Every 12 months, a small but widespread firecracker of exhilaration, warmth, and bonhomie explodes on the Sanjay House in Juhu on the occasion of erstwhile version, celebrity-wife, prepare dinner-e-book author, indoors decorator, alpha woman, mother and grandmother Zarine Khan’s birthday. This year, because of her travel plans, the birthday, which falls later in July, has been brought forward to Saturday afternoon. But such is the regard Khan is held in that even the heavy downpour of what seemed like the town’s first real monsoon shower did not save you a large swathe of her circle of relatives and buddies from showing up. First, of course, there were the birthday woman’s three daughters, jewelry dressmaker Farah Khan Ali, lifestyle maven Simon Arora, and indoors decorator Sussanne Khan, alongside doting daughter-in-law Malaika Khan (son Zayed dropped in, in brief, to mention howdy before the cake-slicing).
Then there was a phalanx of girls from across the city: fiery attorney Abha Singh, animal rights activist and manufacturer Aarti Surendranath, TV producer Anu Ranjan, actress Anju Mahendru, famous person spouse Sundari Khan and her daughter, artist Laila Furniturewala, chocolatier Zeba Kohli, fashionista Ramona Narang amongst many others. But of direction, like all events held in the Khan house, the eating table and what was on it was the center of attraction. Zarine is a celebrated hostess, and her rendering of Mughlai dishes culled from her mother-in-law is mythical. “While growing up, I consider celebrating fairs greater thru meals than whatever,” shared Farah Khan Ali over a few memorable biryanis, prawn curry, kebabs, chops, and jalebis, among different matters. “The meals always become center stage, whether it changed into Eid, Diwali, or Christmas.”
“Mum has educated her chefs, and they have been with her for decades,” said the youngest daughter,r Sussanne. “This one’s young; however, he understudied along with her older cook dinner.”
And as soon as Zarine trains them, aren’t they vulnerable to being poached? We asked her youngest daughter.
In the world of celeb chefs, Ritu Dalmia is genuinely a Unicorn. A self-taught chef, her modern position as owner of a string of successful multi-cuisine eateries across India and now Europe is nearly notable, for the reason that she was born into a vegetarian enterprise family, which had no preceding records of F&B. But not like the other success restaurateurs and cooks of her ilk, Dalmia is perhaps the only person who wears her achievement gently. Her effervescent, larger-than-existence character permeates all her enterprises. Her oeuvre spreads over writing cookbooks, helming meals, travel suggestions, and catering for some of the biggest, fattest destination weddings of recent times.
In addition, Dalmia is the main and outspoken champion of reason. It has become one of the six brave hearts of the LGBTQ community who had filed a writ petition inside the Supreme Court challenging Section 377, resulting in the 2018 landmark judgment decriminalizing homosexuality. This weekend, the charismatic Dalmia opened her most recent eating place, SPICA, in Milan, which complies with her earlier Indian-themed Cittamani in the same metropolis. Said to be a tribute to her cultural adventure from India to Italy. In partnership with Italian chef Viviana Varese, the eatery displays their friendship, common passion for the tour, and years of labor together worldwide. But it became no longer all work and no play for the two while they kicked off the brand new eating place; the duo also found time to rejoice in Milan’s Pride March, which occurred over the weekend. “Respect, freedom, love, choice identity- the entirety we stand for,” Dalmia posted later, with some images of the march.
