Blame the Bangarappa government of 1993, which took a decision to stop issuing more liquor licenses, a decision that still continues today.  According to
( Read more... )

Last night my mother was making carrot halwa. She called me and asked me to taste it and check if the sugar is right. After I'd done that and given my approval she said "now all that is left is to put in some cardamom and raisins and cashews ( Read more... )

In its earlier sit-down avatar on Bull Temple Road, it was known for doling out copious quantities of chutney in buckets. No sooner had you emptied half the chutney on your plate, a waiter would materialize and pour a bucket of the stuff into your plate. The main item on the menu here was the "khali dosa" (not to be confused with "plain dosa"). No ( Read more... )

I wrote this in a mail to the Satin group. This was in response to a mail by Amit Varma talking about priests in Haridwar who conduct the pre-ashes-dunking ceremony, and their fees, and the bargaining, and what could be a decent solution for the problem. I thought it might make sense as a standalone post, so I'm reproducing it here.
"The place" for ( Read more... )

During my recent pilgrimage, three of my four meals were at temples - two at the Horanadu temple and one at Sringeri. For the fourth meal, we took a conscious decision that a temple meal may not be suitable for an overnight bus journey on a bumpy road, so we ate at a restaurant.

The temple meal was kinda standardized. In both places. Steaming hot ( Read more... )

Around this time last year, I was doing a series of blog posts on delivery and revenue management practices in restaurants in Bangalore. My apologies for not updating on that series for so long.

This morning I had my breakfast at SLV in Banashankari 2nd stage (near the BDA complex; opposite the park next to the complex). Despite being within 200 ( Read more... )

The pricing of coffee at the Samrat restaurant (part of Hotel Chalukya on Race Course Road) is interesting. This is a popular old restaurant, and being in an area full of government offices, is perennially crowded (despite its large size). It is a sit-down kind of restaurant, though you might have to share a table with strangers if you've gone in a ( Read more... )

Ah, no. Don't get psyched by the title. This is not about agriculture, and will not be cross-posted on the Indian Economy Blog. This is more to do with the festival today. Sankranthi.

The basic activity during the festival is that you visit some N houses and give them a stick of sugarcane each (along with "side dishes" such as bananas, occasionally ( Read more... )

Almost every other year, there is a bumper crop of tomato in Kolar district, leading to prices of tomato falling under Rs. 2, leading to heavy losses amongst farmers. It's not uncommon for farmers to throw sackloads of tomatoes on to the highway rather than selling at such throwaway prices.

I hereby suggest that in such times of a glut in the ( Read more... )

I really like the way the coffee market in India is segmented. You have a clear distinction of cafe and coffee shop. If you just want a quick tasty caffeine kick, you just go to one of the cafes (Darshini types) and for some 6-7 rupees you'll get excellent steaming and strong filter coffee. However, there is only standing room there and you can't ( Read more... )