Rats, Mice, Flying Insects Mar Dhaba Restaurant in NYC

Is it too much to ask Indian restaurants in New York City that they keep their premises and kitchens reasonably clean? Indian restaurants in New York City are notoriously dirty. Restrooms without toilet paper, spoiled food, dirty outer garments of staff, rats, mice, flying insects and other live animals are only some of the ugly […]

Bush Sends Rice to India. Hey, Send Some Wheat Too

Our dodo-in-chief a.k.a. commander-in-chief and President Bush has dispatched that inept Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to India in the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attacks. What for? Apparently, Rice (who once referred to her dodo-in-chief Bush as my husband) is visiting India ‘to express the condolences of the American government directly to the Indian […]

Who Needs Sex…When You Can Have Pineapple Gojju

Ever since we dined at Hoysala a few weeks back, we’ve been hooked, line and sinker on that fine delicacy from the South Indian state of Karnataka – Pineapple Gojju. So this Diwali we set out to make this remarkable invention of God (believe us, something as non pareil as the Pineapple Gojju is beyond the ken of […]

Sapthagiri – Mona Lisa of Masala Dosas in New Jersey

Finding a good Dosa in the U.S. is becoming almost as hard as seeing the Halley’s Comet. And for unabashed gourmands like us, who’d kill for a good Dosa, that’s so frustrating. In our odyssean quest for good Dosas, we have traveled far and wide, often driving across state borders in the U.S. Alas, nemesis […]

Hoysala – Manna from Heaven in New Jersey

If the poet William Wordsworth had dined at Hoysala in Somerset (New Jersey), he’d have modified the famous lines in his poem to read: Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive but to be hungry at Hoysala was very heaven. Most Indian restaurants in the U.S. are like our Bollywood movies. The skimpily-clad […]

Udupi Green Chili Pickles – O la la la

Call it Pickles. Or call it Achar (Hindi), Urga (Tamil), Upinkai (Kannada) or Uragai (Telugu). Rich or poor, villager or city slicker, young or old, North Indian or South Indian, these hot accompaniments are a sine qua non of any Indian meal. They go well with rice (particularly yogurt rice) as well as roti. And […]