaction.

Farmers Market - Mumbai

This sunday was not a lazy sunday for me....I got up early than the usual, got ready and carried two cloth bags and went striaght to Bandra, National College Square. Why you may ask was the necessity for me to take up such a task on a sunday morning....I couldn't resist the offer to visit a place, selling only organic products under one roof and directly from the farmers.

Kick start your buying with this nice hand-made paper hats

No question about it

Lovely Red pepper

Gorgeous Purple Cabbage

Fresh Mint

Asparagus - so rare to find fresh ones

Preparation table at one of the stalls

Indonesian Salad with peanut dressing - Gado Gado

There was a food stall serving Indonesian salad, Gado Gado. It is a mixed veggie salad with peanut sauce dressing. The base is mainly peanut butter.The best part about the salad what I noticed around was that,  even the kids enjoyed the veggies....looks like  peanut butter really worked with them.

For me it was a well spent sunday, sourcing out veggies like, cilantro, mint leaves, asparagus, purple cabbage, beetroot, red pepper. I also picked sonamasuri brown rice, sesame oil from Naturally Yours -they are based in Chembur and they deliver free of cost anywhere in Mumbai.

Farmers market is one of a kind in Mumbai, and started first by Kavita Mukhi, an entrepreneur and eco-nutritionist who founded the organic brand Concious Foods. Farmers market is scheduled every sundays from 10am to 4-5pm and updates can be found on their facebook profile. Don't forget to carry your own bags this sunday. Have a great week.