Bonjour! Last week was a whirlwind of delicious: dim sum (five places—I know, but I was working!), fat tortas and tall-boy Tecates (at La Torta Gorda), terroir-loaded wine from Bruno de Conciliis at Delfina, scooping up hummus and ful with fluffy pita at Old Jerusalem, Scotch eggs and Manhattans at Wexler’s, a brunch full of goodies from Pâtisserie Philippe (have you tried the little bacon-onion number they’re doing?), stellar falafel from Sabra, a meat-fest at the meatpaper party at Pizzaiolo, cachaca at the Leblon party at Rickhouse on Sunday night… It’s like I’m training for a food marathon or something. Hey, it’s all in the name of research!
Now I understand why I was procrastinating about writing up my trip to India: it was a beast of a trip. Just editing and captioning all my pictures took hours: here’s my photo set of Mumbai on Flickr for those who want to check it out. As for my jetsetter writeup, I decided to just start with Mumbai first, and then I’ll write up the beach towns (Goa, Varkala), Kerala, and our trip to Kumily and the tea plantations in a separate post.
It’s challenging to just focus on my usual “where to eat, stay, and play” format because the trip was so much more than that. Only writing about the food feels shallow. I could write for hours about the cultural things that were so fascinating, and share funny stories, and the challenging moments, too, but that’s not necessarily going to make a useful jetsetter post for someone traveling to Mumbai. Anyway, let’s just say it’s much easier to write jetsetter pieces for places like, say, Healdsburg. And too bad the piece doesn’t come with Smell-O-Vision, because the food was some of the best I’ve ever had.
Got some napkins ready? Let’s tuck in.
Warmly,
The spread at Old Jerusalem.View tablehopper Newsletter from Tuesday, Feb 23 2010
