Last posts on cuisine

Ljubljana InYourPocket

2008-07-25T15:37:26+02:00

Another summer, another In Your Pocket. The Europe-wide city guide series is proud to launch its newest guide in the capital of Slovenia in the same year that this small but plucky country holds the EU presidency.Ljubljana In Your Pocket will be published three times in 2008, then six times a year starting in 2009 to reflect the rapid changes in this exciting city. Offering everything from independent hotel, restaurant and nightlife reviews, the guide helps foreign visitors plan their journey from start to end, also providing transport schedules, city, country and public transport maps (in the print guide) and tips on what to see and do.When visiting Ljubljana, don't miss the chance to see the city's most prominent building, grand old Ljubljana castle up close, perhaps using the funicular to get there. There's plenty else to see and do in town. Make sure you catch one of the events of the Ljubljana Festival, which has world-class performances across the city all summer long. To escape the city, there's no better destination than beautiful Bled with its magnificent lake, views and famous cream cakes – read all about it in the Bled In Your Pocket special.Finally, if you have comments or tips that we can use to improve this guide, please send them to us here.Enjoy Ljubljana.

Direct links:http://www.inyourpocket.com/slovenia/city/ljubljana.html http://www.inyourpocket.com/country/slovenia.html

Are you a passionate foodie?

2008-05-30T08:50:00+02:00

If yes, how do you generally search for your next dining destination? There are several better ways for the ultimate restaurant search than the plain Jane Google or contradicting restaurant reviews.Searches are getting simpler for diners & foodies as they can find out what professionals & other users are saying about a restaurant before they choose to eat there. The growing search engine technology is also helping local business owners track their reviews reputation online, along with giving consumers the ideal food zones. Residents and visitors in metropolitan areas can easily find great local restaurants through their mobile phones with sites like Boorah that have a tie-up with mobile services.The ultimate personalized guide for restaurants makes it easy to find great "clam chowder" in Boston, "great seafood" in Seattle, "Italian beef" in Chicago, or "ribs" in Atlanta by capturing community vibe through user generated content and thereby making the search for a fine dining guide far more quick and easy. Users can check the menus online, view the food, discount restaurant gift certificates and coupons; get driving instructions and maps; get home delivery and also get details on online restaurant reservations.The next your foodie attitude drools for great Dim sum or wants a perfect place for celebration do check out the San Francisco restaurants guide or whatever place you belong to.

Quick Way to Find Great Restaurants

2008-05-28T08:55:26+02:00

If you are on the lookout for the ideal dining experience that perfectly matches your taste buds, it’s surely going to be a grilling experience to choose from the oh-so-many restaurants, your past experiences, plus the millions of local restaurant reviews (not sure which ones to trust). Also if you are looking for great "clam chowder" in Boston, "great seafood" in Seattle, "Italian beef" in Chicago, or "ribs" in Atlanta – it could be grueling. Need a restaurants directory that’ll give you the perfect restaurant recommendations?Thanks to vertical search engines. They spruce up the search for good restaurants by capturing the community vibe and social essence of existing online groups, and comparing these results to an individual's search criteria; thereby delivering unsurpassed relevance with the broadest community reach.Of course, with popular review sites, consumers are having smart ways to find local restaurants. But nothing could be smarter than a Restaurant search engine with its fine dining guide that acts like a one-stop shop for diners. Boorah delivers pertinent information gathered from over a half million online restaurant reviews in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. It’s not just a restaurant guide for food, but also the service and ambience.ultimate personalized review guides feature detailed restaurants ratings, menus, photographs, discount restaurant gift certificates and coupons, keyword searches and other relevant restaurant information (like online restaurant reservations) compiled from hundreds of sources on the Internet. The use of Natural Language Processing(NLP) system to analyze various user comments to rate the sentiments expressed by users in plain-English text is sure to get better search results. It automatically summarizes a collection of online reviews from bloggers, professional critics and consumers, and allows consumers to search restaurants based on their personal preferences.Searches are getting simpler for diners & foodies as they can find out what others are saying about a restaurant before they choose to eat there. Keep discovering!

Trail to your Favorite and Personalized Restaurants

2008-05-28T08:46:47+02:00

With unlimited choices of Indian Restaurants, Chinese Restaurants, Pizza Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants dining out is great fun. The ultimate personalized restaurant guide makes it easy to find local restaurants that serve great food and provide excellent service.Many web sites offer restaurant information, online reservations and reviews, but BooRah, the vertical search engine searches the Web and compiles all the restaurant reviews, creates a summary review and rating, and allows users to easily access the local restaurant reviews.

User-generated restaurant recommendations are automatically summarized from a collection of online reviews from bloggers, professional critics and consumers; and this allows consumers to search restaurants based on their personal preferences. They spruce up the search for good restaurants by capturing the community vibe.Even while you are on-the-go (travelling) BooRah’s vertical mobile search application makes the search for a restaurant guide smarter. So you’ll never feel like a stranger in any land. BooRah extends its restaurant reviews and ratings via its Syndicated Reviews Platform to the mobile phone. This service actually transforms millions of online restaurant reviews from across the Web into short, concise summaries and in-depth ratings.Searching for ones favorite and personalized restaurants has never been so easy.

How to Find a Vegetarian Restaurant?

2008-05-21T09:20:34+02:00

More and more people are turning to vegetarianism. And it seems like restaurants don’t have so much to offer to the vegans as much as they do for the non-vegetarians. But it’s not quite true. One can be a far better vegetarian today with the given choices of a multitude of restaurants that offer unique cuisines and yet remain purely vegetarian.Usually when one wants to dine about, the obvious ways to choose a restaurant are to ask restaurant recommendations from family, friends, and colleagues. With the growing socialization through Web 2.0 sites, looking for restaurant reviews in review sites has become the next way out. The growing search engine technology has made available vertical search engines – a restaurant search engine, BooRah . A restaurant search engine reaches out to a focused audience, who are out there looking for a fine dining guide. One can easily find all the vegetarian restaurants in one’s locality just by keying in “vegetarian” in BooRah. The vegetarian restaurant recommendations are complete with the listings containing detailed restaurant information such as reviews, ratings, cuisine type, menu, signature dish, decor description, hours of operation, price ranges, discounts and more.The vertical search engine are more of ultimate personalized review guides featuring detailed restaurants ratings, menus, photographs, discount restaurant gift certificates and coupons, keyword searches and other relevant restaurant information (like online restaurant reservations) compiled from hundreds of sources on the Internet. Users can find professional and user reviews available from other Web sites. The search features allow users to search by name, cuisine or location. They also provide addresses, hours, driving directions, maps, etc. for all local restaurants. Searching for a vegetarian restaurant that offers delicious food for the right price was never so easy.

Restaurant search made easy

2008-05-20T09:20:56+02:00

Looking for a fine dining guide among plenty of options is a gambling for great taste. Referring to restaurant reviews certainly eases out the bulk of choices. Even foodie blogs do sometimes act as a restaurant guide to find exotic cuisine.Today’s Web technologies have made search engines smarter. Vertical search engines like BooRah act like a restaurants directory that provides all the restaurant info you’ll ever need in one place. As you always do, you can search for local restaurant reviews – both professional and user reviews, restaurant ratings on food service and ambience, timings, addresses, phone numbers, maps, menus, photographs, discount restaurant gift certificates and coupons, online restaurant reservations, home delivery services for all local restaurants. You can also some info on how it’s gonna effect your wallet.

BooRah, the restaurant guide is based on user-generated reviews and that’s why users can make an informed decision and choose a good restaurant for their choice of food. Why read restaurant reviews from just one site, when everything is found pooled up in one restaurants directory.Dining out is great fun especially when you can to a great extent know what’s in for you at your actual restaurant experience.

Find Vegetarian Restaurants in the US Metros

2008-05-19T09:15:00+02:00

Finding vegetarian restaurants in the metros of the United States is no huge task. With vertical search engines like BooRah it’s easy to find local restaurants based on one’s choice of cuisine, professional and user reviews, restaurants ratings on food, service, ambience and overall quality; online reservations and more.

Most newspapers in larger cities have on-line editions that contain large collections of dining recommendations and reviews. Finding restaurant recommendations online is far easier with the newer Natural Language Processing based search engines that almost act like a restaurants directory.Vegans can find great foodie places in the San Francisco restaurant guide, New York restaurant list, or Los Angeles restaurants. Dining out is great fun and it only gets better with good restaurants. Searches are getting simpler for diners & foodies as they can find out what professionals & other users are saying about a restaurant before they choose to eat there. The growing search engine technology is also helping consumers find the ideal food zones. Residents and visitors in metropolitan areas can easily find great local restaurants through their mobile phones with sites like Boorah that have a tie-up with mobile services.The next you are on a hunt for a good vegan restaurant that serves you great food, do check out the restaurant search engine.

Net Restaurant Guide

2008-05-16T11:07:36+02:00

Looking for restaurants in the likes of San Francisco (with too many choices) is a gambling for great taste. Most people prefer to read restaurant reviews to find the perfect dining guide. Some others prefer their favorite foodie blogs to tell them what to eat next and where. Yeah, with many newspapers providing online restaurant reviews – that’s another way out. How if the goodness of all these online sites – review sites, blogs, newspapers, social networks is accessible in one-stop.Today’s Web technologies have made search engines smarter. Vertical search engines like BooRah act like a restaurants directory that provides all the restaurant info you’ll ever need in one place. As you always do, you can search for local restaurant reviews – both professional and user reviews, restaurant ratings on food service and ambience, timings, addresses, phone numbers, maps, menus, photographs, discount restaurant gift certificates and coupons, online restaurant reservations, home delivery services for all local restaurants. You can also some info on how it’s gonna effect your wallet.BooRah, the restaurant guide is based on user-generated reviews and that’s why users can make an informed decision and choose a good restaurant for their choice of food. Why read restaurant reviews from just one site, when everything is found pooled up in one restaurants directory.

Online Restaurant Guide

2008-05-15T07:05:16+02:00

Foodies and gourmets rejoice!!! The web is getting smarter for us to find restaurant recommendations. Still stuck with Googling for information or hunting about in review sites? Vertical search engines are making web searches more time friendly and their search results more user-friendly. In the restaurant space, there is BooRah that provides all the reviews, recommendations, restaurant ratings, menu, address and other basic info accessible in one neat place. Boorah, the restaurants directory (actually, a restaurant search engine) has information that includes 1,000,000 Restaurant Reviews, 225,000 Restaurants, 45,000 Restaurant Menus, 30,000 Restaurant Pictures, 6,000 Discount coupons for various restaurants, 4,000 Restaurants with Online Reservation capability and more. People can find out what others are saying about a restaurant before they choose to eat there. With the web full of restaurant recommendations and reviews based on the diner’s experience – hunting for restaurant reviews has surely become the first step while choosing a restaurant. Restaurant search engines like BooRah have an algorithm that captures this wisdom of crowds to bring it back to the users.The next time you search for restaurants don’t just look for reviews, blogs, newspaper review columns, but get all the restaurant info you need – address, discount coupons, home delivery or online reservations.

Web Search for Good Restaurants

2008-05-15T06:59:27+02:00

Delicious food served gorgeously is so inviting, and a whiff of the aroma wafting is so enticing. Savoring great food is what you expect to get with every visit to the restaurant, but how to find good restaurants. Searching the web in a generic search engine like Google, doesn’t always deliver the perfect restaurant recommendation.Thanks to Natural Language Processing technology and its use in building vertical search engines; in this context, a restaurant search engine called BooRah is simplifying searches. BooRah is a restaurant guide designed to analyze user-generated content and compile specific scores for food, service and ambience from user sentiments from across the web – blogs, review sites, social networks, wikis.So far the search engines have been powered by a keyword based technology, which has been making searches hectic with vast amounts of data mixed with a lot of irrelevant search results. But, the use of natural language interface can make search engines more precise in retrieving information.A restaurants directory is a great place to search restaurants that suit your social occasion. User-generated restaurant recommendations are automatically summarized from a collection of online reviews from bloggers, professional critics and consumers; and this allows consumers to search restaurants based on their personal preferences.Happy Chowing!!!

A premiere: the Sake menu

2007-10-01T15:35:00+02:00

It’s a premiere in France : from now on La Chassagnette offers a tasting menu mixing Japanese sake with Mediterranean cuisine. According to headchef Armand Arnal “the absence of tannin, the alcohol light-potency, the mineral harmony of sake offer a neutrality matching perfectly with acid and sour flavours of the Mediterranean cuisine’s vegetables and olive oil".

Armand Arnal has selected several Isaké’s sakes chosen to accompany each course of his menu. "The sake is able to vanish its personality to accompany meals with simplicity and give ground to a gustative alternative », highlights the chef who currently proposes his squash cream soup with jabugo, pears and sage of a red Premium Isake Fustsuu... It’s an unique sensory experience, a complete different way to sense the flavours.

Menu is served every evening for the whole table for 75€ per guest.

To learn more :

http://www.isake.co.uk/

Mouthwatering Memories - Authentic Indian Kolhapuri Cuisine - by Vikram Karve

2006-12-08T09:25:31+01:00

MY FAVOURITE “KOLHAPURI” RESTAURANT byVIKRAM KARVEIt’s a hot Sunday afternoon in Pune. I am voraciously hungry and am pining for a fulfilling meal. And what can be better than a wholesome authentic Kolhapuri meal to blissfully satiate my pangs of hunger? So I proceed to my favourite Kolhapuri restaurant called “Purepur Kolhapur” near Peru Gate in the heart of Pune City. It’s a Spartan no-nonsense eatery; the only thing conspicuous is the ‘Kolhapur zero-milestone’ outside the entrance which makes it easy to locate. I saw a similar zero-milestone somewhere in Kothrud the other day and wonder whether a branch of “Purepur Kolhapur” is coming up there too!There are just three main items on the menu – Mutton Taat (Thali), Chicken Taat, (which cost Rs. 75/- each), and Purepur Special Taat for a princely Rs. 120/- (I am told that the ‘Purepur Special’ contains everything the place has to offer!).There is a flurry of activity and a large stainless steel taat is placed in front of me almost instantly. The Purepur Special Thali comprises the following:•A large bowl of thick chicken curry with four generous pieces of chicken.•A plate of appetizingly crisp dark brown pieces of fried mutton liberally garnished with almost burnt deep fried onion strips.•A Kheema Vati (Katori)•A vati of Tambda Rassa ( Red Gravy)•A vati of Pandhara Rassa (White Gravy)•Kuchumber salad made of onions, ginger, coriander, green chillies and curds •Lemon pieces•A fresh piping hot chapatti (You can have bhakri if you want, but today I’m in a mood for a crisp hot crunchy chapatti splattered with pure ghee)•A bowl of jeera rice garnished with crisp brown fried onion strips and cashew nuts. I sip the pandhara rassa – it’s invigorating. Next I spoon into my eager mouth a generous portion of mutton fry. It’s not melt-in-the-mouth stuff (I think it is the inimitable Bolai mutton). I chew slowly and savor the sweetish taste of the fried onions blended with the lively spiciness of the crisply fried mutton. I dip a piece of the piping hot chapatti into the tambda rassa allowing it to soak in, place it on my tongue and chew it to a pulp until it practically swallows itself savouring the flavour till the very end. Exquisite!Now using my right thumb and two fingers, I lovingly pick up a small piece of chicken from the gravy; delicately place it on my tongue and roll it against my palate. I close my eyes, look inside, and focus on the succulent boneless chicken release it’s zesty juices and disintegrate. Yes, unlike the crispy fried mutton which need a vigorous chew to truly relish its deliciousness, the chicken is soft and tender, almost melt-in-the-mouth. I sample the Kheema Vati – it’s totally different from the Kheema I’ve tasted at Irani and Mughlai eateries. The Kheema has an unusual taste I can’t exactly describe – a bit sweet and sour– a counterbalancing contrast, perhaps.Now that I’ve sampled everything in it’s pristine form, I squeeze a bit of lemon on the mutton and chicken and embellish it with kuchumber to give it the right tang, and from time to time I sip the wholesome pandhara rassa. I thoroughly enjoy the confluence of contrasting tastes. In conclusion I mix everything with the rice and rejoice the riot of zesty flavours. At the end, as I always do after all hearty spicy meals, I pick up a wedge of lemon and squeeze a bit of lemon juice into my glass of water and sip it down. Believe me, it improves the aftertaste and lightens the post-meal heaviness sometimes caused by spicy Indian cuisine.It's an exciting, invigorating meal which perks me up and the sheer epicurean pleasure I experience makes up for the crowded, hassled ambience and indifferent service. Purepur Kolhapur is worth a visit for the quality and authenticity of its food.For most of us “Kolhapuri” food has become synonymous with the “chilli-hot” self-styled, purported, ostensible Kolhapuri fare served in both highfalutin and run-of-the-mill restaurants whose menus often feature dishes called “Chicken Kolhapuri” or “Vegetable Kolhapuri” which masquerade as Kolhapuri cuisine. Kolhapuri cuisine is “spicy”, not “chilli-hot”, not “rich” and “fatty” – nothing exotic about it. A Kolhapuri meal, unique in its simplicity, comprises a variety of lip-smacking, earthy, flavorsome, nourishing dishes and is so complete that it creates within you a inimitable hearty wholesome sense of fulfillment, and is a welcome change from the ubiquitous fatty and greasy-rich Makhanwalla, Masala, Kadhai, Handi, Naan, Biryani Punjabi / Mughlai fare you eat day in and day out. There is a world of a difference between pseudo- Kolhapuri and authentic-Kolhapuri food.I do not know where you get genuine Kolhapuri cuisine in Mumbai or any of the Metros. When we visit Kolhapur, we eat at Opal. I walked all over South Mumbai, experimented, tasted, sampled, but there was no joy. No Kolhapuri Taat anywhere, and even a la carte, nowhere was Mutton or Chicken Kolhapuri the signature dish – it appeared they had put it on the menu just for the sake of it, maybe to gratify the dulled taste buds on the alcohol soaked tongues of inebriated patrons who probably were in no state to appreciate the finer aspects of relishing good food. When queried, the waiters invariably said that Kolhapuri was synonymous with fiery chilli-hot food. I was disappointed to find not even a single authentic Kolhapuri restaurant listed in various Good Food Guides to Mumbai. If you, dear fellow Foodie, know of an authentic Kolhapuri restaurant, will you be so good as to let us all know?Happy Eating!VIKRAM KARVEvikramkarve@sify.comhttp://vikramkarve.sulekha.com

Mouthwatering Memories by Vikram Karve

2006-11-10T07:10:00+01:00

MOUTHWATERING MEMORIES - RUSTIC INDIAN CHICKEN CURRY AT A WAYSIDE DHABA IN VIZAGByVIKRAM KARVEIt’s a cold, damp and depressing evening in the back of beyond place where I now live.. There is an ominous wind, menacing lightening and disturbing thunder, and it starts to rain. Predictably, the lights go off, adding to the gloomy atmosphere.My spirits plummet and I sit downcast in desolate silence and indulge in forlorn self-commiseration mourning the past (which makes me feel miserable), speculating the future (which causes me anxiety) and ruining my present moment (which makes me melancholic).Whenever I am in a blue mood, two things are guaranteed to lift my spirits – good food and beautiful women – or even merely thinking about them in my mind’s eye. [In fact, I dread that the day I stop relishing good food, or appreciating beautiful women, for on that day I will know that I have lost the zest for living and I am as good as a dead man!]. As I languish out here in this godforsaken environment bereft of gustatory or visual stimulation (Colaba and Churchgate but distant memories), I close my eyes and seek to simulate my senses (that’s the trick – if you can’t stimulate; then simulate) trying to think interesting thoughts, evoke happy nostalgia, and suddenly a mouthwatering memory rekindles my spirits as I vividly remember the tastiest chicken curry I ever eaten and truly relished long back, almost twenty years ago, sometime in the eighties, at a rustic wayside dhaba on the highway near Visakhapatnam , or Vizag as we knew it.The ramshackle place was called NSTL Dhaba, why I do not know, and maybe it does not exist now, or may have metamorphosed into the ubiquitous motel-type restaurants one sees on our highways. We reached there well past midnight, well fortified and primed, as one must be when one goes to a dhaba, ordered the chicken curry and watched it being cooked. Half the joy of enjoying delicious food is in watching it being made – imbibing the aroma and enjoying the sheer pleasure of observing the cooking process. And in this Dhaba the food is made in front of you in the open kitchen which comprises an open air charcoal bhatti with a tandoor and two huge cauldrons embedded and a couple of smaller openings for a frying pan or vessel.They say that the best way to make a fish curry is to catch the fish fresh and cook it immediately. Similarly, the best way to make a chicken curry is to cut a chicken fresh and cook it immediately with its juices intact. And remember to use country chicken or desi murgi or gavraan kombdi for authentic taste.And that is what is done here. The chicken is cut after you place the order and the freshly cut, dressed and cleaned desi murgi is thrown whole into the huge cauldron full of luxuriantly thick yummy looking gravy simmering over the slow fire. How do you cook your Indian Mutton or Chicken curries? Do you fry the meat and then add water and cook it, or do you cook (boil) the meat first and then fry it? Here the chicken will be cooked first in the gravy, on a slow fire, lovingly and unhurriedly, and then stir fried later (tadka).There are a number of whole chickens floating in the gravy and the cook is keeping an eagle eye on each and every one of them, and from time to time gently nurturing and helping them absorb the flavor and juices of the gravy (As the chickens absorb the gravy they become heavier and acquire an appetizing glaze). Once the cook feels a chicken is ready (30-40 minutes of gentle slow nurtured cooking), he takes out the chicken, chops it up, and throws it into a red-hot wok pan to stir fry basting with boiling oil and then ladles in a generous amount of gravy from the cauldron. When ready the chicken curry is garnished with crisp fried onion strips and coriander and savored with hot tandoori roti. We have a bowl of dal (simmering in the other cauldron) duly “tadkofied” as a side dish. The chicken is delicious and the gravy is magnificent. Ambrosia! We eat to our heart’s content – a well-filled stomach radiates happiness!I still remember how delightfully flavorsome, tasty and nourishing every morsel was, and just thinking about the lip-smacking rustic chicken curry has made me so ravenously hungry that I’m heading for one of those untried and “untasted” Dhabas in my vicinity to sample their wares. If I don’t find it anywhere I’m going to try and make this rustic chicken curry at home. And if anyone in Vizag is reading this, do let us know whether the highway dhaba still exists or has it vanished.Till next time,Happy EatingVIKRAM KARVEvikramkarve@sify.comhttp://vikramkarve.sulekha.com