Dear Vodafone and Crossword, Do You Really Care…..??

When the event in a remote area where there is no proper restaurant in its vicinity, it is important to have a cafeteria where one can soak their dry lips.

Last week I was invited for Vodafone Crossword Book Awards 2011 by my friend, Dipti at NCPA.

Normally whenever I go for any event I always make sure that I have eaten enough so as to not crave for food but on that day, being a Ganpati festival, I went visiting few places before going for this event and didn’t get much time to eat. (I don’t call sweets and Prasad as food and sweets are normally No! No! I avoid sweets)

So, I was hungry.

The event began, with Lillete Dubey as the host, presenting the show. I started to rummage through my purse to find something to eat and found a small packet of dry fruits. Pleased that I had something to munch on, I watched the show.

The show was quite interesting, with the 7-year-old Keshav’s beautiful performance on tabla, (Remember Kehsav, the one who had performed at “Rhythms of India”, the opening event of the Commonwealth Games (CWC) opening ceremony?) He never fails to enthrall the audience.  This was followed by the poetry performance by his mom- Ms Gopika Dahanukar and then of course the main event itself –VodaphoneCrossword Awards 2011.

I earnestly wanted my friend Annie Zaide (who was nominated) to bag that 3 lakhs money prize for her non-fiction work ‘Known Turf’ but it was not to be and I was disappointed.

My hunger grew stronger.

Dipti and I walked outside the auditorium looking for a cafeteria. A big buffet table was set with neatly arranged tables and chairs but (wait a minute) ONLY FOR THEIR ESTEEMED GUESTS. The waiters walked in and out of the kitchen with shiny silver trays laden with exotic snacks and I looked on hungrily like a starving street child. I tried to enter the dining area but the volunteers blocked me, asking me for a white-dinner coupon. White-dinner-coupon? Huh? I looked into the invitation envelop, nopes..there is no such coupon! I have been discriminated!!! There was no food, neither a drop of a drink for a commoner like me. I had no idea that my invitation card did not have the dinner-coupon. I offered to pay for the dinner but they refused. I did see some of the ‘esteemed guests’ begging for dinner coupons for their ‘commoner’ friends but I was not about to beg for such invitations. 


This was too embarrassing for me.  

How much does the dinner cost anyways? huh?  If, considering that more than 20 lakhs have already been spent on this event (that includes prize money, auditorium booking, participants, publishers and readers) can’t they spend extra few pennies to make dinner available to all the attendees, those who remove time from their busy life and honor their show? After all its going to be common people who will give them business, isn't it? Of the 1000 people attending the show, there must have been only 100 commoners like me. Is it so expensive to cater to those too? Why so much stinginess on hospitality?

Dear Crossword and Vodaphone, Thank you very much!! This is what I would call penny wise, pound foolish!!!

It was late evening and I was too tired to go to any fancy restaurant, I just wanted to eat something to stop those restless hunger pangs. We decided to go to a vegetarian restaurant opposite Churchgate station. It was closed. We looked for another restaurant inside the station, it was closed too. We started to walk towards the train and on the platform there was a tiny, sleepy kiosk, selling wafers and snacks. I bought two Samosas for myself and I almost puked because of the stale oil.

Bad day indeed!

I had a noodles soup for dinner at home.

EAT, European Art of Taste – Cookery Demonstration

When the table is set with your assorted favorite ingredients such as cheese, pasta, wine and olive oil, and if you wait long enough, you will be served Italian food and that too all free, because this is the Italian food festival presented by ‘European Art of Taste’  and you are their special guest.

When I got the invitation to attend the rich and savory cooking demonstration of Italian Food at ‘Nature Basket’,  Bandra,  I jumped to this opportunity, arriving 30 minutes before the demonstration was to begin. The Chef, Angelo Francini, a friendly young man was only too pleased to share his art, educating me about this program that is supported by the European Union and the Italian Government that aims to promote their products like pasta, cheese, sauces and wine into the Indian market with the promise that it guarantees quality, authenticity and the safety of the products.

The stage for demonstration was set in the inner area of the store, with one table laden with all the products like pasta of ‘Barilla’, extra virgin olive oil of brand ‘Monini’, Provolone cheese of certified origin (Valpadana) and assorted wine and pasta sauces. The main demonstration table was laden with all the ingredients that he would need, plus electric stove and microwave.

Within half an hour, the room was full of curious chefs/housewives/regular shoppers/photographers, all eager to pick up some culinary tips and give in their expert comments.

The demonstration started with what I would call it an ‘Italian salad’. (The Chef called it ‘Panzanella di verdure con bruschetta all’olio extra vergine di olive).

In a big plastic bowl, he mixed all the freshly chopped vegetables like carrots, celery, cucumber, bell peppers, fresh red tomatoes, rocket leaves. He roasted the chopped cubes of bread and added to the mixture. Added salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar and it was now our turn to taste. The rich taste of olive into the mixture of veggies gave it a buttery sweet and sour taste and I was hungry for more.

The next dish was (Penne all’arrabbiata) he cooked on the electric twin-stove, boiling pasta on one stove and cooking the tomato sauce on the other. He added garlic, parsley, salt and pepper to the hot olive oil, mixed it and added tomato puree. After cooking for seven minutes, he added boiled pasta, and tossed them, mixing it well. Then added grated provolone valpadana cheese and then came the best part……Yes!!....You guessed it right….tasting! The tangy taste of tomato blended well with pastas, but I found pasta a wee bit hard, I normally prefer pastas to be softer and slippery.(so slippery that the minute they touch my lips, they go sliding down my throat, leaving behind the tangy taste)

The heat was slowly building up as vapors escaped from the pots and the sweet aroma of garlic and tomatoes flooded the room. Smacking our lips, we looked hungrily as he prepared the chicken dish; the small chunks of chicken breast, previously marinated with dry herbs for more than seven hours. He cooked the marinated chicken chunks in olive oil, seasoning it with salt and pepper and added eggplant (that was previously cooked with garlic and parsley), cooked them till chicken was tender and later garnished it with the cheese. The cooked eggplant, the melted stringy cheese and the chicken was good combination and was quite delightful to taste. The chicken was very tender and tasty although there were no chilies at all. (now, being an Indian, chilies is must for me otherwise I call this ‘phika’)

While he cooked on electric stove, his assistant baked in micro-oven some more dishes, there was toast (pancetta) with cheese topping, soaking in olive oil, and chicken topped with cooked eggplant and cheese too. And yes, one more thing, the finger food (they had forgotten to give as a welcome warm-up) made of baby-tomatoes, basil leaves and cheese on a tooth pick was the sudden but pleasant intrusion.

It was a grand feast, all in succession, one after the other; I was finding it difficult to concentrate on his cooking, so busy was I in eating (I mean ….tasting). I would have appreciated an additional glass of wine or a cup of coffee ….maybe that thought did not cross their mind....or…maybe….er…. wine is expensive? Ah well!!! But never mind

It was a fun evening and fully satiated, I walked down the narrow corridors of ‘Nature Basket' super market to pick up some of those Italian delicacies to be able to try few for my guests, who would appreciate this light meal with their evening cup of tea..

Oh yeah! One more thing!! I was happy because each one of us received one complimentary gift that contained apron, one badge, one booklet on ‘Guide to tasting and understanding ‘Extra Virgin Olive Oil’, and two chapbooks of Italian recipes.

*Look, can you see me boasting now?

Potato chipstixs

My co-bloggers and I, we walked on Lavasa promenade, whiling away the evening hours, watching the sun set, clicking pictures in Bollywood styles, freezing the smiles under Sayadhri hills when suddenly we were distracted by the lady at the far end, leaning against the railing facing the lake. She was eating spiral potato twister.

“Hey… What is that”

“let’s go there to have a closer look”

“I think it some kind of kabab on skewers”

“I dare you to go and try her stuff” I said thinking it would be fun if she dared. We were in crazy mood and R went halfway, had a closer look and came back.

“Nah!” she said, “Let’s go and buy it, I am sure it might be available some where on the promenade, there are some kiosks down there.”

And so we walked back towards the kiosk ‘Twisteez’, ah there it was. We watched in amazement as the chef took one large potato, poked a skewer through its belly and put it in the chopper. The potato auto-rolled on its skewer chopped by a sharp knife into a spiral shape. He submerged the spirally chopped potato into the fryer and voila.

A chipstix - fried potato with a twist.

“What flavor you want?” said the chef.

“Dried mango flavor”

“No, let’s try mint powder”

“How about mixing all the different flavors”

Confused, we decided on just salt and pepper

The aroma of the potato heightened the hunger pangs. Potato has a universal admiration from young and old alike. There is no reason to watch the clock or the diet when a lone potato stares at you. I plucked a tiny piece from the skewer and dropped into my mouth.

Hhhmmm! Yuummmmm!! Always the best!!

The crunchy piece melted in the mouth after a soft bite, coating the tongue with salt and peppery taste.

“I wanted more of that chipstik, actually all of it, maybe I should order one more? Huh?”

But the diet clock whispered at the back of my mind “Stop, you just had your lunch one hour ago, beware!”

Kalaghoda workshop 'Eat, Write, love'

“Eat, write, love” conducted by Rushina Ghildiya during Kalaghoda festival was interesting and promising workshop that I wouldn’t want to miss. Having a wedding in the family had kind of tied me up with shopping and visit to tailors, but somehow I excused myself from other important things, (postponing it to some other day) and I managed to attend two-day workshop on food-writing during the morning hours from 11am to 4pm.

And I was glad that I did.

During the two day workshop I learnt about the different literature/cookbooks that are available in the market and how I could make my contribution to new frontiers of food writing.

Food writing is basically an art of writing in such a way that it creates enough desire in the person to go out and taste the food. It could be by reporting, writing memoirs, history or review, but all food articles place importance on preparation, consumption, nutritional values and recipes.

Rushina spoke about her experience as a published food writer, giving us great tips on the type of articles that find their way into print, giving us pointers which could be expressed through food news, travel stories, trends, essays, product review, restaurant review or interviews. She suggested that we maintain a diary of taste which could list the flavor of particular food with defining words that could make our writings interesting.

What was fascinating about this workshop was that we actually got to eat some of the food stuff and the painful part of this workshop was the assignment after tasting the food. After a delicious meal, instead of stirring myself with food writing, I would rather sleep, er...well.... at least for some time... till all the juices have melted completely through my gullet into my tummy. no?

On the day one, she brought food stuff like kafir leaves, Kafier lime, heart of palm and yellow and pink dragon fruits.

I picked up the dark green, round fruit, probably a close cousin to our Indian lime but with rough body and distinct nipple at the stem end. As I dug my nails into the Kafier lime, there was high concentration of aromatic oil, whose fragrance seeped through my nostril reeling me to heady nostalgia about my Bangkok trip where almost all the traditional food have this flavor, in soups, in fish recipes and in red/green curry. Unlike our Indian lime, this kafier lime was dry and had no juice at all, but its rind could be used in most of the recipes.

There was another plate of ‘heart of palm’ an ivory round slab which she had cut into small pieces for us to taste. It was delicate in flavor, had a kind of sweet and nutty taste. The plate was kept close to where I was sitting and I picked up quite a few pieces, savoring it during next one hour of the session.

Dragon fruit which I would never buy from any market since I would never know what I would find inside was a pleasant surprise. It turned out to be a relative of our Kiwi fruit that I have enjoyed so many times, but while Kiwi is sourer, this one was sweeter and tastier. There was pink and yellow dragon fruit but I liked the pink one which was much sweeter than the yellow bland one.

Rushina made a salad from all these three ingredients adding salt, red chilly powder and lime juice. Our assignment was to write a small paragraph on these ingredients.

Some of those present did complete the assignment, writing about the food stuff and whatever it inspired them to write and they read it for every one’s benefit. Great talent there!

At the end of the session we got to try some pastries and macaroon which we had to write again, but like I said earlier, I digest everything……hahaha!

The day two of this workshop was on serious writing. Rushina gave us more information of different cuisine books available online and the kind of style and content on food writing that one could use and how one could benefit from this literature to augment our-day-to-day writing.

The interesting part again.. what else?? ..yeah eating

Godrej Nature Basket, my favorite super store where I normally do my weekly food shopping, has generously shared a variety of chilly (my favorite ingredient that I cannot do without) products from around the world for us to try.

And thus began our tasting session…

Nori Japanese seaweeds coated with chilly flavor were wafer thin dark greenish strips with a fishy smell. It had a crisp texture and a sweet, slightly salty and pungent taste, I have tasted these seaweed strips wounded over Shushi but having them as a snack was good too.

Next was the mayonnaise with Mexican jalapenos ‘La Costena Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce’. This made the beautiful combination with mayonnaise with crunchy smoked, red peppers and the sour taste of vinegar and tomato sauce.

Harissa (Morrocan chili sauce)The sweet chilli paste with aniseeds and ginger tasted like the Indian version of sweet chutney which reminded me of the sauce that mom would make during my growing up years. It had Indian spices and could be enjoyed best with Indian rotis or puri. We could also use it for stir fries for rich flavors. (pssss! on my next visit, I might buy one)

Lemnos Sweet Chili Cream Cheese had a crunchy taste of capsicum and I was mentally making a notes of must-do-shopping-of-this-product-for-quick-food-snack-days

Lindt dark chocolate had a chilly flavor for a change. It has unique and sophisticated taste. At first it was just sweet but the chilly flavor creeps in as soon as the chocolate has melted in your mouth giving it warm and chilled finish to your palette.

It was a fiery afternoon with so many varieties of chillies from all over the world, most of them I had tried during my travels but had never heard of chilly chocolate…have you?

Sniff! Sniff!

I needed a tissue.

And then it was time to write an assignment…tough part but some of the writers in the group surprised us with their most descriptive memoirs that they were inspired to write after eating so many chillies.

Me, I collected lots of ideas by just listening to their ranting…thinking of becoming a food writer…maybe I should try……some day.

How they make perfect omelets

Do You know to make an omelet? Ask the professional to make it for you. Smart move!!

If you can read the pictures you may follow the procedure.

During my recent trip to Darjeeling, mornings I looked forward to ‘live’ breakfast…haahaha. That’s what the food counter said…’Live Breakfast’ and live was that chef would make for you the omelet the way you like…half fry-sunny side up or plain omelet. I would always ask for same omelet with lots of chillies and onions, although there was a great variety of food on display, I had no appetite to eat any other spicy, heavy stuff like puri bhaji, idli sambar, or any other delicacies so early in the mornings. Normally at home, my breakfast is just a glass of fresh juice. But since I was on holiday, and since I didn’t have to make the breakfast for myself, (yeah, I am too lazy sometimes) I was okay with having breakfast in the mornings. But everyday I stuck to the same menu: egg omelet, baked potatoes, salad and fresh juice; and that kept me cheerful till the lunch time.

While I ate, I couldn’t help looking at other tables and would be surprised with the amount of food that people could eat at every meal. Their plates would be overflowing with food and it got me thinking that must we abuse our stomach just because we have paid for a buffet meals??? Is it so important to taste every dish on display at every meal??? I would watch them help themselves with assorted meals second time, and sometimes third servings!!!

One of our friends in the group was a Jain, and her strict diet of ‘no root’ vegetable restricted her meals. She would order special meals for herself and while she waited for those special meals, she would start munching on bread, jam, sweet dish, fruits and everything that was permitted by her religion. When the food arrived, it would be of big quantity and although she would over eat, still most of it would go waste. At every meal, she would attract attention to herself and throw temper tantrums, (much to our embarrassment) if they didn’t provide her food on time.

I fail to understand why people give so much importance to food. For me, food is just a necessity to remain healthy. If chanced upon eating good food in a fancy restaurant, I might relish, but for me, simple home cooked meal is a delightful treat.

Who is Coming over for Dinner?

When I can’t think what to cook or too lazy to cook, I opt for Chinese. Why? Because it is the most tastiest and nutritious food that I can think of and it takes me just fifteen minutes to prepare it. My fridge is always stocked with fresh and canned vegetables, lotsa sauces and some dried mushrooms too. Initially, during my trips abroad, I would pick up too much food stuff from the supermarkets, most of packet would rot, exceeding their expiry dates, and there were some soup and sauces packets, bought blindly, would lie unopened for years, but now I am glad that we get everything here in Mumbai and I can do just weekly shopping in small quantities.


There is a small store close by, which stocks all the exotic foods. This week I picked up firm tofu (there were other types too like silky tofu and soft tofu, but thats for later), some fresh mushrooms, and Japanese Soba noodles (On the packet of this soba noodles it says that it is a traditional style buckwheat and wheat flour noodles with a nutty taste, I was buying it for first time. One packet only, see, economical? yeah?))

Now this tofu is really very tricky. Tofu is actually the Chinese cousin/version of cottage cheese (Italian) or Paneer (Indian). The method of making it is also same except that it is made from soya milk. Get it? But it is rich cousin, mind you and little ‘light’ to eat, melts in the mouth, a great source of high-quality protein, rich in B-vitamins, iron and an excellent source of calcium. The best way to use the firm tofu is to wash it with water, squeeze it out and then marinate it before using. Tofu acts like a sponge and it sucks in the juices of marinated ingredients. Since I am going to use it in Chinese, I have marinated in garlic, ginger and vegetable stock cubes. Okay, I have stored in my fridge, so for next two days I must eat Chinese if I have to finish it in two days. Of course, I will add in soup once and another time I will make salad, can’t have same stuff every day. Isn’t it?

But just now, what I had was quite tasty. It looked dull because I didn’t add colorful veggies like reds and greens (my friends always adds red and green peppers, but its okay if I don’t add when I am making only for self) but it was tasty.

Its so simple to make. why do my friends make such a fuss while cooking? So much drama over nothing!!

In the oil, I added crushed garlic and then I just stir fried shallots, mushrooms, bean sprouts green chilly and corn. Then added these boiled Soba noodles and tofu. Next added Teriyaki sauce, soya sauce, sesame oil and chilly sauce.and Voila!

Wait, let me take one more spoonful. chomp! chomp! burp!

And yeah, I made dip too. I just added garlic, ginger, salt, wasabi, dried herbs into curd. Mixed it and hung it for three hours, squeezing out the water. Then added olive oil to give a glossy look.

Yummy. When you come to visit me, I shall make for you too.

Food Camp...comic strip

Whenever there is some festival, food is a must or else people may not come.

Yeah..true..I have seen very poor attendence when there is no prasad.

What one may call 'Langar', food is cooked in large quantities and people have wait  long queue, they start pushing and fidgeting, even before the food is served.

There is enough food cooked for all but still, people have this phobia of not reaching food stall in time and are always afraid of going hungry.(what if food finishes??) They are too lazy to cook after this disappointment and are not willing to order the food from a restuarant, specially when their taste buds are drooling over the chosen menu.

But the food is very delicious and has a special taste which cannot be replicated at home. There is always a sweet dish in the plate.

During Guru Nanak festival, there is always Sindhi Curry, Rice, sweet bhoondi and mixed vegetables, puris, papads and pickle. soooo very yummy,,, and during Durga Mata festival there is this khichri (look I m drooling too), roshgolla, bhajiyas, puri, pickle and fried papad...

No surprise then , that there is so much dhakam dhukki.......

Are you drooling? I don’t blame you!

 When I am at home, my stomach is stitched tight, not even a poke will induce hunger. I am busy in my work and food is the last thing on my mind. Many times, when my maid comes for work in the afternoon and sees the empty sink, she screams, scolding me for not having eaten all morning.

 But story is different when I am outdoors. I am always hungry. I see vadapav, I will hog, idli dosa, bhel puri, sandwitch,.there are so many hawkers on every street that it is impossible to remain hungry. One of my NRI friend once commented that people in India are happy lot because they are always munching something, and believe me that is true. I am surprised how hungry I get even when I visit my friends or family.

Today, I visited my friend and she served me uttappa topped with onions, green chillies and tomatoes, There was green mint chutney and coconut chutney. It was so delicious that I could not stop eating. I had four of them and wanted more. Then there was Rasgolla and then masala tea.. I was having the feast as though I was starved for weeks. (that’s shameless me) Surprisingly, at home I don’t eat any snacks, nor drink tea in the evenings. Not that there is no food in my house. Actually, I buy many food items and store them till their expiry date, but I don’t remember to eat.

 So why do I feel so hungry when I am out of my home?

Thinking! Thinking!

Culinary Chat

Whenever I visit my friends I am surprised by the number of dishes that are served on a dining table, there will be great assortments like Rice, Chappatis, two starter, dhal, two different vegetables, yogurt, aachar and papad. One big Thali!!!!How can we eat so many things? I am always confused if my plate is filled up with so many different delicacies. Should I eat Rice first or should it be Chappati? And Indians feel insulted if you don’t eat what they have so lovingly cooked for you, so you have to stuff yourself and that is not all, after lunch comes a bowl of fruits and then deserts like ice-cream or kulfi and finally Paan…..gosh how do they do it? I am beginning to hate masalas in food that means that I am not enjoying outside food and would like to cook all my meals with as little masalas as possible. That’s the reason I like Chinese…it takes so little time to cook and yet so tasty. Like today I made this shredded chicken, Chinese style. I had marinated chicken in garlic, chicken cube and soya sauce for half an hour. On a very high flame I stir-fried the marinated chicken, added spring onion, green chilies, red/green/yellow capsicum, and the dish was ready in just ten minutes. Had it with rice and the little empty space in my stomach I filled it up with orange juice. See, so easy? It is better than preparing Indian dishes where we keep stirring and stirring till the arms get sore. If it takes just ten minutes to eat the food, why should it take two hours to cook it? We just have to fill stomach, we must eat to live and not live to eat. Feasting on food should be reserved only during festivals when burping is the sign of enjoyment. Right?

Hottie Companions

I have tried many different types of chilies during my globe trotting although I cannot remember their names… The hottest variety of chilies that I have ever had is orange habanero which has a heat unit of 210,000, its heat much, much higher as compared to other variety such as: tabasco: 120,000 jalapeno M: 25,000 Long Slim cayenne: 23,000 pasilla: 5,500 serrano: 4,000 bell: 0 Chilies are quite useful especially as thug-repelling pepper spray and there is also an ointment that contains the active ingredient in chili peppers is used to soothe sore muscles. Another good use: Chili powder is fed to captive flamingoes to keep their feathers pink. But the most popular reason that I love them is for their flavor and my food is never complete without chilies. While in Suriname, we would get orange habanero (which were yellowish in color and had peculiar taste) so hot, that it would burn the fingers that held it, my mom would use gloves to cut it but I used to eat it raw, till I started developing painful infection in my ears. (may be, its’ fumes were developing the fungus in my ears) My favorite meal was Surinamese style ‘Chicken Roti’, which was white flour roti, stuffed with chicken, string beans and lots of red chutney made from these hot peppers…hmmn…I m still drooling….. But when I migrated to Canary Island, I was surprised with the bland food…the hottest sauce that one can get in Tenerife is Tabasco….I found food so tasteless that I would carry a small bottle of home-made chilly paste in my hang-bag all the time…. I also enjoy the food in Bangkok, which is not only hot and spicy but very, very delicious. Now that I am back home in Mumbai, I enjoy the wicket chilies, which are mild and yet so tasty to eat. I am so popular for my inventive chillie cutney recipes that many times, I may meet an acquaintance on the road and she will immediately ask me the recipe of the chutney that she had tasted in my house. Cannot write more about chilies on empty stomach, You.know what I mean?

Venezuelan Cuisine

There are many Venezuelan restaurants dotted around the island, famous mainly for their Arepas. This week-end we went to ´La Carajita´, a Venezuela restaurant at Puerto de la Cruz. This joint is famous for its wide variety of Árepas´, Venezuela’s home grown alternative to bread or rolls. These are cornmeal "cakes" about the size of a hockey puck that are crunchy on the outside but soft and fluffy on the inside, and they are stuffed with the variety of fillings to make a delicious snack. Then there are Cachapas, which are sweetest to taste and made like pancakes from cornmeal and has cheese as filling Tequenos are cheese rolls that are served with jam Salchita bravas is the dish that kids enjoyed a lot. These are sausages with potatoes cooked in tomato gravy. What I like best about this restaurant is that they have very good sauces to serve with meals. I like Salsa Picante, a chillie sauce and ´Guasacaca sauce´ an Avocado sauce similar to Mexican Guacamole but not as thick, and it is great for drizzling over arepas or empanadas.

Cuisine In Lagos

Outing in Lagos meant going out to dine. Be it Chinese, Nigerian or Lebanese, Lagos boasts of its finest cuisine that is exclusive in taste and its presentation. On the road, they would run behind our cars to sell the plantain chips which were very delicious. I would also see the locals roasting corn, yam and fish at every street corner. Eating in restaurants is a treat. Every restaurant had its own specialty and it was quite an experience trying out the various dishes. I loved the Nigerian cuisine that comprised of hot pepper soup (the best that I have ever tasted), Suya (roasted meat on bamboo sticks), Jellof rice (rice cooked in stew) fufu of cassava, Garri (mashed yam) and charcoal roasted fish. The best Nigerian cuisine were served at Ikoyi Club 1938 (a local club) and in Terra Culture (a cultural centre) The Chinese cuisine that I tasted in Lagos was superb. The meat so tender that it just melts in the mouth. There were three main Chinese restaurants that we visited: Jade Place, Pearl Garden and Golden Crown. When we go to a Chinese restaurant, they serve the condiments of onions, ginger and capsicum. We can combine these condiments with chilly sauce and Soya sauce to suit our taste. A hot and sour Peking Chinese soup with crispy rice is the specialty of all Chinese restaurants in Lagos. Other dishes that were on their menu included Sesame Puffs with the filling of minced chicken, fantail prawns, reddish cake, chicken dumplings, crab balls, spring rolls with the fillings of mayonnaise and prawns. (These were real good and just melted in the mouth). There were many Lebanese restaurants spread all over the city and enjoyed by all Indian society. The most famous Lebanese restaurants were ‘Double Four’, 'Oasis' and 'Goodies'. My cousin was mentioning that she had tried Lebanese at many places around the world but nothing could compare with the Lebanese cuisine of Lagos. And she was right. I tried Falafel, Kibbeh (lamb kheema), Hammus, Babaganoush (brinjal dip), Potatoharra, Shovarma (meat roll) Istanbulli Kababs,and Shishtaul (chicken Kabab) Fatoush salad (salad of cucumber, tomato, lettuce and fried bread) Tabouleh (salad of Parsley) garlic sause and Tatashe sauce (chillies sauce, which we would often pack and take it home). I was amused with the menu card in the restaurants. All the restaurants had colorful menu cards with the photograph of the actual presentation of the food that will be served. It would be easy to decide what we could expect on our table and we were never disappointed.