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Of Maison Des Gourmets, a one-stop shop for exotic ingredients

PHOTO: D. GOPALAKRISHNAN

A HIGH-END DELICATESSEN Maison Des Gourmets

Fancy cookbooks used to be so infuriating. With all their exotic recipes, calling for the likes of fresh `bruised' thyme or lemon basil, they made cooking exhausting thanks to the necessary, and usually frantic, hunt for essential but difficult-to-pin-down ingredients. And even if you did manage to dig up basil or rosemary on the back shelves of your bewildered grocer's, more often than not, it would be too tired and dried to make much of an impact.

Today the world is your oyster. Pokchoi surfaces at the vegetable market, nestling affably between Ooty carrots and local curry leaves. Organic broccoli is as easily available as cucumber. And goodies like Nutella and pancake syrup don't need to be smuggled over in the luggage of an obliging overseas relative anymore.

Now, the deliciously colourful world of gourmet cuisine has got even easier to access thanks to the newly opened Maison Des Gourmets. Started by Lankalingam, Atul Malhotra and Vikram Phadke, this high-end delicatessen is stylish, airy and fashioned like a classic European style gourmet store, with tempting glass counters crammed with ready-to-eat food, picturesque baskets piled high with fresh fruits, a bright organic vegetable section and even a small bookstore (set up by Landmark) specialising in books on food, world cuisine and celebrity chefs. So once you're done with picking out your fresh rosemary, fennel and English cucumber, you can also figure out what to do with them with the help of Nigella Lawson or Gordon Ramsey.

"Food has always been a point of interest," smiles Vikram Phadke, as he surveys the deli, abuzz with curious customers trying out the fudgy chocolate brownies, picking up shitake mushrooms and reading the labels on the many, many bottles of sauces: satay stir fry, black pepper, hoisin, plum, black bean...

It's obvious that this is a store created by people who love food for people who love food. Everything's carefully displayed and quality is of utmost importance: even if it means higher prices, though they do claim they've tried to keep everything reasonably priced. Their supply chain, bringing in food from all over the world, ensures their stocks are replaced regularly. This includes the 21 European cheeses, from Gruyere to gorgonzola, and meats like oak smoked bacon, salmon, scallops and caviar.

Want stuffed olives? There are nine varieties, including saffron, feta and walnuts. Bread? There's brown, white and there'll soon be flaky croissants you can slather with honey. Want a drink? Try the Margarita or Bloody Mary mix.

After all, if you plan on spoiling yourself, you might as well go the whole hog. Or oak smoked bacon, if you prefer.

Maison Des Gourmets is at 5, Cenotaph Road, ph: 64502050.

SHONALI MUTHALALY

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