As is known, the Delhi-based serial restaurateur Zorawar Kalra opened his popular franchise Farzi Café in London’s Haymarket late last month. “We had a huge party on January 17 with almost 700 people,” said Kalra, son of one of India’s premier foodies Jiggs Kalra, when we spoke yesterday. What have been the café’s most popular dishes since its launch, we asked Kalra. “Easily, the bone marrow followed by the goat’s shoulder and the scotch eggs,” came his instant response. The opening party had seen the likes of Montana Brown, Nicola Roberts, John Galea and Ashley James attend what was your usual London-smart-showbiz-crowd launch. But it was Indian billionaire and poster boy for the NRI-set Lakshmi Mittal, who is really said to have made his presence felt. Recently, on one of his visits, the dapper steel magnate, who’d dropped in with a group of diners and sat in the restaurant’s PDR, is said to have endeared himself to the staff by tipping every member a cool 50 pounds each, which at current rates equals approximately ₹4,500 each! Apparently, Mittal had played the perfect host by turning down the Crystal he’d ordered for his guests. So of course, it couldn’t have been the bone marrow, goat’s shoulder, or even the scotch eggs that could have brought on the tee totalling vegetarian Marwari’s gratitude.
The minestrone soup perhaps?

True Lies
Beware of those who smile widest and forge friendship only to harbour thoughts of waltzing away with your beau. This newly-married glamorous diva, an ambitious entrepreneur to boot, might have to cull a few names from her long list of gal pals, say sources. Unbeknownst to her, her dashing-young hubby, who let it be said appears completely smitten by her, is rumoured to be on the hitlist of some choice Mumbai singletons, most prominently if the grapevine is to go by, a high-profile attractive designer who is said to have set her sights on weaning him away. “She makes a bee line for him the minute his socially-popular wife’s back is turned and her body language is pretty obvious,” says a long-time society observer, adding, “Given that her own love life isn’t going anywhere in a hurry and having a string of broken relationships in the past, the fact that she’s single and not really looking to settle down per se, has put her in a situation where a fling with an attractive high-profile married man, is just the thing and will give her much boasting rights too.” The last time the cougar’s intent was on full display, was, believe it or not, at a party hosted by the unaware diva, where it was observed that she had unleashed her offensive on the gentleman, even when his wife was within earshot, but busy posing for selfies, say sources.
Oh dear, beware of friends bearing gifts and lingering hugs for the hubby.

Dream Weddings

Arshiya Mittal with Archana Mittal.

“We wanted to give Arshiya a dream wedding and there is no better location than the Umaid Bhawan Palace,” said Sandeep Khosla, one half of the ace design label of Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, whose recent creations for the wedding of Arshiya Mittal – daughter of Mumbai-based Ajay and Archana – to Gaurang Jhunjhunwala from Singapore is drawing much praise. “We set the mehendi by the pool with huge floral lotuses...the rest was done in our favourite colours of whites with mirrors and multicolour flowers,” he said from Kapurthala, his hometown, which he is currently visiting. “For the wedding, we followed our favourite red-gold and fairy lights prefrences, and we had done massive installations on the lawns with huge mirror flowers and a huge peacock that seemed perched on the fairy-lit bushes. Of course, there were hundreds of candles on the staircase,” he said, evoking an image of a party ‘the boys’ (as they are called by their inner circle) had thrown many years ago at the Juhu bungalow of their late friend Sunita Pitamber, for which they’d lit up the ground of the lawn with tiny lights making it resemble a fairy land. As for the clothes, the designers, among the go-to list of top wedding names, had come up with the bride wearing traditional yellow for the mehendi and her mother in one of the duo’s classic chikan embroidery ensembles, on which their fame had been first established. While for her wedding, the bride had worn a stunning red ghagra with, what Khosla describes as, ‘tamba tikki embroidery’. Meanwhile, even as one big fat wedding winds down, the city’s smart-set is prepping for the next big one. This time: when Ronnie and Gayatri Madhvani’s pretty daughter marries a scion of the Mehta family, promoters of Torrent Power clan of Ahmedabad, later this month at the Four Seasons.

WTSWTM
What They Say
“Sonia Gandhi, who patiently listened to Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari’s detailed description of his ministry’s work executed and undertaken for expanding the country’s network, was seen to BE thumping her desk as a sign of appreciation.”
- Newspaper reports yesterday

What They Mean
“And on such flimsy hints and nods and gestures are the politics of court intrigue based.”

First Published: Feb 08, 2019 01:28 IST