Page 176 - UpperCrust e-Magazine Third Quarter 2024

BOOKS FOR COOKS

Lazzatnama tried bhang ki chutney? Don’t worry; this
hemp-based chutney is free of intoxicants.
There’s a variety of galouti kebabs known as
By Pushpesh Pant. Rs 395/- dora – sutli – which is now ‘extinct’, used to
Rupa Publications be served traditionally by spinning it like a
top to unravel it onto the plate.
Spice powder is sprinkled over a steaming Flip the pages to discover what Birbal
red chilli gravy dish to tell you this is going the Wise ate: a khichdi, slow-cooked,
to be one hot affair! Lazzatnama: Recipes Mughlai style. From biryani recipes to
of India brings together a host of recipes musallam recipes, korma and kaliya, paratha
spanning the length and breadth of the and potato, curd, halwa, sweets and sherbets,
country. By a man who knows his subjects too, Lazzat (the delight one experiences in
ardently, this is a recipe book to hold dear, good food) nama (chronicles) is a range
if you wish to bring home the country on of recipes and informative nuggets in
a platter. 270 pages, with an appendage on Indian
Pushpesh Pant has kept it easy and ingredients.
simple with this book, with a few glossy About the author: Pushpesh Pant is
pages of home-shot images that could have a well-known, senior author and retired
been much sharper to enhance the recipes professor from JNU. Passionate about music,
they bear, but the little notes on each make history, Indian cuisines and poetry, he enjoys
up for it. Like the Zarda Pulao, which is writing on food, culture and travel from his
the only sweet pulao to eschew meat! Ever home in Delhi.

Beyond the Editor of Forbes India, ties it up undoubtedly, and topics such as
dining etiquette as well.
neatly in a bow, with, “Anthony
Menu Bourdain famously said chances You will even find a glossary
of Return on Investments in section with terms used through
By Ravi Wazir. Rs 499/- restaurants are one to five. Read the book, which go all the way from
Jaico Books this start-up guide to improve asset register to kitchen steward to
those odds.” Beyond the Menu sunny side up to zucchini! And
All of us dine at restaurants, some more takes you through it all, from what all else in between… Take a look
often than others. Yet, do we know what the term ‘restaurant’ means to at the Projected Financials and
it entails to set one up? What goes into the what it takes to set one up. From other such charts drawn up in the
making of the space that surrounds us and the vision board to its execution: book to really get into the nitty-
the food that goes into our bellies? Do we design, brand definition and gritties of setting up and running
know where the word ‘restaurant’ comes development, the importance of a (successful) restaurant.
from, to begin with? Everything you need social media today, the concept About the author: He has
to know about restaurants, from A-Z, is in of the food and adhering to food safety strategised for big brands, family enterprises
Beyond the Menu, by Ravi Wazir, seasoned standards, personalising a family-run and entrepreneurs across sectors, for 30
strategist, with a background in restaurants restaurant, establishing one from scratch, years. The graduate of IHM, Mumbai, and
among much else. managing the finances – one of the most SME programme alum of IIM, Ahmedabad,
Look at this book as a very handy crucial aspects focused on in the book – has been behind brands like Olive, Izumi and
guide to starting your own restaurant, a and the value of people that make up the Swati Snacks. The Bandra boy now consults
dream that several in the F&B industry, secret sauce of the restaurant: the staff! on strategies and leadership interventions
or outside, too, harbour. Brian Carvalho, The book deals with the customer, too, for entrepreneurs.

174 | UPPERCRUST | JUL-SEP 2024