indian going on japanese

since tariq has been complaining that we don't write enough, here is an impromptu post in small case (mooli's way of writing emails and sometimes posts).

today at a lunch meeting with Aamir (founder and CEO of Dwell), we were talking about what kind of person mooli's would be and mathew came up with the line 'indian going on japanese' - it made both aamir and me crack up.

later in the evening, i stopped for a cream puff at Beard Papa's on oxford street - very very nice puffs - crisp on the outside with fresh custard inserted just before being served. that's pretty much what they serve though they have a few variations on the standard puff, tiramisu and some hot drinks. beard papa's still amazes me - they are a Japanese company started in Osaka in 1999 and now have over 300 stores around the world. and they sell cream puffs.

which brings me to the point of this post. focus. when i was in japan last year, i was amazed that a LOT of restaurants would only serve one thing (for example, katsu or ramen). if you want sushi, you go to a sushi restaurant. i loved this juice bar which served only 5 types of juice (so that they didn't have to wash the electric mixies, just like our mosambi juice wallahs in india)

all the fast food joints i love/respect in the world are all about focus. that's what makes them taste so good. take IN-N-OUT BURGER, all they do is a burger, a cheese burger and a double cheese burger (and fries). that's it. all with the same meat. and they are MILES better than McDonalds (and some of you will know i like a Big MAC). their line is Quality you can taste - boring but true.

next up is Maoz. they look awful, almost like a kebab shop and they ONLY serve falafel pita and salad (and fries). But Maoz is a hugely successful company and it is solely because their falafel pita and salad is amazingly good and fresh. (mathew and i are going there tomorrow after our meeting with Jonny, Chief Executive of dimt)

of course, lets not forget our delhi special - khan chachas. just 4 rolls, thanks.


tunde's kebab is another one in lucknow. one kebab. that's it. lol.


even Chipotle, the hugely successful mexican chain in the US keeps it pretty simple.

people have told us that our menu is too small but we're convinced its not. if anything we could even cut it down. which reminds me, we've decided our 5 wraps, more or less. i'm going to let mathew write about them - last night when i read his descriptions i wanted to eat them so much, i almost couldn't work. its tempting to add more options but we will keep it simple - only 5 at any give time. if you want to introduce a new one, then an old one must give way. thats the way it works. if we ever have 6, complain and you'll get 100 moolis free.

in the spirit of this free flowing email, here are some completely random pictures of japan i took last april/may.