Found a lovely store for Japanese ingredients (mirin, sushi rice, sushi and sashimi grade fish etc) in Delhi. Yamato-ya are at least 20% cheaper than Nature's Basket and INA market.
Their branch in Delhi is at
B-6/9 Local Commercial Complex
Safdarjung Enclave
New Delhi 110029
Tel: 41650164 / 65
They have a branch in Gurgaon too. Here's the address:
Yamato-ya
SCO 19, HUDA Market
Sector 56
Gurgaon 122 011
Tel 0124- 4238377
I have only been to the Delhi branch and its pretty easy to navigate if you have the time and patience. Items are labelled in English on the shelves on which they are placed. The staff is also very helpful and there is someone who can speak English, Hindi and Japanese around at all times.
If you can't read Japanese, make sure the jar/bottle you buy, has a note on it in English as to what it is. Else you may reach home to find them unlabelled and wondering between the mirin and sake
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Monday, March 14, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
CEO Chefs Share-a-Smile Lunch - Genesis Foundation - Photo Essay
Genesis Foundation conducted its 7th CEO Chefs Share-a-Smile Lunch at Petal Garden, The Crowne Plaza Today, Gurgaon on the 29th of January.
Genesis Foundation is an NGO in India that raises funds for medical care of under privileged children who are critically ill.
There were 10 CEO chefs in attendance cooking a variety of cuisines ranging from Japanese and Malay to Indian chaat and flambeed crepes. While the CEO chefs were in charge of cooking one dish each, served up hot on the spot, the Crowne Plaza kitchen staff had put together a wonderful mini-buffet associated with each cuisine.
The food was excellent and our contributions were for a good cause, so it was a win-win situation all round. 7 children are hopefully ging to be treated with the 15lakhs collected at this event.
The pictures are way more evocative than any words that I could write so here they are:
The Grey Goose Bar
One of the cocktails specially created for the occasion.
Fresh Oyster in Bloody Mary shots
The Sushi Spread
Martin Jones, CEO, Marks & Spencer rustles up some salads.
Manu Anand, Chairman & CEO, PepsiCo India. mixed up some Laksa
Siraj Chaudhry, Chairman, Cargill India (P) Ltd and Antti Öhrling, Co-founder, BLYK Media India (P) Ltd were at the Chinese counter making spicy spinach and nut wonton stir fry and ginger fish
Sanjay Coutinho, CEO, Barista Coffee Company Ltd stuffed up some shawrmas with an array of Lebanese dips on the side.
Sashi Mukandan, CEO - BP Group Companies was in charge of the vegetarian kebabs and an interesting Benarasi chaat served in hollowed out tomatoes.
While, Vineesh Kochhar, CFO, DuPont India (P) Ltd took on the non-vegetarian kebabs
The Indian Buffet
The Dessert Station
An extremely apt spelling error :)
Aditya Ghosh, President of Indigo Airlines flambeeing Crepe Suzette with Grey Goose.
The Flambeed crepe suzette with chocolate
Genesis Foundation is an NGO in India that raises funds for medical care of under privileged children who are critically ill.
There were 10 CEO chefs in attendance cooking a variety of cuisines ranging from Japanese and Malay to Indian chaat and flambeed crepes. While the CEO chefs were in charge of cooking one dish each, served up hot on the spot, the Crowne Plaza kitchen staff had put together a wonderful mini-buffet associated with each cuisine.
The food was excellent and our contributions were for a good cause, so it was a win-win situation all round. 7 children are hopefully ging to be treated with the 15lakhs collected at this event.
The pictures are way more evocative than any words that I could write so here they are:
The Grey Goose Bar
One of the cocktails specially created for the occasion.
Fresh Oyster in Bloody Mary shots
The Sushi Spread
Martin Jones, CEO, Marks & Spencer rustles up some salads.
Siraj Chaudhry, Chairman, Cargill India (P) Ltd and Antti Öhrling, Co-founder, BLYK Media India (P) Ltd were at the Chinese counter making spicy spinach and nut wonton stir fry and ginger fish
Sanjay Coutinho, CEO, Barista Coffee Company Ltd stuffed up some shawrmas with an array of Lebanese dips on the side.
Sashi Mukandan, CEO - BP Group Companies was in charge of the vegetarian kebabs and an interesting Benarasi chaat served in hollowed out tomatoes.
While, Vineesh Kochhar, CFO, DuPont India (P) Ltd took on the non-vegetarian kebabs
The Indian Buffet
The Dessert Station
An extremely apt spelling error :)
Aditya Ghosh, President of Indigo Airlines flambeeing Crepe Suzette with Grey Goose.
The Flambeed crepe suzette with chocolate
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Launch of "The F Word"
I'd been reading snippets of Mita Kapur's The F Word even before the book was launched. A few illustrations with short tantalising explanations were enough to excite the foodie on me to start desperately searching for her book as soon as she announced that it was out. But it wasn't to be found in a single Delhi book store. Not surprising considering that Harper Collins hadn't launched it yet in Delhi.
So when the invitation came for the book launch at Cafe Zaffiro in Zamrudpur on the 15th, I jumped at the opportunity and dragged my visiting Sister-in-law along.
Driving to Zamrudpur was an expedition in its own right. Fortunately Cafe Zaffiro had put up enough sign boards to assure us that we were headed in the right direction. And when we reached there I realised that the hardest-to-reach places in Delhi can throw up suprising little gems.
Cafe Zaffiro is attached to Zaza Home - a store that sells clothes and knick knacks for around the house and kitchen. There were plenty of little items catching my eye, but we didn't want to be late and so we rushed upstairs to the terrace where the launch was to be held. And a good thing that we did, because inspite of sufficient seating, the location soon became a standing room only affair.
Mita Kapur comes across as a demure soft spoken lady, but she quickly dispelled any fallacies about her being the Adarsh Bharatiya Nari. A woman of chutzpah and determination showed herself in the hour to follow.
She said her motivation to write the book, came from her husbands threat to write a sex story that would be sold at Railway stations across the country, if she didn't write something more substantial herself.
I must mention here that the book is not just a collection of recipes. It is part autobiography detailing the struggles of a working woman trying to feed a nutritious diet to her husband and children which is still exciting enough to eat and slowly trying to healthify traditional Indian recipes which are tasty but heavy and rich. Part memoir and partly a legacy that she wanted to leave to her children with a dose of advice and tips on how to cook healthy meals in a hurry.
The book can be enjoyed as a good read with enough recipes in it to excite the foodie reader yet not distract the casual reader from the humour in the stories behind the food.
Rocky and Mayur from Highway on My Plate were there to help launch the book and both confessed to not having read the book entirely. With Mayur confessing that his lack of reading skills made him depend on his wife to tell him what the book was about.
A triologue followed with Rocky & Mayur inviegling invites to be adopted by Mita and her Mother-in-law and be fed for perpetuity.
When asked if she had ever faced any disaster in the kitchen, she remembered the time, she and her sister-in-law had first made Gulab Jamuns from a pre-mix. The recipe called for making tiny balls. But her sister-in-law declared that they were too tiny and stingy and should be made much bigger. So what looked like regular size jamuns when rolling into balls, expanded to the size of cricket balls when being fried.
The Audience was then treated to some traditional Suryamukhi kebabs (with smoked meat) whose recipe is also in the book. The rest of the snacks served were also very tasty. But as we were in a hurry, I didin't find out if the preparations were from Mita's repertoire or the kitchens of Cafe Zaffiro.
I'm still reading the book and will review it on Jhovaan - My Food Blog once I have cooked a couple of dishes from the book.
The book is now available in Delhi bookstores. I saw it at Om Books the other day. The Jaipur launch is on the 30th.
And I will go back to Zamrudpur to investigate that market further.
So when the invitation came for the book launch at Cafe Zaffiro in Zamrudpur on the 15th, I jumped at the opportunity and dragged my visiting Sister-in-law along.
Driving to Zamrudpur was an expedition in its own right. Fortunately Cafe Zaffiro had put up enough sign boards to assure us that we were headed in the right direction. And when we reached there I realised that the hardest-to-reach places in Delhi can throw up suprising little gems.
Cafe Zaffiro is attached to Zaza Home - a store that sells clothes and knick knacks for around the house and kitchen. There were plenty of little items catching my eye, but we didn't want to be late and so we rushed upstairs to the terrace where the launch was to be held. And a good thing that we did, because inspite of sufficient seating, the location soon became a standing room only affair.
She said her motivation to write the book, came from her husbands threat to write a sex story that would be sold at Railway stations across the country, if she didn't write something more substantial herself.
I must mention here that the book is not just a collection of recipes. It is part autobiography detailing the struggles of a working woman trying to feed a nutritious diet to her husband and children which is still exciting enough to eat and slowly trying to healthify traditional Indian recipes which are tasty but heavy and rich. Part memoir and partly a legacy that she wanted to leave to her children with a dose of advice and tips on how to cook healthy meals in a hurry.
The book can be enjoyed as a good read with enough recipes in it to excite the foodie reader yet not distract the casual reader from the humour in the stories behind the food.
Rocky and Mayur from Highway on My Plate were there to help launch the book and both confessed to not having read the book entirely. With Mayur confessing that his lack of reading skills made him depend on his wife to tell him what the book was about.
A triologue followed with Rocky & Mayur inviegling invites to be adopted by Mita and her Mother-in-law and be fed for perpetuity.
When asked if she had ever faced any disaster in the kitchen, she remembered the time, she and her sister-in-law had first made Gulab Jamuns from a pre-mix. The recipe called for making tiny balls. But her sister-in-law declared that they were too tiny and stingy and should be made much bigger. So what looked like regular size jamuns when rolling into balls, expanded to the size of cricket balls when being fried.
The Audience was then treated to some traditional Suryamukhi kebabs (with smoked meat) whose recipe is also in the book. The rest of the snacks served were also very tasty. But as we were in a hurry, I didin't find out if the preparations were from Mita's repertoire or the kitchens of Cafe Zaffiro.
I'm still reading the book and will review it on Jhovaan - My Food Blog once I have cooked a couple of dishes from the book.
The book is now available in Delhi bookstores. I saw it at Om Books the other day. The Jaipur launch is on the 30th.
And I will go back to Zamrudpur to investigate that market further.
"Rediscovery of Peru" - Travel, Food & Adventure Talk and Food Demonstration
The Attic in Delhi is a lovely space in the Regal Building in CP which plays host to some wonderful talks and demonstrations. I had been following their newsletters while I was in Egypt sorely missing attending their food talks, so this was one of the first places that I checked out when I arrived in Delhi. For the last few months, they had to hold their lectures at the IIC while CP was a mess of construction debris. But this months talks are now back to being held at The Attic.
While some of the talks are held by expert researchers in the field, some are conducted by people who are just passionate about the subject. Zorawar Shukla was recently back from a trekking trip in the Andes and promised to talk about travel, food and adventure on the Andean trail.
Zorawar's month long trek covered the Peruvian and the Bolivian sides of the Andes visiting Cuzco, Arequipa, Lake Titicaca and La Paz.
He observed a number of festivals while at Cuzco where he started his trip and was told that there was either a protest or a festival being celebrated every day of the year in this city.
While he did speak of the culture of South America, I focussed on the pictures and descriptions of the foods that were mostly new to me.
The food in the Andes region is an amalgamation of local native ingredients (chiefly maize, corn, potatoes and chillies) and ingredients that came in through the Spanish conquistadors, the African settlers and then the Japanese.
Potatoes and chillies were introduced to the rest of the world from South America and the varieties available in the region run in the thousands. Corn is used in everything from drinks to desserts. Quinoa is indigenous to this region.
Coca Leaves are abundantly available around the Andes and while illegal to transport, they are chewed regularly (like tobacco) in the region to supress appetite and increase energy levels. They are also brewed in tea and help in acclimatising to the high altitudes of the Andes.
Street stalls sell delicious treats around each corner. While knowing what the items are, may make them a little difficult to eat, they aren't as shocking as the oferrings at the street stalls in Thailand.
Saltenas are a popular snack that are munched on through the day.
Pisco is a grape liquor from this part of the world and The Pisco Sour is Peru's national coctail. Made with Pisco, lime juice, bitters, ice, sugar and egg white, Zorawar demonstrated and served us all a shot of the cocktail.
He also demonstrated Papa a la Huancaína substituting mozarella for queso freso and green chillies for ají amarillo.An interesting salad.
The fruits in Peru were absolutely fresh, larger than normal and bursting with flavour.
Peru has its own take on Chinese food, coming up with unique a Peruvian Chinese cusine on the lines of Indian Chinese cuisine.
Bembos is a popular local fast food chain in Peru and it actually has a branch in Bandra in Bombay.
The rest of the food he described and showed pictures of looked and sounded so delicious, that I'm sure that most of the people in the room, wanted to make a trip to Peru ASAP :).
Zorawar described a lot of other dishes, which I do not seem to have got the right transliteration in English.
Some of the terms may have different spellings, the errors are all mine
While some of the talks are held by expert researchers in the field, some are conducted by people who are just passionate about the subject. Zorawar Shukla was recently back from a trekking trip in the Andes and promised to talk about travel, food and adventure on the Andean trail.
He observed a number of festivals while at Cuzco where he started his trip and was told that there was either a protest or a festival being celebrated every day of the year in this city.
While he did speak of the culture of South America, I focussed on the pictures and descriptions of the foods that were mostly new to me.
The food in the Andes region is an amalgamation of local native ingredients (chiefly maize, corn, potatoes and chillies) and ingredients that came in through the Spanish conquistadors, the African settlers and then the Japanese.
Potatoes and chillies were introduced to the rest of the world from South America and the varieties available in the region run in the thousands. Corn is used in everything from drinks to desserts. Quinoa is indigenous to this region.
Coca Leaves are abundantly available around the Andes and while illegal to transport, they are chewed regularly (like tobacco) in the region to supress appetite and increase energy levels. They are also brewed in tea and help in acclimatising to the high altitudes of the Andes.
Street stalls sell delicious treats around each corner. While knowing what the items are, may make them a little difficult to eat, they aren't as shocking as the oferrings at the street stalls in Thailand.
Saltenas are a popular snack that are munched on through the day.
Pisco is a grape liquor from this part of the world and The Pisco Sour is Peru's national coctail. Made with Pisco, lime juice, bitters, ice, sugar and egg white, Zorawar demonstrated and served us all a shot of the cocktail.
He also demonstrated Papa a la Huancaína substituting mozarella for queso freso and green chillies for ají amarillo.An interesting salad.
Peru has its own take on Chinese food, coming up with unique a Peruvian Chinese cusine on the lines of Indian Chinese cuisine.
Bembos is a popular local fast food chain in Peru and it actually has a branch in Bandra in Bombay.
The rest of the food he described and showed pictures of looked and sounded so delicious, that I'm sure that most of the people in the room, wanted to make a trip to Peru ASAP :).
Zorawar described a lot of other dishes, which I do not seem to have got the right transliteration in English.
Some of the terms may have different spellings, the errors are all mine
Friday, October 8, 2010
Master Creation 2010 @ Dilli Haat, (INA Market)
Dilli Haat is a must visit for anybody who wants to pick up handicrafts directly from the artisans who create them.
An innovative concept that keeps changing and reinventin itself, so each visit feels new. This gated market (for want of a better descriptor) is built to resemble a traditional village market place (or Haat) with little individula stalls that are rented to artisans for a week or so at a time. Artisans from across the country come here to sell their wares.
As part of the CWG experience, Delhi Tourism has organised Master Creation 2010 at Dilli Haat. Plenty of artisans who have won National Awards for their intricate work have set up stalls and are selling exquisite wares. While textiles dominate (saris, shawls, stoles, salwar kameez, bedsheets) there are rugs, stone and metal carving and other crafts on display too.
They were also showcasing a different state each day, but I think this is now over. The day I visited, Arunachal Pradesh was in focus.
The Entryway:
The whole place is festive with beautiful colours
Metalwork
A Rajasthani Stall
Puppets from Andhra Pradesh
An exhibition of some of the National Award Winning pieces
White metal work and an intrciate Madhubani painting on the right.
Soft wood carving of Ma Durgaji from West Bengal
You can also try out a variety of food from across the country at this venue.This time I ate at the Assamese Stall.
Do visit if you are looking for exclusive items of clothing. The master craftsmen have some beautiful and unique handworked items on offer.
An innovative concept that keeps changing and reinventin itself, so each visit feels new. This gated market (for want of a better descriptor) is built to resemble a traditional village market place (or Haat) with little individula stalls that are rented to artisans for a week or so at a time. Artisans from across the country come here to sell their wares.
As part of the CWG experience, Delhi Tourism has organised Master Creation 2010 at Dilli Haat. Plenty of artisans who have won National Awards for their intricate work have set up stalls and are selling exquisite wares. While textiles dominate (saris, shawls, stoles, salwar kameez, bedsheets) there are rugs, stone and metal carving and other crafts on display too.
They were also showcasing a different state each day, but I think this is now over. The day I visited, Arunachal Pradesh was in focus.
The Entryway:
You can also try out a variety of food from across the country at this venue.This time I ate at the Assamese Stall.
Do visit if you are looking for exclusive items of clothing. The master craftsmen have some beautiful and unique handworked items on offer.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Fun Foods @ Godrej Nature Basket
My friend Rushina who is an excellent chef and writes wonderful articles on food, is also a food consultant to Godrej Nature Basket in Bombay. She was in town for the press launch of GNB in Delhi and invited me to meet her at the store.
The staff there pretty much recognises me, because I've already shopped there thrice in the 10 days since they opened and on my first day there I spent 2 whole hours in the store, caressing the jars and bottles of various goodies. On that day, I did not want to stand out by taking any pictures inside the store. (little did I know that my attention to detail was also making me stand out) But today was perfectly ok as it seemed like everyone was taking pictures.
Packaged Food
Fresh Vegetables
Breads and Cakes
Rushina had cooked up some really interesting amuse bouche to showcase the ingredients that are sold by the store and they were really tasty too. I was getting a chance to meet her after 4 years, so it was a fun conversation between foodies plus I got the chance to meet more foodies from Delhi.
Leaving you with pictures of some of her treats.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Godrej Nature Basket opens in Delhi!
I've been so envious of my friends in Bombay for their easy access to Godrej Nature Basket stores, that I was very excited when they opened their first Delhi outlet 2 days ago.
With its lack of Quality Supermarkets, I felt compelled to drive all the way to Gurgaon for my one-stop shopping. I visited Godrej Nature Basketat Defence Colony yesterday, and came away impressed and elated that I now have some place nearby to pick up all my consumable kitchen needs.
The first outlet is located at D-15, Defence Colony (Between BP Petrol Pump & Def Col Flyover) Ph:+91-11-4669-8777 and they promise to open soon in M Block Market, GK II.
The Def Col store is split across 2 levels and is quite spacious for a store in this area. There are baked goods, cheese (imported), fresh vegetables, cold cuts, meat, ready to cook meat products and imported ingredients from across the world. The advantage of Godrej Nature Basket over my other favorite food store in Delhi, "Le Marche in DLF Promenade Mall" is that prices are much more reasonable and locally sourced ingredients cost almost the same as it would in the market, without the hassle of bargaining.
There are lots of shop assistants who are very helpful with bagging, tasting and carrying your groceries around the store (if this is what suits you, I prefer pushing my own trolley) without being over-pushy.
Since they had just opened a day before, they said that there would soon be more items in stock. The shop assistants encourage you to taste the cheese and cold cuts before buying. The fresh cold meats were really good and I did pick up, quite a few varieties. My favorite would be the spicy chorizo. Slices are cut while you wait to your desired thickness.
Plenty of Italian and South East Asian cooking ingredients are available across multiple brands and price points. They also deliver within a 3 km radius.
They stock Haagen Daaz and London Dairy ice cream too. The next time I visit, I will have to carry my insulated bag with me to bring home some ice creams.
I loved the cleanliness and layout of the store as much as I loved the range of products and brands. The air conditioning was working well and the whole experience was pleasurable.
The only 2 problems I faced were : billing was slow as the cashiers were double checking every bar code entry vs the result that popped up. I hope this is just an initial teething problem. The second problem is not really their fault, but because of compliance issues, they can only bag products in paper bags which are a pain in the b&!! to manage when buying in large quantities.
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