Nonchalant Gourmand

24/09/2026

Some of the best meals I’ve eaten haven’t been in restaurants.

This one was cooked for me by my friends and in their apartment in HafenCity, Hamburg. Jan made his family’s pork recipe — Schweinefleisch mit Backpflaumen. Pork floured and shallow fried in dairy tallow, then a sauce made in the same pan: w**e, orange juice, cream, bouillon, reduced until creamy and sticky and clinging.

The Backpflaumen — dried plums, soaked in w**e — go in last, whole, so they stay firm enough to cut into alongside the pork. Sides were Kroketten. Buttered peas with shallots.

Fruit cooked into meat is one of the oldest ideas in European cooking. Dried plums were sweetness, acidity, preservation — centuries before making this a true classic homestyle cooking. This recipe carries the mantle of tradition.

Jan didn’t have a name of this — It is just what his family makes, and now he’s taken over that mantle.

There is a generosity in cooking someone your family’s recipe when they visit from across the world. It is, I think, the highest form of hospitality. You are not taking them to a restaurant. You are handing them something that belongs to you.

I’ve been thinking about this meal since I got back. And here it is for you to recreate too — Recipe on the blog

(Also highly recommend leftovers the next day)

20/09/2026

Mauritius has never really had to work too hard to charm us Indians — direct flights, turquoise lagoons, long stretches of sand and that familiar island ease have made it a perennial favourite.

But for my latest story in TNIE Magazine today, I went looking for a slightly different experience: and this one delivered ! A more contemporary and decidedly more design-led space.

I spent a few days at LUX* Grand Baie, discovering what happens when barefoot island living combines with serious design, wellness and a little bit of family-sized indulgence. From its sculptural spaces and sprawling villas to the beach, the spa and everything in between, this is Mauritius with a modern upgrade — without losing the pleasures that brought us here in the first place.

The Island Upgrade — out now in The New Sunday Express Magazine.

17/09/2026

Paris 2026: my second The 50 event this year, and it took me to the beautiful city of Paris. There is, of course, the excitement of being in a room with some of the most extraordinary hotels and hoteliers from around the world, but what makes The 50 Best Hotels so special, for me, is that it is so much more than an awards ceremony.

It is a coming together of people, cultures and ideas, and over the course of these few days, I found myself hearing some incredibly inspiring stories about the people behind these hotels and what it really takes to create a sense of place today. The language of luxury is changing, and perhaps that is what makes this community so fascinating — the conversations are no longer just about rooms, design or service, but about how hospitality can make us feel, connect us to a culture and give us something to take away with us.

And Asia continues to shine through it all — Rosewood Hong Kong retaining the No. 1 spot for the second year around, Bangkok placing three hotels in the Top 10, and India represented by The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai at No. 30, The Johri at No. 94 and The Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur at No. 98. Different stories and so many vivid approaches, but all part of this wonderfully evolving conversation around hospitality.

To be able to be a part of it, listen, learn, exchange ideas and simply be around so many passionate minds — that, for me, was the real takeaway from Paris. And a privilege, indeed.

15/09/2026

To be in Paris this week, surrounded by the world’s best hotels, is a rather wonderful place to find yourself.

I’m here for The 50 Best Hotels 2026, and yesterday, at The 50 Best Talks: Unpacked at Four Seasons George V Paris, the conversations offered a fascinating glimpse into where hospitality is headed.

From Eleanor White of Tourism Economics unpacking how the way we travel is changing, to Hélène Darroze, Julien Sebbag and Andrea exploring what makes a restaurant or bar worth travelling for, there was a recurring insistence on something I find increasingly interesting: the experience has to mean something.

Globetrender’s Jenny Southan and Dr Atom Sarkar took this even further, looking at the neuroscience of hospitality and the shift from luxury as a collection of things — stars, spas, thread counts — towards luxury as an emotional response. Memory, rather than the amenity itself, is becoming the real measure of luxury.

Anne Seibel brought another layer to the conversation, reminding us how profoundly film can shape the way we see — and ultimately experience — a destination, while Omer Acar and Marc Socker brought it back to the people behind the experience: curiosity, empowerment, culture and the ability to make a guest feel genuinely looked after.

It made me think that the future of hospitality may be less about giving us more, and more about giving us something we actually feel.

A few moments from a very thought-provoking day in Paris.


The M Collective

14/09/2026

Paris has a way of rearranging your plans and you really don’t have to try too hard to make it an exciting day.

Went out for a baguette at Boulangerie Utopie — the same bakery that won France’s Meilleure Boulangerie title a few years back — and walked straight into Purva, who I hadn’t seen in years, walking out with a sesame loaf. Neither of us saw this reunion coming.

Came back to the hotel for coffee, and then a French cuisine lunch at Le Petit Chaillot recently opened, and then Shiladitya M messaged saying he had a layover in Paris. A few hours later he was with us in the Marais and we walked around with a stop BAR NOUVEAU for tipples. RSVP Paris for leather goods, Merci Paris — the concept store that’s been going since 2009 and still gives a chunk of its profits to charity — and 𝐀𝐌𝐈 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢, where I picked up a raglan. Stopped at Officine Universelle Buly 1803 too, the perfumery still run like the 1803 apothecary it’s named after.

By evening we were at Le Roi de Pique ♠️✨ with Ruinart and calamari frites, picked up a bottle of red from Delicatessen Cave nearby, and ended the day at Suvodeep Das and Shruti Sutwala for w**e, cheese, and caviar. A fitting Sunday in, except it was Paris.

Quite unplanned, which, honestly, is usually when Paris works best.

Explore France

13/09/2026

Flâneur, fed

Fifteen thousand steps today, and at least a third of them were spent circling back to smell something I’d already walked past once. I’m in my favourite food city Paris (more on why, later!)

But started the day with my sister Urvita and I taking a private walking tour we started at the Louvre (see stories!) but you can’t stand outside it without getting a small, unasked-for history lesson leaking in from every direction. Then Sonali Harshe, a local friend and guide, took over, and the day stopped being about landmarks entirely.

Au Petit Versailles Du Marais first, croissants still warm and buttery enough to fog the bag. Florence Kahn Boulangerie next, while their babkas are dense and delicious — we scurried off to Yann Couvreur for financiers. L'As du Fallafel L’As — the queue is real, so they are shut on Saturdays. La Boutique Jaune - Sacha Finkelsztajn window held us hostage, mesmeric!

Marianne Delicatessen felt like a left pantry open by accident and falafels there were soft and crunchy (don’t know how)! Maison Jean-Paul Hévin chocolate we heard was one of the best in town. And Monbleu Le Comptoir closed things out with a w**e and a cheese I’m choosing not to name (but those wedges are breakfast today too)

This is what being a flâneur in Paris actually costs — not money, just appetite, and the willingness to let a five-hour walk turn into a beautifully planned first day!
📍 with Sonali Harshe Explore France

10/09/2026

Debut byline for Travel Handmade - Online Magazine : I review a 15-course tasting menu that looks across India through familiar dishes, ingredients and plays on nostalgia, and finds a wider, wilder take on vegetarian cooking in the process.

At Avatara.in, the new Sutras menu by Sanket JOshi moves from black rice idli and ker sangri kachori to a surprisingly intense jackfruit Nihari, with house vermouths and a few delicious surprises along the way.

Vegetarian courses menus made this way which surprise, delight and keep you and your palate sated are the way to go!

Read the full review at the link in bio.

[Avatara Mumbai, Sutras, vegetarian tasting menu, plant-forward dining, Indian cuisine, Mumbai restaurants, food review, Travel Handmade]
Riyanka | Independent Writer & Slow Traveler 🌍

09/09/2026

08/09/2026

A Coffee Omakase Experience with Bombay Island in Collaboration with Nikhil Merchant.

A Saturday afternoon spent slowing down with friends and discovering our Coffee’s.

The tasting was guided by our founder Rupal Jain, who took them through three distinctive Indian origin coffees from Ratnagiri, and showed them how different methods can transform the flavour of each coffee.

What’s not to like in a few cups of delicious brews followed by an easy brunch with friends.

Bombay Island opens in Andheri tomorrow, and we’re looking forward to seeing you there.

[Coffee Omakase Mumbai, Omakase coffee experience, Specialty coffee Mumbai, New cafe in Andheri, Cafe opening in Andheri]

08/09/2026

I wrote this cover story for Namaste AI, from Thotalagala, copious Ceylon tea, right from the estate I’m sitting on, a lot of birdsong, and the rare luxury of stalling time. 🍃

It’s a 19th-century planter’s bungalow in Haputale, Sri Lanka — a cooking class in the front yard, wandering around the old house, discovering its library and 150-year-old Burma teak, and simply having the time to do very little, I found myself settling into a kind of stillness I hadn’t realised I was missing.

Coming from a city that grows louder and more mind-numbing by the year, the silence felt disorienting at first, almost a vacuum. But sit with it long enough and it begins to resound with a kind of plenitude.

There is a physical settling that comes with it too. A rare opportunity to sit still, entirely undistracted yet shrouded in tranquillity. And perhaps that is what I loved most about those four days: not having to fill them.

“The real luxury is what happens when you stop doing them.”

A little peek into the story, give it a read if you fly Air India fleet this September.

Thank you, Geetika Sasan Bhandari and Riaan J. George, for trusting me with this. 🤍 Amrit Rajaratnam Shrabasti Anindita Mallik