Meera Sodha

Mumbai’s amazing tiffinwallahs

04.04.201426.06.2014

Mumbai’s first organic farmers market has opened up in Bandra, a hip surburb, and the cronut has made it’s way over, but what Mumbaikers really want is a bit of …

Narayan’s Dosa

12.02.201426.06.2014

The only thing that looks promising about Naryan’s is the queue. Otherwise the cheap plastic sign at the front is so faded so you can no longer read the word …

Sweet lime

08.02.201426.06.2014

In England, a lime is a lime.

You could bet on the Queen’s head that if you asked a bar tender for a slice to perk up your gin and …

How to crack a coconut

01.02.201426.06.2014

Admittedly coconuts don’t look like they want to be cracked into, they are immensely private fruits. But this a skill that once you master will impress most people you know …

Bombay people and food – Soonoo

27.01.201426.06.2014

Soonoo, despite her gorgeous smile, was gruffly shouting at someone down the phone in Parsi-Gujarati just before I walked into her shop ‘Faredoon & Burjor’ on Princess Street, Bombay, where …

Fresh fennel seeds

24.01.201426.06.2014

Yesterday I unexpectedly found myself in a state of euphoria in front of a twinkly eyed but toothless old woman.

She owns a small fruit cart in Breach Candy, an …

How the wild things grow

14.05.201326.06.2014

In Kerala, everything grows. It’s like a giant plant party where humans have only just made it onto the guest list.

I had the good fortune to meet a lady …

The Portuguese and the chilli

24.04.201326.06.2014

Half our time in Goa was spent on sun loungers, books spine side up, staring out at the mesmeric Arabian Sea. Sometimes we swam (me half terrified by invisible sea …

Meeting Mumbai’s biggest food blogger*

20.04.201326.06.2014

His name is Kalyan but to many he is known as finelychopped.net or @finelychopped. He is Mumbai’s most inimitable food blogger. He traipses around the city, fork in hand …

Mumbai’s greatest eats

28.03.201326.06.2014

We ate our way through Kalbadevi, Colaba, much of Marine Drive, a little bit of Fort, some parts of Bandra and all the way along Chowpatty Beach to bring you …

Mumbai’s markets

26.03.201326.06.2014

Mumbai’s markets are still at the heart of the city and in full throttle at 6am every day. In Crawford Market you can take your pick from pyramids of pineapples, …

Great Britannia – the Irani cafes of Mumbai

25.03.201326.06.2014

Mumbai, the Indian metropolis perched on the Arabian Sea is full of mind-boggling extremes. Over 50% of Bombay’s population live in slums in the same city where some buy $100 …

Gujarat part 2: Gujarat

21.03.201326.06.2014

I met my uncle in a hotel lobby in Rajkot. We nervously pulsed between curious questions and hugs. I couldn’t help but look for my grandad’s face in his …

Gujarat part one: England

19.03.201326.06.2014

Gujarat is my homeland.
I say that with a caveat.
Until this trip, i’d never been there.
Nor were my parents born there.
But I grew up in a Gujarati …

breakfast in Udaipur

18.03.201326.06.2014

Oh my God* if you ever go to Rajasthan, be sure to go to Udaipur. It’s an impossibly romantic little city built around a lake in the middle of which …

food from a Rajasthani kitchen

18.03.201326.06.2014

Jaipur is noisy, bustling and hot. It is the home of an obscene number of elephants and more palaces and forts than you could shake a King at. However, being …

my top 5 places to eat in Kolkata

10.03.201326.06.2014

It was 6am when we arrived outside Sudder Street, Kolkata, in a battered old Ambassador car whose passenger doors didn’t shut due to one too many accidents.

I was relieved …

Roadside chai recipe

05.03.201326.06.2014

All indians have a soft spot for masala chai, the sweet and spicy tea which is soothing and spirit-lifting in equal measures.

Although I love my mum’s chai, some of …