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- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

#restaurants

Positive Reads

Dining on History's Tracks: The Rise of Rail Coach Restaurants in India

Imagine enjoying a sumptuous meal inside a vintage rail coach while the wheels of history roll beneath your feet. It's a dining experience like no other, and it's becoming a reality in several Indian cities.  In Mumbai, a unique 'Restaurant on Wheels' made its debut in 2021, adding a delightful twist to the city's culinary scene. Dubbed 'Boggie Woggie,' this innovative restaurant was the first of its kind in Mumbai. The Central Railway ingeniously transformed a discarded railway coach into a gastronomic haven, situated at the iconic Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT). Nestled in the Heritage Gully near Platform-18, Boggie Woggie offers an eclectic menu, featuring North Indian, South Indian, continental, and Chinese cuisines. As you savor your meal, you'll be surrounded by rail artifacts, including locomotives, an old printing press, and cranes, creating a unique dining ambiance. However, Mumbai isn't the only city hopping on board the rail coach restaurant trend. The South Central Railway (SCR) has joined the party, setting up a 'Rail Coach Restaurant' at the Necklace Road railway station in Hyderabad. This venture promises a novel dining experience, making it the second such coach restaurant in Telangana after the "Restaurant on Wheels" at Kacheguda railway station. The first rail coach restaurant was introduced in Asansol. Many more such restaurants are offering unique dining experiences in places like Jabalpur, Nashik, Vizianagaram and Varanasi. These rail coach restaurants offer a unique blend of history and culinary delight, where diners can savor a meal while surrounded by the nostalgia of railway heritage. With plans for similar ventures in Rourkela and Bengaluru on the horizon, it's evident that this trend is fast becoming a delightful part of India's culinary landscape. So, if you're ever in Mumbai or Hyderabad, be sure to hop aboard these dining carriages for a truly memorable mealtime journey. All aboard!

14 Sep 2023
Positive Reads

Good News

India's Culinary Prowess Shines with Three Restaurants in Asia's Best 50 List

India has reason to celebrate as three of its restaurants have made it to the prestigious Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants List for 2023. Mumbai’s Masque, a fine-dining establishment, climbed from its 21st rank last year to an impressive 16th spot this year, while New Delhi’s Indian Accent moved up from 22 to 19. The newest entrant from India is Avartana, located in the luxurious ITC Grand Chola hotel in Chennai, which secured the 30th position and also won the Highest New Entry Award. The top-ranked restaurant on the list is Le Du in Bangkok, followed by Sézanne in Tokyo at number 2. Gaggan Anand’s eponymous restaurant in Bangkok, which reopened recently, also made a strong comeback at number 5. Meanwhile, Singapore led the pack with nine restaurants on the Top 50 List, and Tokyo had seven, while South Korea’s capital, Seoul, had four restaurants on the list. The Table and Americano from Mumbai, as well as Bukhara and ITC Maurya from New Delhi, appeared on the expanded list of 51-100 eateries. Mumbai's Ekaa, a cuisine-agnostic eatery run by chef Niyati Rao and restaurateur Sagar Neve, was also included on the extended list and claimed the 93rd position. The restaurant's name, Ekaa, which means "the one," derives from its pride in making one locally produced ingredient the star of each meal. It’s no small feat for India to have three of its restaurants ranked among the best 50 in Asia. This recognition is an indication of the country’s culinary excellence and its continued efforts to showcase its unique flavors to the world.

29 Mar 2023
Good News

Foodies can rejoice as eating out becomes cheaper

The prices of food items had gone up after the implementation of GST. Recently, a meeting was held between the GST commissionerate and  Pune-based hoteliers wherein the former urged the hoteliers to reduce their base prices as their input costs have come down. Consequently, hotels and restaurants in Pune have decided to reduce the price of food items by 5-10 per cent. This spells good news for foodies as eating out will now become cheaper. When GST came to effect from July 1, both AC and non-AC hotels and restaurants in Pune had started charging more depending on the 12 and 18 per cent GST slabs that were applicable to them. Rajlakshmi Kadam, deputy commissioner of GST, Pune Zone, said that several meetings were conducted, where hoteliers were urged to pass on the benefits they would be getting due to the reduction in prices of inputs. Subsequently, hoteliers have started offering a discount on their existing menu card. After a meeting with the GST officials and Union minister Prakash Javadekar, the hoteliers have decided to offer between 5-10 per cent discount.   New menu cards with reduced prices have already been printed by around 70 per cent of the restaurants and others will soon follow suit.  

23 Jul 2017
Good News

Government to ask restaurants to fix portions to stop food wastage

A fortnight after Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed concern about wastage of food in his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio programme, the union food minister, Ram Vilas Paswan  has asked owners of restaurants and five star hotels to fix portions in order to avoid wastage of food in the country. A report in the Hindustan times has disclosed that the ministry was drafting a questionnaire for hotels and restaurants to explain the appropriate dish size they should serve to a customer. Paswan said that they are just asking them to specify how many chapatis or idlis or chicken pieces they would serve in a plate. In plate system, a hotel or restaurant normally does not mention the amount of food that will be served, like the number of chapatis or the quantity of rice. The government wants them to specify and mention (in the menu card) that how much they would serve in a portion. In his Mann Ki Baat last month, Modi took up the issue of food wastage at feasts and termed it as injustice to the poor. Food wastage and subsequently food shortage is a big problem in India. A September 2016 government report said that the amount of food wasted in India can feed all of Bihar for a year.  

12 Apr 2017
Good News

FoodDosti

Food Dosti, One Of Its Kind Revolutionary Platform, Has Been Launched

Pune's Deputy Mayor Dr Siddharth Dhende on Wednesday launched a remarkable, game-changing app, the ' Food Dosti' app, version 2.0 at the Deccan Royale Hotel in Pune. The mobile application is the brainchild of Mr Sanjeev Neve, Founder of Samvad Social Technologies. The app is recognized as India's first zero food wastage platform which resolves the issue of food wastage in restaurants.  The app brings eateries, their customers, and non-profits together in a win-win bid to minimize food wastage. Restaurants tied up with Food Dosti offer Food Dosti points to customers who finish the food on their plate, thus encouraging patrons to aim for a cleaner plate after every meal. The points enable them to secure discounts on future meals. Another highlight of the app is that the surplus food at the restaurants is put to good use by being fed to the needy. The Food Dosti app, version 2.0 facilitates tie-ups between restaurants and non-profits/NGOs so that the surplus food reaches the needy, thus ensuring no food is wasted. Dr Siddharth Dhende, who was the guest of honour at the event pledged his support towards this noble cause and assured of all help. He has proposed special concessions for the entities connected to Food Dosti for the cause.  Celebrity Chef, Nilesh Limaye was also present at the event and expressed his views on zero food wastage. Director of Poona Guest House (PGH), Secretary of Pune Restaurant and Hoteliers Association (PRAHA) and a representative of Annadoot Charitable Sevabhavi Nyasa Mr Kishor Sarpotdar was present and shared his views on upcycling of food. Mr Sanjeev Neve said that his company is committed to working towards social causes and Food Dosti app is the first step in this endeavour.

25 Nov 2017
FoodDosti

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