Times Food Guide 2008 Awards and launch in Bangalore

(Telugu actress – or, Actor as they seem to prefer it - Ileana giving away a prize)

The latest edition of the Times Food Guide, Bangalore was launched over the weekend with much fanfare at the Windsor Manor.  And I found myself in a Page 3 gathering, not my natural watering-hole. For some reason, the good folks who ran this shindig decided that I was to be one of the 20 odd people giving away a prize and so I found myself wedged inside an unlikely group including Kannada actors Ramya & Ganesh , the snooker player Pankaj Advani and Wipro CFO Suresh Senapati among others.

I gave away the prize to Dakshin the south Indian cuisine restaurant at the Windsor. Which was a relief, since I do genuinely like Dakshin. But specialty food in 5 star restaurants is, in general, not for true foodies.I would much rather eat the genuine stuff at street food stalls across the world. Nothing compares to the real taste of local street food and certainly not the toned down version generally produced by 5-star restaurants to cater to a wide base of clientele.

Now, since I cant resist it, here is a snap of me handing over the prize to the guys at Dakshin. But as you can see, Ileana’s backless number shot my glamour all to pieces that evening. Anyway…

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