The Manor one of the top Hotels in Delhi, in Friends colony West is buzzing nowadays. Deservedly so, for after a long time it has acquired F&B that is worthy of its classy interiors. India Accent may be new to the city, but it is the country cousin of Delhi’s Oriental Octopus and Chor Bizarre as well as Tamarai, the best restaurant in London. It is path-breaking restaurant because it is a taste of Indian food fifty years from now.
I’d gladly close my eyes and order the tasting menu (Rs. 1,800 veg/ Rs. 1900 non-veg) or light lunch (Rs.700/800) with Rs. 1,000 for 5 half glasses of wine paired by no less than Charles Metcalfe. However, the menu is one-of-its-kind which make it Best restaurant in Delhi, so here are the best things on it:
Puchkas (Rs. 225) are taken to the next level altogether, whether you use presentation as your yardstick or sheer ingenuity (there’s watermelon and cinnamon pani or pineapple juice). Why has nobody ever thought of these combinations before? Foie gras stuffed galawat with strawberry green chilli chutney (Rs. 650) is a mind-boggling combination. Chilli brings out the essence of strawberry and galawat kebabs are the Indian answer to foie gras, in that both of them have been teased out of their natural form into something to be put on show Chef Manish Mehrotra has excelled himself in this menu.
My favorite combination, however, has to be smoked salmon with thayar satham and tomato thukku (Rs. 625). Conceived as a maki sushi real Scottish smoked salmon takes the place of nori and in place of Koshihikari rice, there’s the Tamil vegetarian favourite curd rice, thair satham. Salmon roe garnishes the sushi, sprinkle over with a dot of tomato pickle. It is no short of brilliant and it’s a marriage made in heaven.
What is so special about the never-seen-before combinations at Indian Accent is that all of them work because of the tightly controlled portions of flavor accents. There’s no clash of civilizations on your palate. Other dishes are more or less straight interpretations of classics with premium ingredients used.
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25May
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24May
Have you ever watched TV programs on people running reviews for various restaurants? This can turn into an online business opportunity!
The Business Idea:
Providing video reviews for restaurants and post them online, along with detailed description from outside the restaurant to inside the restaurant.
The Market:
If you do a search for restaurants in your area, you will probably find websites that are already doing the reviews. However, you will find most of them are not really into the details and they do NOT include video reviews.With the modern technology, bringing a Restaurant Review business from TV to the Internet is easier than ever.
Benefits:
- Large audience: The Internet usage is growing rapidly day by day. More and more people spend time on the Internet more than watching TV.
- Cost-effective: The media medium, with the modern technology, is a lot easy to use. If you have a website built you can easily link videos from YouTube to your website, FREE. And by using YouTube as your video storage place you are also marketing your business with thousands of viewers daily.
Some ideas on how to get started:
1. Build a website, register a catchy domain.
2. Start small. Start with a local city.
3. Find someone who knows how to take videos, and start doing free reviews for 10~30 restaurants
4. Be sure to explain to the restaurants that exposing their business(s) online is essential for the modern world to bring a lot more potential customers to them. And you are only doing a certain amount of free reviews.
5. Once when you have a good amount of quality reviews to add to the website, start building a portfolio on the review services you offer, while starting to market your website on the Internet, targeting the city as audience. You may also want to do some marketing locally in the city depending on your budget.
6. Bring the portfolio with you to new restaurants and offer your services at the cost you desire. (I.e. $50 USD / month for the review to be posted on the website) Explain to them the importance of online exposure and WHY your service is different – You have video reviews! And convince them with the quality of your website, show them the reviews you did previously.
7. One review means a steady amount of income per month for your company. The more reviews you do the more income you will create for your company.
8. Future expansion: This is scalable. Focus on your city first, and then start the same process (steps 1 to 7 as an example) in another city once your first city is steady. City by city and eventually create a large network and strengthen your brand.
Remember, all successful business(s) started with a simple idea. There will be a lot of troubles depending on your environment but the people who succeed are the people who are passionate about what they do and are consistent and committed on what they do. -
24May
I believe that any business will benefit from having a website. I have worked with internet marketing for many years, and I have seen that people feel like a business has “validity” when they have a website. I do not do this commercially, however it is a passion and hobby of mine. I have created many websites.
One main point is that it should not cost a fortune to have a website. An excellent one page site and maybe a contact page is easy to accomplish. Microsoft Office Live http://www.officelive.com/ is offering a free domain and hosting for one year, as well as providing an easy way to create your own website without any experience.
Keep it simple is an adage that works well here. People need to only know the vital information about your business. IE: Cuisine, address, contact info, reviews, etc.
There are many ways to promote yourself on the internet. One example is the last restaurant that I owned. Go to google and type in: hot dog charlotte
My place is the first that comes up. City Hot Dogs, or my site www.cityhotdogs.com .. My site is still active, however it tells my friends in Charlotte that I have relocated to Atlanta!
I would be glad to assist anyone who wants to increase their presence on the internet if you currently have a site. Any GRA member is welcome to contact me, and we can meet at my office for 30 minutes and I will provide you with enough information and simple tips to get you started, at no charge! I will provide this information on a personal basis, but not publish it here, because I support the small business folks who are making their living doing this type of work while supporting the restaurant industry.
If you don’t have the time to make your own site, look at the GRA website buyers guide and you will find great resources to create a website for you, and these people can help you optimize your site to be found on the search engines. I would highly suggest that you use one of the GRA partners to do you site. The main thing that you have with these folks is personal contact.
Every day, every restaurant receives solicitation phone calls (especially during lunch hour, don’t they know they are calling a restaurant!!!) and many big companies try to sell you a site for more than 250.00 per month. Once your site is up, their job is done. Spend your money wisely, and preferably with a local designer who knows their stuff (and preferably a supporter of GRA)
So, in summary, Yes, in my experience, a website is important, however, it does not have to cost an arm and a leg!
Doug Marranci
Atlanta Restaurant Exchange
Restaurant Brokers Atlanta Georgia
We sell restaurants in Atlanta and the Atlanta Metro Area
