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Foreign patients coming to India can get more than cheaper medical aid — they can now get free holidays, spa treatments, even a sample of adventure tourism and visit India’s rural areas to get first-hand knowledge of life in the Indian villages.

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It’s the season for deals in India, as it is all around the world. But if you are planning to travel to India this season, be sure to stretch your dollar—hotel tariffs are being offered at a discount, food and beverage prices, even in the best of restaurants, have never been cheaper and shopping is at a discount too.

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Bukhara is India’s most famous restaurant, launched by chef Imtiaz Qureshi almost 30 years ago. As a boy in Lucknow, famous for its Mughal culture and etiquette, Qureshi trained as a young boy under his uncle in one of the small kebabs and curry restaurants, found in crowded markets and by the roads.

Thai cuisine, of course, never became as popular as Chinese food– and its many versions — in India, particularly northern India: A surprising thing, considering that it is hot and flavourful, and thus suited to the Indian palate. But Prakob points out that why the north — Delhi, India’s food capital too—hasn’t quite taken to it is because of the presence of coconut.

Chicken Satay

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Chicken breast, 250 g, cut into 5-6 pieces

For the marination

Turmeric powder, curry powder, coconut milk, white pepper, salt, garlic, grated galangal (Thai ginger) and lemon grass, finely chopped

Method

Mix the ingredients for the marinade and marinate the chicken for 4 hours after putting on satay sticks.

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I stayed at the Westin in Gurgaon…

Design in hotels, even as far as those fabulously exotic luxury resorts go, must necessarily walk the tightrope between mundane functionality and magnificent opulence that will grab the attention of the increasingly discerning guest.

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The world of luxury wines is like the world of luxury cars in more ways than one. Besides the fact that both are controlled by rather small, exclusive, clubs if you like — in a single conversation it would be quite possible to name all the brands dominating either —these are also worlds ruled, quite unequivocally, by men, powerful men.

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Sitting in an enchanted European castle (this one complete with a moat and turrets) on top of a hill, going through a champagne lunch, minding the fish fork from the fowl, etiquette that a French meal necessitates, is the culmination of one morning’s hard labour.

Q & A with Andrew Tijoe, Singapore-based legendary restaurateur, who owns brands like My Humble House and Club Chenoi

Foie Gras with crispy duck. If there was one image to explain what Andrew Tijoe, executive president of the Tung Lok group, one of the most successful Singapore-based restaurateurs, awarded at the World Gourmet Summit, has done for Chinese cuisine, it would be that.

Yes, the recession is a bad time to be talking luxury but if you do plan to visit India any time soon — perhaps to celebrate a special occasion like a wedding or a big vacation — here are a few places that you may like to check out

1.