The Ambanis are said to keep a great table at home...
Yes, it's home-cooked vegetarian food all the way. A Gujarati thali, made by our Saurashtra maharaj and his Nepali kitchen boy. We feed this to guests from all over the world. This is my father's influence. Keep the cooking simple, he always says.
Vegetarian? And you a traveller of the world!
Hmmn, yes, but I eat eggs. I've always been veg. Even the years I spent alone in the US, the late 1970s, when vegetarianism was not in fashion!
What kind of food turns you on?
Oh, I can eat it all. From street food to haute cuisine in a posh restaurant. But I go for the entire experience. The food and ambience. My wife, Neeta, has taught me that it's the value that's added to food that counts.
And you enjoy doing this best at?
The dosa man at Gowalia Tank, the chaatwallah off Chandni Chowk in Delhi, Mysore Cafe at Matunga, and Trattoria which is across the road from where I stay.
What kind of food makes a hotshot industrialist tick?
In my case, papaya juice for breakfast, soups and salads for lunch, and rotli-dal, bhaat-shaak for dinner.
You can't be serious!
Yes, but occasionally, I binge! Once in 15 days. I'm a pretty good eater. And I can put away a five, six, seven-course meal. With a couple of desserts thrown in.
This at your favourite restaurants?
My favourite restaurant is Trattoria. But, my children, Akash and Isha, they're twins, and Anant, adore Thai food. So I eat a lot at Thai Pavilion. They also love thalis. We have thali meals outside home, too. Like at Shamiana. And in New York, when we miss Indian food.
What's your favourite cuisine?
South Indian. Idli-sambar drives me wild! I'm am authority on it. We have it at home for breakfast on Sunday... with jelebi-gathia occasionally. That's a feast. I can eat idli-sambar anywhere. Even at the small canteens at airports!
Can you cook?
Not really, but I enjoy being in the kitchen! We have all our meals informally in our home kitchen. When I was in the US, I used to cook my own rice, saute vegetables and mix them with my mother's masalas.
Do you drink?
A couple of sips of champagne, more as a token, if a toast is being raised.
Are you into fitness foods?
No. I can eat practically anything - as long as it's vegetarian.
Mukesh Ambani, vice-chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, is as comfortable tucking into an oily dosa off the road at Gowalia Tank in Bombay, as he is eating penne aglio e olio con peperinco at the poshest restaurant of Manhattan. He enjoys gourmet food, and will travel far and wide for it, but he's never happier than when having Saurashtrian veggie food at home. His favourite dish is idli-sambar, and he can say with authority that some Indian restaurants in New York make it just as well as the small eateries of Tirupathi.
