Dehradun, March 28 -- Culinary Chronicles

Shish Tawook on the table and Baladi music in the background brought back some cherished flashbacks.

Twenty-three years ago, "The spy who loved me" got me into a dilemma whether I should or shouldn't explore Egypt. I was keen for the Nile cruise, pyramids and the cuisine yet the crime depicted in the James Bond movie in the narrow lanes of Cairo was making me apprehensive.

The trepidations changed the very moment I landed there. Everyone from the ground crew, cab chauffeur to the hotel staff exuded warmth and made us feel notable.

Food was a saporous amalgamation of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines, be it on the streets of Khan-el-Khalili or over the Oberoi Phiae cruiser. And! Served ...