From the August issue onwards we plan to bring you what we call “immaterial” goods. It could be a food/wine tasting, a new artiste or a place that is unusual and not a drop and flop travel plan.

Bites to Delight:
Imagine a cool summer evening with an empty stomach. You stop by a stand and you see a variety of tandoori or Chinese flavored filled vegetables or halal meat rolled in a warm paratha known as a Frankie, or your choice of a vada pav or sandwich. This road side fast food place makes people fall in love with it as quickly as it’s made. Visit http://www.ilovetibbs.com/ to find a franchise near you.

MUMBAI : Food For Thought’ is exactly the kind of cafe it promises to be. It opened very recently this March in a quaint little book shop at Flora Fountain called Kitabkhana. The minute you walk in through these doors you feel like you’ve jumped into a time capsule and gone back to some bygone era. It has the feeling of an old library beckoning you to pick up a book even if you haven’t been much of a reader up until now. As you walk past the children’s section (Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton may try and waylay you) a treat lies waiting for you. The cafe greets you with their bakery counter. Beautifully iced cup cakes sit daintily on the counter right next to the cookies. The seating in the cafe is comfortable and the walls are lined by posters of popular movies. Reshma Sanghi, the owner, is involved in the kitchen daily. What is amazing is that she has no formal training in cooking and baking, just passion for it and it shows in her menu.

Mumbai is a city that never sleeps. Much as that sounds like a cliché and is overused, no other words can capture the city better. It has a buzz like every big cosmopolitan city does, but what makes it so unique is that the city does not seem to get tired and go to bed at all. Big cities like New York, London, Singapore seem to slow down as the sun sets, the shoppers get off the streets giving way to people who have put in a long day at work and are looking for a quick drink and a bite before they go home for an early night. Not Mumbai. It starts to come alive after sun down like no other place. Guys loosening their ties after work, a conservative family of eight, a couple of young lovers trying to steal a ew private moments, you’ll find them all out on the streets. People eat late here. We’re not a city that eats at 7pm. Everything starts and ends even later. You’ll be hard pressed to find a table at 10pm in fact. At night caste and class is forgotten as everyone winds down for a great evening ahead. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself ordering a baida roti or pav bhaji alongside the taxi driver that drove you from colaba to kemps corner in the middle of a very busy day. What’s amazing is that you can find a delicious meal that costs INR8000 per head and one that costs Rs. 40 and both meals come with a view, ambience and the best service that money can offer. In a city that’s bursting at the seams you’ll still find that the waiter knows your name and what your regular order is. And although it’s ever changing you’ll still find that some things remain the same like the strawberry cream at Sukh Sagar and it hasn’t changed since the time your dad took you there for a treat.

Of all the alcohol that we consume, this one is the most sought after. Just the name itself would lead many to a drinking frenzy. Connoisseurs love it and first timers seek it. And to the British economy, it represents 25 percent of the country’s food and drink export. Whisky, derived from the Gaelic word Usque Baugh (Ush-kee Baha) that translates to ‘water of life’, probably is the most revered of all spirits. And to the Scots, it’s a way of life.

It is said that the roots of whisky lie in Ireland. But it is the Scots who made it world famous. The first official mention of whisky dates back to 1494 when a Friar by the name of John Cor was granted “8 bolls of malt” by Henry the VII to make whisky. By the 16th century, whisky had become a rage in Scotland and the government imposed a “Malt Tax” which became very unpopular and gave rise to an illicit whisky distilling business. Scotch whisky’s biggest competitor at that time was Cognac.