India x March, 2008

"It's Always Darkest Before The Dawn"... especially in India. It seems the sub-continent is either obsessed with late 80's / early 90's New Jersey melodic hardcore band Turning Point, or they have a penchant for naming things English words and phrases that don't necessarily make sense.

Embroidered jacket outside the Red Fort, Old Delhi:

Cafe in Agra (note the "Minimal Water" for sale):

Along with extensive people-watching and sight-seeing, Erin and I were able to enjoy a few culinary delights on our recent spring-break blast through Mumbai, Delhi, Agra and Jaipur (alas, we mostly avoided street food as our 10 day trip was too short a time to afford getting infectious diarrhea). However, restaurants of note we did try were the Oberoi hotel in Delhi (same owners as Cairo's Mena House) and the R.W. Apple, Jr. recommended TRISHNA in Mumbai's swanky colonial-respite Fort neighborhood. Here's an excerpt from Mr. Apple's final column:

MUMBAI, INDIA Trishna, Birla Mansion, Sai Baba Marg, Fort; (91-22) 2270-3213.

"This, I think, is the only truly remarkable restaurant I have ever discovered solely on the recommendation of a friend of a friend. Dubious, Betsey and I made our way there one night years ago and liked it so much that we went back 72 hours later. It was not the décor, which is shabby, or the service, which can be surly, and certainly not the menu, which is very nearly useless. It’s the food, stupid, the seafood.

Enormous king crabs fresh from the Indian Ocean, awash in butter, and seasoned with garlic and pepper until they make the lips tingle but not sting, draw an eager crowd of Mumbai businessmen and Bollywood stars to this little establishment on a crowded, noisy alley in the old Fort district. If you like, your crab will be brought to the table before cooking, still alive and dangling from a string held by a waiter.

These are among the world’s choicest crustaceans, and I say that as someone who lives 25 miles from the Chesapeake. But Ravi Anchan has plenty of other savory delights up his sleeve, including tender little pomfret (a kind of butterfish) barbecued in the style of Hyderabad, with black pepper; deep-fried squid; and gorgeous, never-frozen tiger prawns grilled with mint. Don’t mind the waiters; insist and they will bring what you want."

Calamari:

Crab, Prawn (the size of a soda can), and Garlic Naan:

Jama Masjid, Delhi - one of India's largest Mosques:

Finally, I've been trying to wrap my mind around this Nehru graffiti from Jaipur. As a founding father, would the American equivalent be George Washington graf? Or based on time would JFK be a more appropriate comparison? A problem arises when you consider that, although dominant, the Kennedy dynasty has nothing on the Nehru/Gandhi's. I propose it's like JFK graffiti if Nancy Pelosi was John, Jr.'s wife and wasn't in that plane over Long Island Sound. How's that?