Some Like it Hot!

Move over icy cocktails, for it is time to make way for a plethora of boozy drinks—from hot mulled wines and warm spicy toddies this festive winter season.

By Raul Dias

Quick question: what are the first few things that come to your mind when you hear the word ‘cocktail’? Tall, icy glasses and tumblers filled with colourful, alcohol-laced libations and topped off with imaginative garnishes would be some of the first to describe the drinks that both refresh and give you a slight buzz in equal measure. 

Well, not quite in this case! We are here to shake things up (pun intended!) a wee bit with a few cocktail iterations that trod the off beaten path. A path that is ultra-seasonal and one that takes you on an alcoholic ride no less potent. We are waxing eloquent about the hot or at the very least warm cocktails that make their annual presence felt the moment the mercury takes a little a southward dive. 

Here is looking at everything from hot mulled wines to warm spicy toddies and boozy buttered rums. All perfect drinks to warm the cockles of your heart this festive winter season. And what is even better is that you can make each of them at home yourselves!

Spiced Cinnamon Hot Toddy

At Silver Beach Café, Mumbai

Bourbon and maple with hints of spice makes this hot alcoholic beverage conceptualised by Iven Henry Raghwan, Senior Bar Manager at Silver Beach Cafe, Bandra, Mumbai the perfect choice for a nippy evening. The flavourful sweetness of maple does not overpower the notes of the Bourbon, yet it allows the spices to take over subtly and hit the right notes, just like the perfect melody! 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup maple syrup or cane sugar 

3/4 cup warm water 

Red chilly to taste 

2 whole cinnamon sticks

2 squeezed fresh lemon

2 ounces Bourbon

Hot water (as required)

Star anise (for garnish)

Method:

* Add maple syrup/sweetener, water, cinnamon sticks, chilly to a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook and simmer for 5 minutes. Then remove from heat and let it cool for 20 minutes or longer. Strain and store for use. 

* For one glass add half of the lemon juice, 4 tablespoons of the prepared spicy syrup, Bourbon and hot water to top.

* Throw in a stick of cinnamon and allow the drink to pull in the flavour of the spice.

* Garnish with star anise, a lemon slice and serve warm. 

Café Pluck Nutella Hot Coffee

At Café Pluck, Pullman New Delhi Aerocity

There is nothing quite like a cup of coffee, is there? Now, imagine few sips of the aromatic magic with an amazing combination of Nutella, and Baileys Irish Cream and you are suddenly awake and motivated to tackle your day head on. This hot cocktail, perfect for a chilly Sunday mid-day brunch is an explosion of flavours and textures and is the concoction of Café Pluck’s Assistant Manager, Mayank Pander all deceptively served up in a tall sundae glass.

Ingredients:

1 shot espresso coffee  

1 shot milk

1 tbsp Nutella

2 tbsp whipped cream

1 shot Baileys Irish Cream

Coffee, chocolate powder and chocolate cookies (for garnish)

Method:

* Take one shot  hot espresso in a sundae glass and slowly mix Nutella into the coffee.

* Add one shot of Baileys.

* Make a nice froth from hot, full cream milk and top it up over the coffee.

* Take whipped cream and nicely whip it over the coffee.

* Garnish it with crushed coffee, chocolate powder and chocolate cookies.

 

Hot Buttered Rum

At Artisan, Sofitel Mumbai BKC

This hot cocktail is especially popular in the fall and winter and is traditionally associated with the holiday season. “What makes it special is that it suits the Indian plate really well, with the use of spice and rum,” says Rajesh Singh, bar executive at Artisan, Sofitel Mumbai BKC who recently came up with this drink.

Ingredients:

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tbsp butter (soft)

1 dash ground cinnamon

1 dash ground nutmeg

1 dash ground allspice

1 splash vanilla extract

2 ounces Bacardi Gold Rum

5 ounces hot water 

Cinnamon stick (for garnish)

Method:

* In mixing bowl, combine butter, vanilla extract, sugar and spices. Beat until well combined.   

* In heat-proof glass or mug, combine aged rum with 1 ounce (2 tbsp) spiced butter mixture. Remaining mixture can be stored in airtight container in refrigerator for future use.

* Top with hot water and stir until ingredients are well incorporated. Garnish with cinnamon stick.

 

Mulled Wine

At Plum by Bentchair, New Delhi 

Dubbed the '#Plumazing Mulled Wine', this easy-to-prepare riff on a traditional mulled wine by Plum by Bentchair's Corporate Mixologist, Raj Negi is a beautiful meld of red wine, honey, orange zest, and spices to make you feel the pleasure of warmth in this chilly weather.

Ingredients:

150 ml red wine

15 ml honey

A pinch of orange zest

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise

2 cloves

Orange slice and cinnamon stick (for garnish)

Method:

* Add all the ingredients in a saucepan simmer gently over low heat for 10 minutes.

*  Serve warm and garnish with orange slice and cinnamon sticks.

(An edited version of this piece was first published in the November 2020 issue of LuxeBook magazine https://www.luxebook.in/)

Themed Bites!

Cashing in on the recent international trend of the ‘Themed Restaurant’ are a host of interesting eateries across India where everything from a vintage train-themed restaurant to one where you can buy the plate you’re eating on are drawing in those seeking to dine with a difference.

By Raul Dias

Who amongst us doesn’t like an evening peppered with loads of fun, laughs and great food and drink thrown into the mix? Enter the themed restaurant where dining out is coupled with some true-blue innovation. All this, in a setting that is almost phantasmagorical and deliciously thematic. A worldwide phenomenon for the last few years, India is finally witnessing a mighty surge in the themed restaurant.
The latest to come knocking on India’s doors is the robot restaurant that has become a sort of mainstay in places like Tokyo and Seoul. Staffed by a posse of humanoids with names like Arya, Ramya and Zoey, and simply called ‘Robot Restaurant’, this eatery in Bengaluru’s Indiranagar neighbourhood is drawing in diners by the drove since it opened in August this year.
We take a look at a few other such themed restaurants across the country. Places where there sure is a lot of dining room drama—both on and off the plate!    

Frontier Mail
Turbaned servers dressed like train attendants help you climb onto your designated carriage from the mock ‘railway station’ recreated below, as they stack your coats and bags onto the overhead shelves. Said carriage is an exact replica—if a tad larger—of an actual train dining car, embellished with all the grandeur and glamour that was associated with train travel in the early 1900s. Yes, providing a unique dining experience, Frontier Mail at the majestic Noor Mahal Hotel in Karnal has been designed recreating the legendry Frontier Mail train that operated between Mumbai and Peshawar during pre-independence days. Wood panelled walls gleam in the light of crystal sconces, while you sit on richly-upholstered chairs facing a polished wooden table. Interestingly, the wooden planks one sees under the mock train compartment are the actual ones over which the Frontier Mail once used to run. Even the menu at Frontier Mail comprises of dishes from the regions through which the train made its initial journey. Here is where you get to indulge in everything from fragrant biryanis of the erstwhile North West Frontier Province to Indo-Western fusion dishes like blue cheese stuffed fish kebabs to even a Mumbai-style prawn curry. For afters, make sure to end your meal with a serving of the sublime paan-flavoured ice cream.

Noor Mahal Hotel, NH1, Sector-32, Karnal (NCR).
Tel: 09996787884 / 891 / 892

Plum by Bentchair
This new Mumbai restaurants takes the whole themed restaurant idea to another stratosphere with its sheer innovative brilliance. The result of the coupling between a hospitality and a furniture brand, Plum by Bentchair, which along with its sister restaurant of the same name in New Delhi’s plush Aerocity enclave, bills itself as India’s first true ‘retail restaurant’. Here the diner has the option of buying whatever catches their fancy in the breathtakingly beautiful and eclectic space nestled in city’s Kamala Mills restaurant super hub. From the furniture to the lights to the plates, everything is on sale. From the design aspect, the entire restaurant is a display area of different collections and is all about the minute details, which are colourful, kitsch and eye-catching. Every dimension is well-kept and blends into each other rather than being distinctive. As for the food, the Pan-Asian cuisine menu is composed of signature dishes like the black fungus and bamboo shoot salad, edamame truffle wontons and the divine East Asian curry pot, among scores of other yummies like their extensive range of sushi. Speaking of which, upping the ante as far as innovation in food is concerned, Plum sends out the wacky-yet-yum Nutella banana sushi for dessert.

3^rd Floor Trade View Building, Kamala Mills Compound, Lower Parel, Mumbai.
Tel: 022-61344237

The Bedroom at The Flying Elephant
With an oddly incongruous name like ‘The Bedroom’, this themed section at the even more strangely named multi-leveled The Flying Elephant restaurant in Chennai revels in its rather playful nature. We’re informed that the reason it is called The Bedroom is because it is the most private portion of the otherwise high-energy restaurant. Precariously perched at the topmost level with a vertigo-inducing view of the rest of the gargantuan restaurant down below, this section seats up to 20 diners and is kitted out with silver-gold accents on the luxuriant upholstery and a bright red table. The space exudes a quiet luxury and makes a sophisticated style statement with a sparkling chandelier that is its focal point. Menus at The Bedroom are specially curated for the space. So that one can expect everything from succulent andana kebabs or hot pizzas from the wood-fired pizza oven to the decadent pork belly—a signature dish at The Flying Elephant. Some of the other creature comforts diners can indulge in here include both a private butler and a private bar dispensing yummy ‘Prohibition Era’ cocktails that hark back to America’s swinging 1920s.

Park Hyatt Chennai, 39 Velachery Main Rd, Guindy, Chennai.
Tel: 044-71771655

Prankster
Calling itself India’s first food and brewery campus—all inspired by the collegiate way of life—the rather playful and whimsical Prankster in Gurugram packs a mighty punch with an unbridled feeling of youthful energy, all thanks to its campus-like theme. The cuisine at this cool-n-casual first-storied restaurant can best be described as ‘progressive nostalgic’ where the chefs attempt to fuse numerous indigenous dishes with contemporary techniques and a twist. The extensive menu is peppered with innovative dishes like the choley kulche doughnut which is served with a gaajar achaar mousse, sambhar cappuccino and the nitro dahi bhalla savoury ice cream that not only evoke childhood memories but gives the diner of today a creative and innovative experience which one won’t forget in a hurry. Choose to spend your evening seated at one of the many campus zones like the library, the mixology lab, the amphitheatre or perhaps at the hostel room that is perfect for a private party with its bunk beds and study tables.

8-9-10, Sector 29, Main Market, Gurugram (NCR).
Tel: 0124-4266653

(A differently edited version of this piece was first published in the November 2019 issue of The Week's Smart Life magazine)

Conceptually Yours!

Cashing in on the latest international trend of the ‘Concept Restaurant’ are a host of interesting eateries in the Delhi NCR where everything from themed restaurants to ones where you can buy the furniture are drawing in those seeking to dine with a difference. 

By Raul Dias

Plum by Bentchair
The idea behind the inception of this unique conceptual restaurant is truly an interesting one! The product of a collaboration between a hospitality and a furniture brand, Plum, India’s first true ‘retail restaurant’ offers people the option of buying whatever catches their fancy in the breathtakingly beautiful and eclectic space nestled in city’s plush Aerocity super hub. From the furniture to the lights to the plates, everything is on sale. From the design aspect, the entire restaurant is a display area of different collections and is all about the small details, which are colourful, kitsch (in a good way!) and eye-catching. Every dimension is well-kept and blends into each other rather than being distinctive. As for the food, the Pan-Asian cuisine menu is replete with everything from the smoked eel nigiri to the crispy Thai lotus root and the spicy Cantonese barbeque chicken bao. With the striking, blue butterfly pea flower as the newest rage on the Indian dining scene, here too one can find the Thai ingredient in Plum’s iteration of crispy garlic fried rice with edamame. And for those still craving some sushi, the very innovative Nutella banana sushi seeks to remedy that.
The Walk, Worldmark 2, Aerocity, New Delhi-110037
Tel: 091-7303156444

Nueva
As Delhi’s first Peruvian cuisine restaurant, Nueva which means “new” in Spanish is pushing the boundaries as far as the city’s burgeoning concept restaurant scene is concerned. It does this to enormous success with both its stylish look and with its rather unfamiliar and exotic food offerings. The restaurant’s sophisticated, dark toned interiors and art deco accents are well-distributed between its three zones of the downstairs bar, the main dining hall and the angular 12-person private dining room on the first floor. Besides the strong presence of the expected Pervuian classics like shrimp and scallop ceviches and sushis—that reference the unique Japanese-Peruvian blend that’s known as Nikkei cuisine—there are also plenty of other Latin American dishes and drinks on the menu. From assados to dishes like the castila and saltado de carne, all bring that Latino flare to the experimental diner. Nueva even does a 12-course degustation menu where you can sample small portions of its menu’s top dishes.
Ground floor, Sangam Courtyard, R.K. Puram, New Delhi-110022
Tel: 011-65568382/9266668382
 

Unplugged Courtyard
Channelling the chilled-out vibe that transports you straight to the climes of Goa right in the heart of Gurgaon’s precinct of Udyog Vihar, this conceptual restaurant is welcoming, intimate and quite effortlessly dramatic. All that’s missing is the feel of the waves lapping at your toes! The space is understatedly elegant and generously spaced over 15,000 square feet spanning two levels, boasting of a terrace area, a secret garden and a quirky full-scale mock double decker bus that give the place a distinctly ‘comfy’ feel, without ever seeming over-designed. One of the few restaurants in this part of the NCR to offer daily, live acoustic music, Unplugged Courtyard truly lives up to its ‘unplugged’ concept. Offering up an eclectic mix of Indian, pan-Asian and Italian cuisine, the menu is designed and executed by ex-Noma, Copenhagen chef, Akshay Bhardwaj. Here, one can expect to experimental creations like duck kulchas and the atta chicken that’s baked whole covered by banana leave and a sealed with dough along with some beautifully presented drinks to sip on. 
No 9 Convenience Shopping Complex, Phase II, Udyog Vihar, Sector 20, Gurgaon-122012
Tel: 091-9319892965

Le Cirque 
Literally meaning ‘The Circus’, the concept-driven Le Cirque is all about the fun and the whimsical set in a chic and sophisticated atmosphere. From the beautifully-appointed bar lounge and the three spacious dining rooms to the alfresco seating with breath-taking views of New Delhi’s majestic Diplomatic Enclave, the 144-seat restaurant is drama personified. Even the exquisite porcelain Bernardaud tableware with its balloon motif mirror the restaurant’s playful side. As for the food, each of the items offered remain true to the Le Cirque vision of classic, yet innovative French-Italian cuisine. Signature dishes include seafood classics like the turbot àla grenoblaise where the fish is served with cauliflower, lemon, capers and almonds and the paupiette of black cod. For afters indulge in the two must-haves—cannoli and the floating island ‘Le Cirque’.           
The Leela Palace New Delhi, Chanakyapuri, Diplomatic Enclave, New Delhi-110023
Tel: 011-39331220

Swad
Bringing an interesting desi twist to the NCR’s new-found conceptual dining scene is this all-vegetarian multicuisine restaurant that serves dishes with a quirky spin to them. Imbued with plenty of kitschy elements, the contemporary-meets-Irani cafe inspired décor of the restaurant gives it a casual and relaxed vibe. Here you can tuck into interestingly presented dishes like the masala paneer slider that is injected with makhani gravy, the aloo-wadi curry that comes to the table in a small red pressure cooker or the kulhad wale palak chole chawal that’s served upside down. From the menu’s western and Asian sections, you can pick from Indianised renditions of everything from Mexican chimichanga rolls to the spicy Bangkok Manchurian bowl—never mind the geographical inaccuracies of the words ‘Bangkok’ and ‘Manchurian’ put together in the same sentence!
43, Ground Floor, Chiranjivi Tower, Nehru Place, New Delhi-110019
Tel: 091-9821524232


Enter, the concept nightclub!
Toy Room 
Riding the coattails of the concept restaurant boom in the Delhi NCR is this very unique ‘concept nightclub’. With a cuddly teddy bear named ‘Frank’ as its mascot, this 400-seater place is filled with children’s toys and other fun imagery—all in an entertaining, high-octane setting, bringing a subtle innocence to some hardcore partying. The interiors of Toy Room are chic, yet vibrant and quirky. The grand entrance lobby housed with a special merchandise area is dominated by a whimsical rendition of the classic last supper painting. Meander through the narrow passage leading to the main hall which is a L-shaped space with a huge curvilinear island bar serving a range of libations. Interestingly, for a nightclub, the food on offer here is an excellent selection of tapas style, small plates of sushis, dimsum and one of the best iterations of a simple pizza margherita you’ll ever have in the NCR.               
ALOFT Hotel Aerocity, Aerocity, New Delhi- 110037
Tel: 091-9953137673

(An edited version of this article first appeared in the April 2019 issue of Jetwings in-flight magazine of Jet Airways http://www.jetairways.com/EN/IN/jetexperience/magazines.aspx)