Paloma about town: Musicals, wine and shopping to the nines!

Let’s start off with the event of the week, the Terroir Wine Club’s La Vie en Rosé, a title inspired by Edith Piaf’s famous song. Who doesn’t love a good play on words and an apt sentiment for these taxing times. “It was wonderful to see our members and special invitees including the diplomatic corps come together in fellowship,” said Terroir president Minnie Menon. The Consul General of France, Lise Talbot Barré, the chief guest of the evening, was super impressed with the evening’s French theme, the excellent pairing of wines and cuisine and the knowledge of the audience on the subject. The dinner could easily have been at one of the fine restaurants on Champs-Élysées, a French guest was overheard saying. One of the highlights of the evening, and there were many, including the beautifully curated menu by Chef Ajit Bangera and ITC Grand Chola, was the presence of Delhi-based sommelier Magandeep Singh and his talk on French and other wines, that had the audience riveted. As Terroir member Shrikar Madiraju summed up, “The wonderful event brought back fond memories of my 2018 road trip to the Loire Valley.”  

Meanwhile, across town at Taj Coromandel a select few had gathered for a rendezvous with Shveta Jaishankar and executive chef Sujan at our long-time favourite restaurant, Southern Spice. Presented by Chambers, the event focused on immunity-boosting cuisine and healthy eating, along with a quick masterclass. Everyone discussed the contents of their school lunch boxes, the classic thayir sadam and potato combo, as the chef shared a few interesting insights and how to tweak ingredients to get the most out of a dish. The cooking demo was followed by a wholesome meal finished with filter coffee served with some serious flair. Our foodie trail continued at Synck at the launch of their new fitness menu ‘FitStreat’. Fashion and fitness influencers got to sample a range of delicious diet options, prepared with locally sourced ingredients. The last stop was at Hilton Chennai for this year’s Oktoberfest, which was launched by Peter Keuppers, Deputy Consul General, Consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany, Chennai. So think signature blue and white to set the ambience and tables piled high with sausages and other meats. Accompanied by beer of course. Lots of beer. 

This week also saw the shopaholics putting their scheduling skills to the test with three pop-ups on almost the same days. It almost seemed like they were trying to make up for all the shopping they didn’t get to do in the past year and a half. Vimonisha’s latest edition at The Folly included a book launch, 15 Tables at Tranquebar a collection of stories by multiple female authors. Over at Fika, Wild Milan was underway, which drew out all the PYTs and more of the blogger brigade. At Taj Coromandel, the masses had gathered for Meena Bazaar Signature which was choc-a-bloc with people, all day long.

And giving us a surprise this week was a musical after a long time, Ramses: The Fall of a Pharaoh, directed and written by Denver Anthony Nicholas. It was a delightful ‘play’ of music, dance and lights with Yohan Chacko winning hearts as Ramses. They performed to a packed audience at Alliance Française de Madras.