‘The Foodhall Cookbook’ book review: Gourmet cooking at home

Foodhall is India’s luxury grocer, café, and gifting service with outlets in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. It’s India’s leading gourmet and lifestyle store. I have visited its outlet in Mumbai and, even though I wasn’t much of a cook back then, I had fallen in love with it. I could browse the aisles for hours. Everything looked ultra clean and chic.

 So naturally, when I came across a cookbook that was published by Foodhall I had to get it. In true Foodhall style, the book is beautiful. Even just browsing through it is a delightful visual experience. It’s a slim volume but it has 75 recipes from around the world—there are modern European, Asian, and Indian recipes among others. There’s a section devoted to desserts. I guarantee there is bound to be a handful of recipes no matter what type of food you are in the mood for.

Five chefs have come together and shared their recipes in the book. There’s Gresham Fernandes who’s the executive chef at Fine Dine Impresario Hospitality, the company that owns restaurants like Salt Water Café in Mumbai and Smoke House Room in Delhi. Kelvin Cheung, who has shared the recipes for Kimchi Tacos and Moo Shu Chicken among many others, is a consultant at Bastian in Mumbai. Bastian is a seafood restaurant owned by Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty Kundra and it’s a favorite of many celebrities.

Likewise, there’s Zorawar Kalra who is one of the youngest restaurateurs of India. Sabyasachi Gorai, popularly known as Chef Saby, received the ‘Best Chef of India’ award by the then President of India, Pratibha Patil during the National Tourism Awards 2011-12. Pooja Dhingra is a pastry chef who was featured in Forbes India’s ’30 under 30 list’. Her first cookbook, ‘The Big Book of Treats’ came out in 2014 and in The Foodhall Cookbook, she shares 13 of her delightful recipes. From spiced macarons and matcha cookies to kiwi pavlova and a variety of cupcakes, she has you covered on the dessert front.  

I have already marked a few recipes that I want to try out as soon as possible. I’ve even bought some ingredients that I didn’t have in my pantry. I’m that excited about this cookbook that has been designed to perfection. The full-page photographs that accompany each recipe give the cookbook a coffee table book appeal.

 Each chef also shares helpful cooking tips in their introduction—from asking you to let your intuition guide you in the kitchen to recommending a good weighing scale and best quality ingredients. There is a simple chicken salad recipe with sesame seeds that I’m sure will be quite lovely. Titled the ‘Sesame Spinach Chicken Salad’ it needs a handful of ingredients and the dressing can be made from things that you already have like oil, vinegar, honey, and soy sauce. It’s apparently Cheung’s favorite recipe to make as well. It’s light, refreshing, and super quick and simple to make, he says. 

Most of the recipes in the book require minimal effort and time. Only a few require pre-prepping and some diligence. The Foodhall Cookbook can be the perfect guide in helping you unleash your culinary skills.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38818883-the-foodhall-cookbook 

The Foodhall Cookbook

Publisher: Roli Books

Published: 2017

Photographs: Anshika Varma & Foodhall

(except on page 50, Amrita Diwanji)

Design and layout: Misha Oberoi