June 2012
8 posts
12 tags
Pub grub goes posh
Weekly Restaurant review | Chophouse at the Biere Club | Priya Bala
The Biere Club has become quite a hotspot downtown and now there’s another dining option here. One of the floors has been converted to become a formal dining space; it allows for a quieter night out when you want to sit down to a meal, rather than hang about the bar or get high on the buzz and the craft beer in the other spaces at...
7 tags
The water crisis
Priya Bala | Editorial Advisor, PoshVine
No, it’s not a shortage of water, but an abundance of it, or, rather, the choices surrounding it, that’s causing the crisis. I know more people who are annoyed and put off by the water service in restaurants than by bad food or bungled orders.
There was a time when restaurants always poured you a glass of drinking water even before you were handed the...
6 tags
What’s this on my plate?
Priya Bala | Editorial Advisor, PoshVine
Back from a break, it was time to catch up with friends. So, we went for late afternoon cocktails at this hip resto-bar. All was well, until, feeling a little peckish, we ordered a dish of batter-fried chicken bits. They were shreds, rather than strips and also had a piquant sauce around them.
There I was, telling travel tales and munching on the chicken,...
7 tags
Courting Indian
Priya Bala, Editorial Advisor, PoshVine
The food preview for the media can seem like an occupational hazard. There’s the hardsell, the not-so-useful press kit and, occasionally, bragging restaurant critics for company. But this one at the ITC Gardenia’s Kebabs and Kurries was different and enriching . Thanks to the presence of Master Chef Imtiaz Qureshi. He was in town to unveil the new...
6 tags
Try Aping That!
Weekly Restaurant Review | Monkey Bar | Priya Bala, Editorial Advisor, PoshVine
Setting out to describe Monkey Bar, I have more adjectives than I can juggle – cosy, intimate, unpretentious, laidback, easy, relaxed, cool, casual, buzzy, lively. It is all these and more, all things to all people. And there are so many people thronging the place! This is the flavour of the season, make no mistake,...
6 tags
Tandoori abroad
by Priya Bala, Edirotial Advisor, PoshVine
I have been travelling. Imagine my surprise then to find tandoori chicken among the sandwich filling options at a popular baguette chain while traipsing about Bergen in Norway. Yes, I know chicken tikka masala is the national dish of Britain, but in the northern reaches of Scandinavia? Certainly makes you understand and appreciate the universal appeal...
7 tags
The case for small menus
by Priya Bala, Editorial Advisor, PoshVine
I am assisting a restaurateur and management pro who is writing a book on how to start and run your restaurant. He blogs on the subject and it’s widely read. I believe the book will be a success, too. He has some pet theories and they are based on sound research and analysis. One is that single product restaurants are probably more tuned to succeed than...
3 tags
The service charge debate
By Priya Bala, Editorial Advisor, PoshVine
At PoshVine, it crept upon us while we weren’t looking. Or, you would’ve known when restaurants started adding service charges to the bill. But now everyone seems aware and there’s even been a debate in the newspapers about whether it’s a fair practice. One view, and it is endorsed by the government authorities, is that it’s ‘illegal’. The other comes...
