Beetroot and Krusty’s are a new generation of Western-style restaurants that are becoming increasingly popular in a city that was dominated by North Indian and Chinese food until recently. Clearly food lovers in Pune are finally beginning to experiment and cast their net wider when hunting for a new place to eat. Italian pastas are no longer the only European food they want to try!
Greece and Japan - two nations on other sides of the world, one a proud Eastern culture that has been developing its culture and forming new layers for thousands of years, the other even older and among the first civilisations of the Western world. They don’t seem to have much in common until you see them through a foodie's eyes.
What better place to get hunger pangs than in the Bay Area? This mecca of all that is high-tech in the vicinity of Palo Alto and San Francisco also offers much for both the discerning palate and to those who just want a quick interesting meal. My recent trip here has been replete with exciting new discoveries in addition to visits to old favorites.
Infusing a dose of British Raj nostalgia into an Indian fine dining experience has been done before. Saheb Sindh Sultan in Bangalore is one that immediately comes to mind which tries to recreate the romance of train travel in British India. Oh! Calcutta too crafted a menu and experience to recreate the food experience of Calcutta under the British. The Sahib Room at the tony Palladium Hotel in central Mumbai takes this concept forward and manages to please in the process.
Indians tend to be conservative when it comes to food. North Indian and Chinese continue to be the most popular choices when people dine out. South Indian food is popular in the country too, but only as breakfast or snack food. Therefore, the vast richness of our regional cuisines remains unavailable outside of their native regions.
San Francisco is chock-a-block with interesting restaurants. You could be a few blocks away from a great little place you would love but not find it. Technology hasn’t evolved enough to match people with the places they are sure to enjoy. This is specially true of restaurant apps such as Yelp!, OpenTable or Zomato, all of who use crowd-sourced ratings to sort restaurants. Food is a very a personal thing that everyone tends to rate differently. A lover of spicy food can find even a good French restaurant insipid and bland, but even if their taste buds did not vary, one may give a higher importance to atmosphere, price, and/or service quality than another.
