City Food – Five Spots, Gurugram’s Sadar Bazar
5-star culinary tour. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Food tours in Old Delhi—nice, but now such a cliche! Do a food tour in old Gurugram, for a change, especially in Sadar Bazar. And be sure to stop by…
City Food – Game Wali Kulfi, Turkman Gate
Summertime heritage. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Citizen Nizam doesn’t think much of himself. “What is special about me?”—he asks, genuinely perplexed on being photographed. Well, good sir, you happen to be among the last flag-bearers of an…
City Food – Rooh Afza Sherbet, Old Delhi
In cold red. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi’s monuments are usually made of red sandstone. One exception is a red sherbet, its origins tightly entwined into the dense tapestry of Purani Dilli’s rich history. Say salam-namaste to…
City Food – Khajla, Old Delhi
Taste of ramzan. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A hand reaches out in the night sky, plucks the full moon, plunges it into a cauldron full of hissing hot oil. The moon swells up, turning brown. You may…
City Food – Fig & Honey Ice-Cream, India International Center
Legends of a legend. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The chef is refusing. He wants the recipe to remain a secret. Chef Vijay Kumar Thukral is a living landmark of Delhi’s iconic India international Center, and the recipe…
City Life – Rajbir & Joseph Stein, Around Town
A tale of two citizens. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A chilly afternoon briefly brings two citizens into close vicinity. He is a street vendor. He was an architect. Rajbir. Joseph Stein. Rajbir is standing beside a central…
City Food – Gajar ka Gur, Around Town
Like a rare metal. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Gajar ka halwa is red. Because gajar is red. This is the case most of the times. Perhaps you might have heard of white gajar ka halwa. A rare…
City Food – Poet Ghalib’s Daal, Somewhere in Delhi
On the poet’s birth anniversary. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Happy Birthday, Ghalib! You turn 226 today. It’s not easy to crack Delhi’s greatest poet. The most sophisticated Urdu intelligentsia find his poetry formidable, for Mirza Ghalib is…
City Food – Tasty Trinity, Gurgaon
Gaalis in the galis. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] In foggy December, one of the few consolations during the gloomy thandi can be the company of jalebi, pakori and adrak chai. Every pincode in the big wide Delhi…
City Food – Gajar ka Halwa, Around Town
Carrot tourism. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Red Fort looks red from the outside. But a lot of it is white from within. Gajar halwa sports this very same red. Carrot is red after all, most of…
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