Sunday lunch at Swagath

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Swagath is one the Mukherji family's all-time favourite restaurants, owing completely to their exceptional food and service. From the servers to the managers, everyone is kind and makes your dining experience a grand one. But what keeps us coming back over and over (and over and over and over) again is their fabulous food. They specialise in Mangalorian, Malabari, and Chettinad cusine though they are also pretty good when it comes to their North Indian food (omg their tandoori chicken). With its focus on South Indian coastal food, it's seafood is spectacular. With a menu as extensive as theirs (I should add they also make Chinese) it's crucial that you know what to order to make your meal a special one. What, you ask, is their star dish? The one item that catapults them to the top of many a list of ridiculously delicious foods? What (at least) keeps us coming back for more?

Butter garlic anything.

That's right, you heard me. Butter garlic anything. Their butter garlic sauce is to die for. It's a molten mix of what seems like buckets and buckets of butter and freshly fried garlic, to which you add a seafood of your choice. Butter garlic squid, prawn, pomfret, bombay duck, surmai, and a range of other kinds of fish. The winner hands down, however, is their butter garlic crab. Unimaginably sweet and soft crab meshes with the rich, luxurious gravy to create a party in your mouth. The combination is so perfect, so perfect. I honestly have no words to explain how this is hands down the greatest item of food on the planet. Great, now I'm hungry again...


















London, I Love You.

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Over the past year(ish) that I've been at SOAS, I've grown to love London and everything about the city that I'd like to consider my new (and hopefully future) home. I love London. I love it, I love it, I love everything there is about it. No matter what kind of a person you are, you're bound to find a niche for to settle yourself in in London - and if you haven't, then you haven't looked hard enough! The multiculturalism, the beautiful energy, the old-world charm are all small pieces of the puzzle that give London its vibrant atmosphere - an atmosphere that I became instantaneously enamoured with.

Having said that, it must be said that I've been having the time of my life since being back in India this summer. I hadn't been in India since September 2011, and being back home, with my family, my old friends, my old way of life - it's been quite different from the past nine months in London, but it's been absolutely fabulous. I've already started feeling these pangs of heartache every time I think about having to leave my loved ones here at home and go back to living alone in London (yes, yes, I know I live in university halls where there're tons of people always around but it is different nonetheless..) I'm a sappy sucker when it comes to sentiments, so you can expect waterworks at any point when his particular topic is being discussed. 

To add another bit of juxtaposition and undeniable inner-conflict to this post (great, I know), ever since the Olympics started I've been nostalgic about my time in London. Olympics-hysteria has taken over the globe and the UK is at the centre of the world's attention. The Brits and their enthusiasm have really done a great job by accentuating the sportsapalooza and though even I'm not a great fan of sports, I've become hooked to the television watching whatever event is on, whether it be women's weightlifting (new favourite sport what whaat), rhythmic gymnastics, or synchronized swimming! Seeing aerial views of the city - from Trafalgar Square to South Bank - during the breaks between events, I myself want to be down in Hyde Park with a Union Jack in hand (strictly for the atmosphere, I promise - Team India all the way ahem), a picnic on the way, and cheering on the athletes with all the others lounging around the public viewings. A glass or five of Pimm's, some yummeh foods from the nearest M&S, a mandatory combination of red and blue somewhere on your body, and you're set! Ahhhh London. See you in September!

ps: It turns out that today was just one of those days that I was really in the mood to write. For that reason, this isn't a picture-heavy post, but I quite like the idea of a rant or two from time to time (and I hope you feel the same way ahem). If you've been being a wonderful person and visiting Güzel Günlerimiz, do post below in the comments and let me know your thoughts (you don't have to be a blog owner or anything of the sort to post comments btw). It only takes a few seconds, and I'd love to hear from you! 

Cheers! (See what I did there?...)

December 2011 - When la familia visited me in London during winter break. Best of both worlds? I think so. Win! 

Nargile Nights

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My fascination with sheesha started a good five or six years ago, when the then-gorgeous Mocha Cafe - which specialised in thick, gooey milkshakes, heavily spiced Maggii noodles, and 'exotic' hookah flavours - opened up in Gurgaon. Soon after, whenever my friends and I would spend time together the presence of a sheesha pipe was almost an unsaid rule.

With sheesha bars becoming highly sought after in recent years, it's almost impossible to not bump into one no matter which city of the world you're in. When I travel, I love to visit a 'local' restaurant/bar/cafe/shady place where nargile is on offer. Some of my unforgettable sheesha experiences have been at a small, local Egyptian cafe overlooking the Pyramids, next to the Bosphorus, under the Galata Bridge in Istanbul, on the beach in Larnaca while soaking in the Mediterranean breeze, and in Bangkok's infamous Arab Street on Soi 3. 

While I was in Pattaya this June, my mom and I were on the hunt for nargile. But after much pacing up and down seedy sois (streets), we realised that we were more than ready to pass on the sheesha if it meant not having to sit in gaudily lit open bars crammed with older Caucasian gentlemen and very respectable women looking for a good time and blasting everything from Black Eyed Peas hits to ridiculously upbeat Thai electro-pop. Avoid.

Unfortunately now in Haryana there's a ridiculously unfounded ban on all public displays of anything hookah-related. Don't even ask. However, strangely enough, Utsav and I found what seems to be a licensed sheesha cafe the other day - sweeeet. One of our new go-to places to hang out this summer? Certainly. Pictures from the day are below. 

Sheesha, hookah, nargile, waterpipe, hubble-bubble - whatever it's called, wherever I am, I'm drawn. The ethereal aromas of fruity concoctions, from double apple, watermelon, grape and mint, and pina colada. The satisfaction you attain from the long, deep, slow drags from the pipe, accompanied by the bubbling tune of water rushing around in the colourful, adorned glass base. The billowy, white, cloud-like smoke that envelops you after even a brief exhalation. Bliss. 









More pictures to follow when I'm done going through my ridiculously unorganised archive of photographs. 

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