Gluttony is a Virtue

A new restaurant in Connaught Place invites you to forget restraint and give into earthly pleasures with its hedonistic menu

ON WEDNESDAY, filmmaker Shirish Kunder released his much-anticipated short film, Kriti (pictured). Available on Youtube, the psychological thriller has received close to a million hits. The response has been mixed but the performances by Manoj Bajpayee, Radhika Apte and Neha Sharma, have been appreciated.

However, even as social media was buzzing with reactions to Kriti on Thursday, a Facebook post by Aneel Neupane, a filmmaker from Nepal, went viral. In his post, Neupane admitted that he had been looking forward to the film but once he watched it, Neupane claims, he found uncanny similarities between Kunder’s film and the technical details and plot of his own short, titled BOB.

For instance, the opening sequence of both the films has the protagonist sitting across his psychiatrist, talking about a woman who seems to be imaginary. This forms the basic plot. There are also commonalities in the setting of both the films. “The film was ready in October 2015 and I uploaded it on Vimeo in January this year for a few people to watch before its release in May,” says Neupane.

However, Kunder has countered the claim by saying that his film was made in February 2016. “Aneel’s Vimeo link was available only to his close friends, and I don’t even know him. So how could I have copied it,” says Kunder.

Neupane, however, isn’t pursuing the matter any further as he has put out his film online, alongsidekriti, for people to view both and decide for themselves. EFS LEAVING BELOW the dust and grime of Connaught Place, and presumably your earthly sins, as one ascends the stairway to Oh My God, you are greeted with a shimmer, rather barrage of classical music, the kind Wagner or Beethoven might have hummed, or thumped, along to. The source of this is a gigantic illuminated portrait of angels clutching all manner of stringed instruments. Clearly not believing in subtlety, this motif carries on in the restaurant’s interiors, which has frescoes of cherubs and the Lord’s messengers, and pillars shaped into lyres with fiber optic strands and architectural embellishments.

Speaking of embellishments, the menu mixes culinary techniques and cuisines with gleeful abandon, resulting in some truly interesting options. No, we’re not being snarky. Our spirits rising, we move on to the drinks menu, where we find an equal amount of hedonism applied to. Cocktails served in fish bowls, with vodka jell-o fish floating in it? Yes please!

Without pausing for breath, we reel off our order to our attentive and helpful server. In ascending order of redness of meat, we order Bhut Jolokia Chicken Tandoori Drumsticks, Pork Seekh Kebabs and Shammi Kebabs stuffed with Smoked Cheese. To temper (or enhance, actually) the subsequent fire in our bellies, we order a Lemonade spiked with Chilli and Tamarind.

Visits there’ll be plenty of, we decide, as our starters begin to turn up. First comes the seekh comprising four kebabs of tender (a la galouti), supremely spiced pork that literally melts on our palate, leaving behind a most decadent, lingering flavour. The shammis shimmy up next, but despite the accompanying smoke and mirrors (honestly, the dry ice industry owes a lot to the hospitality industry), this one leaves us with a certain longing. The patties are peppery, redolent with smoke and spices, but the cheese is ephemeral, and fails to mark its presence.

Having taken its time to cross the road, the chicken is the last to arrive. The famed Bhut Jolokia chili is a tad lighter in marination than we usually have, but then we’ve always had an over fondness for piquancy. The drumsticks themselves are enormous and succulent, marinated to the bone. The lemonade is refreshing, making the food glide down faster.

After this butcher’s repast, we decide to take it easy with the dessert, constraining ourselves to a Philadelphia Cheesecake with Berry Compote and a Lemon Posset with liquefied mango chilled in liquid nitrogen. Fresh fruits essayed in a variety of ways, the cheesecake’s base providing a deliciously crumbly contrast, the meal ends with summer in our mouths.

Meal for two: without alcohol) Address: 14-15, 2nd Floor, F-block, Inner Circle, Connaught Place.

Rs 2,500 (with taxes,