1. Featured Person
Meet Arshiya Khatoon
Restaurants in Delhi
Blue Ginger, Taj Palace
My Way or the Highway
Golconda Bowl
Mozart Cafe
Diva Piccola
Red Mango
Restaurants in Mumbai
Bonobo
Khandani Rajdhani
Book Review
Travelling Diva by
Ritu Dalmia
How to Videos Food notes
Seven cool from
how-to recipe Singapore
by Sanjay
videos Photo copyright Sid Khullar 2012, all rights reserved. Keswani
Location & food courtesy: Mozart Cafe, Gurgaon

2. 2 / Editor’s Note
Editor’s Note
February was another busy month for us with 12 reviews
published. That does take quite a bit of eating you know. It also
means eating out nearly every second day. What fun!
Natasha wrote about another visit to the city of her birth,
Chennai Revisited Part II and Sanjay Keswani contributed a
compilation of notes from his recent visit to Singapore – A
Foodie’s Notes from Singapore.
Mumbai is beginning to send in reviews and February saw
Sandeep S. dine at Bonobo plus Ritu Dalmia open up another
restaurant; this one in Hauz Khas Village, Delhi. Cocoberry found
itself sharing space with a new kid on the block who could just
take the title of Big Man on Campus too – Red Mango in
Ambiance Mall, Vasant Kunj. Bringing gourmet food to the
Internet, we featured Parvati Gianchandani who has started
Yzury.com. This was also the month when Pizza Hut announced
15 pizzas with Indian flavors.
Talking of Indian flavors, you’ve definitely heard of popular
international chains indianizing their products. On one hand I
hear people talking of wishing so-and-so chain’s original product
were here because it’s so @#$% awesome. On the other hand,
perhaps the number of people who want indianized products is
much larger than those who don’t.
What do you think?
Sid Khullar
Chef at Large, February 2012

3. 3 / Action Replay
A rundown of all the different places we ate at this month.
We reviewed two books this month, Travelling Diva
and Hot Tea Across India. Capsules on the next page.
We ate some excellent Vietnamese fare at Delhi’s best place for it, Blue Ginger at Taj Palace.
Grand interiors and a great menu deliver a great combined experience. Zambar came out
February was a with a fairly disappointing East Indian Festival that we thought needed much more
smorgasbord of work and hope the book is better than Zambar’s delivery.
different types of
food. We ended up NOIDA appears to be seriously trying to shake off the tag of a Culinary Desert with My Way or
eating royal cuisine
the Highway reincarnating itself with a menu full of goodies and reliable service as
from Sailana, fifteen
always. Fire at the Park Hotel in Connaught Place, following tradition, came out with a
different types of
pizzas, thali meals in food festival from a little known princely state – Sailana where diners had the
Mumbai and found a opportunity to interact with the Maharaja of Sailana and his better half whilst partaking
new Pizza joint in of some very interesting food.
NOIDA, which is also
the proud host of Cocoberry has a serious competitor – Red Mango, which has just opened it’s flagship outlet in
another restaurant Ambiance Mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Much hyped and talked about Golconda Bowl
that’ll make people in Hauz Khas village turned out to be quite different from all the buzz; and not in a nice
come in from Delhi way.
and whereabouts. We
even did a new Pizza Hut unveiled a total of 15 pizzas with Indian flavors, all of which we tried and sounded
frozen yogurt chain judgement on. Read at your own risk. We found some serious talent and taste at Mozart
that promises to have Cafe, Gurgaon - a mixed menu of international and Indian fare, all done well.
it’s competitors
shaking in their
Khandani Rajdhani in Kurla, Mumbai wasn’t able to make Madhulika Dash happy with their
socks!
food. Sandeep S. didn’t like the new menu at Bonobo in Mumbai much. Read all about
his experience.
How to make
PizzaVito, a new entrant to NOIDA, impressed us with the breadth of their offerings. We also
Mushroom Rice visited and found Ritu Dalmia’s new restaurant in Hauz Khas Village, Diva Piccola, to be
quite a nice place!
12 FEBRUARY
Restaurant Reviews
Chef at Large, February 2012

4. 4 / Book Reviews
What did we read this month?
Looking for high quality food for your family or business
event? Arshiya does just that. We met her in Bangalore
and found her to be a great cook! Next page.
Travelling Diva by Ritu Dalmia is a collection of recipes; some by the author, others from
friends and chance encounters of the culinary kind. A well thought through book, this one is a
Both the books we
must have for your bookshelf.
laid our hands on this
month were quite
good and we suggest Things I liked
you acquire both for 1. Lovely collection of recipes of every sort. This is the sort of book I’d consult just before a
your personal library. dinner party, as it doesn’t adhere to a specific theme and features a varied collection of
recipes suitable for every occasion.
2. Sufficient numbers of both, vegetarian and non-vegetarian recipes.
3. The ‘Easy Meal Planner’ at the end is a nice touch; one that’ll make your life much
simpler if you choose to refer to this book as often as I suggest you do.
Read the full review here.
Hot Tea Across India is a travelogue written by Rishad Saam Mehta who is an
adventure enthusiast. His travails on a Bullet, the ‘70s iconic motorcycle, will appeal to all who
have a sense of adventure and either love roughing it out on holidays or indulge in biking
holidays or just love India, which I guess includes a large part of the book reading population!
Rishad has based the book on his travels mostly in North India, something that I identify with
having visited most of the places that he has mentioned. Stories on how he had to pay Chai
Paani (bribes) to portly policemen at checkposts and unscrupulous railway clerks sound quite
like what my favourite humorist Mr Khuswant Singh would narrate. By Naheed Rahman
Read the full review here.
How to make
Veg. Pulao
Vegetarian Kebabs
at Fire, the Park
Hotel
2 FEBRUARY
Book Reviews
Chef at Large, February 2012

5. 5 / Featured Person
The most interesting person we met this month!
Arshiya Khatoon
I’ve been interacting with Sajid for a while on Twitter and met him on a trip to Bangalore, where he invited me to try the
‘best biryani in Bangalore’ in his words. I was confused
when we arrived at his house when he revealed, that the
best biryani in Bangalore was to be found in his wife’s
kitchen; Arshiya’s Kitchen. Can’t think of a bigger
compliment from a husband to his wife, considering it
isn’t an idle comment made at the family dining table.
During a lovely lunch, much of which I’d have loved to
take second and perhaps even third helpings of, we
learnt Arshiya planned to go commercial with her talents;
an endeavour we wish her all the best with!
When did you start cooking and who introduced you to the kitchen?
I was passionate about cooking from childhood itself. My father was into leather business and he used to bring many of
his European customers home for lunch or dinner. I guess, the exotic dishes made for those guests got me fascinated and
interested into cooking quite early. Naturally, I started learning from my mom.
Were you encouraged to learn cooking as a child? Who was your biggest mentor?
Yes, my mom let me help her in kitchen and also used to pass on the tips even before I tried cooking. Though I don’t
remember myself, my mom tells me that I used to pester her and our home cook to let me do small chores in the kitchen
and gradually started getting into cooking when I was 12 or 13 years old. Strange as it may sound, I really didn’t have a
regular mentor and after leaning the basics, I started experimenting even the regular dishes made at home. Of course, the
closest to be a mentor would be my mom.
Where did you grow up and what are your favorite foods?
I grew up in my native place, Ambur (in Tamil Nadu) which is famous for Jasmine flowers (locally called as ‘mallippoo’),
leather industry and – guess what – Biryani! After getting married, I moved to Bangalore with my husband and have
settled here since. My favorite food is Macaroni cooked with Biryani masala. It’s spicy and yummy!
Would you like to be featured on Chef at Large? Send Read the full interview here.
your story to editor@chefatlarge.in. How to make
Pudina Pulao
Chef at Large, February 2012

6. 6 / Guest Column
Sanjay Keswani shares some off his food experiences from Singapore.
Would you like to be published on Chef at Large. Just
send your articles with photographs to
editor@chefatlarge.in.
This is an excerpt from Sanjay’s mail to Nivanthee, in the matter of providing some guidance
on the food available in Singapore. I thought it may prove interesting to others too. All dollar
Hygiene Tip: notations ($) refer to Singapore Dollars. – Sid
Singapore is quite
safe and I have never Unfortunately, this time we were in a large group with diverse preferences and at times, not
had a problem. The willing to experiment. I was therefore unable to explore all that Singapore has to offer as much
stalls are marked A,
as I would have liked to. However please find below my recommendations on places I did try
B, C etc per their
and and which should put you on the right track when you’re there:
hygiene scores by the
Health Department
with A being the Newton Food Centre
best, however I would This is a must try for all, is open till about 11.30pm and is recommended for dinner. I was here
eat from a B graded twice in 5 days. Don’t pay much attention to the various servers who will accost you as soon as
stall anytime as well. you enter; take your time and have a good look at the various stalls. The BBQ
Stingray($10/12/15) and the Black Pepper Crab ($3.8 for 100gms) are a must try here. The
famous Singapore Chilli Crab is not really spicy and I much prefer the black pepper version and
so do the locals. I feel the other seafood they push you to buy, tiger prawns for instance, are
overhyped, overrated and too expensive for my taste.
I also had the Oyster Omelette ( $5.50) here; very good if you like oysters, which can be an
acquired taste. Carrot cake is also a Singapore staple, is made of stir fried radish thought I’m
not sure how it tastes at the Newton Food Centre. You may sit anywhere and order from any
stall. Each table is numbered. Simply tell the guy at the stall your table number and they will
deliver to your table.
Read the full article here.
Photo copyright Sid Khullar 2012, all rights reserved.
Chef at Large, February 2012 Sprinkles topping at Red Mango, Ambiance Mall, Vasant Kunj

7. 7 / Meet the Team
Who writes all of this stuff?
Would you like your restaurant covered on Chef at
Large? If you’re in Delhi/NCR, Bangalore or Mumbai,
just click here.
Sid Khullar
Sid is the primary contributor to and editor of Chef at Large. A self confessed food
addict who likes cooking, writing and photography... and travel, if it gets him closer to a
good book and interesting food. He's spent 17 years in varying functions of technology including research & development,
training, sales, marketing and mentoring technology startups. He now applies himself to learning more about food and
building food and beverage brands online for Brands at Large clients.
Sid covers Delhi/NCR for Chef at Large and can be reached at editor@chefatlarge.in
Natasha Ali
Natasha is new to the food blog world as a contributor, though has spent enough time reading them in her endeavors to
find the next good restaurant or in aiding her experiments in the kitchen. Just back from well over a decade in the US
where she studied as well as taught in academia, she is movie mad, obsessed with the English language, and never one
to turn down a glass of good wine, cup of tea, or a good book. Open to trying any dish once, she enjoys a variety of
cuisines with favourites being Ethiopian, Thai, and Lebanese.
Natasha covers Bangalore for Chef at Large and can be reached at natasha.ali@chefatlarge.in
Madhulika Dash
Madhulika is deeply interested in eating, sniffing, looking at and writing about food among other possible activities. A
former journalist, Madhulika enjoys trying different types of food and travelling to distant locations, with the North Pole
and Timbuktu prominent in her wish list.
Madhulika covers Mumbai for Chef at Large and can be reached at madhulika.dash@chefatlarge.in
Statistics for February Chef at Large
12 Restaurant Reviews, 2 Book Reviews, 1 Featured SF-53, Ansals Fortune Arcade,
Person, 7 Recipe Videos, 2 Columns = 24 Articles Sector 18, NOIDA
info@chefatlarfge.in
www.chefatlarge.in
Chef at Large, February 2012

8. Part of the dessert
buffet at Blooms, the
Eros Hotel managed
by Hilton. Did you
know they have a
desserts-only buffet?
Photo copyright Sid Khullar 2012, all rights reserved.

9. Blooms at the Eros
Hotel managed by
Hilton is having a
Singapore Food Festival
from 16th to 25th March
... And possibly win
tickets to Singapore
too!
Photo copyright Sid Khullar 2012, all rights reserved.

10. That’s it for this month.
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