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Showing posts from April, 2019

What is Teppanyaki? Understanding Japanese Cuisine.

Although there is much involved in the creation of delectable Japanese cuisine, Teppanyaki forms a large part of it, which many misunderstand to be same as hibachi or just grilled food. By: Soumya Jain Japan’s cuisine is as technically precise as it is creating a watch or jewelry. The fish has to be placed just the way and seaweed rolled with just enough pressure to be able to present a perfectly made sushi. Apart from the more popular sushi and sashimi, Teppanyaki also forms a part of Japanese cuisine. To put it in easy words, Teppanyaki uses an iron griddle to cook food. In Japan, ‘teppanyaki’ refers to dishes cooked using an iron plate, including steak, shrimp, vegetables, okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake), yakisoba (Japanese fried noodles), and monjayaki (also a kind of savory Japanese pancake). Modern teppanyaki grills are typically propane-heated flat surface grills and are widely used to cook food in front of guests at restaurants. Teppanyaki grills are commonly

About the Four Types of Chocolates

Yes, the world now has four kinds of chocolates to nibble on. And each of them is exquisite in their own way. By: Soumya Jain There is hardly anyone I know in the world who doesn’t like chocolate. Even if you don’t have a sweet tooth, chances are, you’ll bend over backwards for a bar of your preferred chocolate. And while most chocolates either catered to the sweet or better – oops! I meant bitter – parts of your taste buds, there is a new variety which appeals to the tangy part of your palate. So, according to Wikipedia, chocolate is a range of foods derived from cocoa, mixed with fat (e.g., cocoa butter) and finely powdered sugar to produce a solid confectionery. The several types of chocolate are classified according to the proportion of cocoa used in a particular formulation. Here is the list of chocolates available in the world today: 1.       Milk Chocolate – This is solid chocolate made with milk added in the form of powdered milk, liquid milk, or condens

Women Leaders in Luxury in India

There are many women leaders in India, a country that had its first woman Prime Minister in 1966, where so many other countries haven’t seen even one. In the luxury industry, there is even more dominance of women. We list 5 such examples of inspiration By: Soumya Jain The luxury industry is a tough market. The product has to be exemplary, unique, handcrafted, and its rules for marketing are also much more sophisticated and unique as compared to those of mass or budget brands. It’s no wonder then, that with their innate love for design, style and hospitality, women have dominated luxury boardrooms in India. Here are five women leaders in the Indian luxury industry, according to Fortune India in 2018, who made headlines in luxury magazines in India for various reasons. 1.       Mira Kulkarni – Number 22 in Fortune India’s ‘Most Powerful Women in Business’ list, Mira Kulkarni is Chairman and Managing Director at Mountain Valley Springs. You would more popularly know he

Luxury Reborn – Products & Concepts That Have Been Reinvented

Nothing stays forever. Change is inevitable. It is so in luxury as well. We discuss three brands that have changed their concepts to suit current times. By: Soumya Jain Change is important. As people change, so do their needs, desires and ideas. Brands and products need to accordingly reinvent themselves. Sometimes it happens by choice, sometimes by force. And with the current generation of Millennials, brands have had to walk a tightrope between tradition and innovation. The coming up Generation Z is going to change things again. We talk about three such brands and products that have molded themselves as per current times. 1.        InterContinental San Juan – One of the most popular hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico, like all other hotels in the city, InterContinental San Juan also faced the wrath of nature during Hurricane Maria in 2017. But kudos to the brand that it resurrected much more quickly than the other hotels in the area. The hotel had already undergone exte

Waters That Are More Than Just Water

With changes in the environment and lifestyle, how we consume water has also changed. Here are some products you need to think about. By: Soumya Jain The atmosphere is more polluted, we are drinking less water, we have more health and skin problems.  The water that we intake makes a huge difference in our lives. Decades before, water used to be purer, and so did the air. But with the industrialization came the contamination of water. To treat contaminated water, more chemicals are used to make it drinkable. A lot of these chemicals have changed our inner composition. And while the human body adapts, it is never too good to intake more chemicals than necessary. Here are two kinds of waters which you need to add to your lifestyle. 1. Micellar Water – This is water for your skin. Instead of using cleansing agents – which again have a huge amount of chemicals – for your daily skin routine, it’s better to switch over to micellar water.  Micellar water is made up of tiny balls of c

Some Chow we Loved

We eat everyday, but some foods just make a longer impression on our hearts and stomachs. By: Soumya Jain I love food, though I am not extremely finicky about it. But I know how to appreciate a good flavour when it comes my way. So does my team of reviewers at LuxuryFacts. Here are three foods that we still remember months later! 1. Mumbai Kiss at AER Mumbai: This very innovatively made cocktail had us swooning with its refreshing flavor. Made with white rum, maraschino, cardamom and pineapple, it was a surprising blend of ingredients! Imagine, who could use cardamom in a cocktail? Obviously, the genius bartenders at AER Mumbai made an absolutely wonderful discovery of what this little green pod could do to a drink. A little Hawaiian in spirit, it has a very local connection we would say. Kudos AER Mumbai! 2. Fried Cheese at InterContinental San Juan: It sounds simple, but is not. We sampled the local Puerto Rican fried cheese at multiple locations, but the on

Slow Living – A New Outlook

Life has become unbearably fast and stressful. Maybe it’s time for luxury to translate into slow living. By: Soumya Jain One could argue that we have unprecedented amount of technology to help in our lives. But at the same time, life has become fast, stressful and sometimes unmanageable. It’s always a good time to take some steps back and wonder what we are doing. Are we leading a healthy life? Are we leading our children by a good example? Or even, are we leaving a salubrious planet for our children? Life’s philosophies need to be rethought. It’s time luxury gets a new definition. Hence, the need for ‘slow living’. Slow living is basically the opposite of fast living. It is living in a more balanced, meaningful, and life-affirming way where you start enjoying life being conscious of sensory profusion. Slow living emphasizes slower approaches to aspects of everyday life. It may be difficult to adopt such a lifestyle, specially when peers around you are running fa