Empires of the Sun,waters of Scotland
Scotch, Food & Our Menu Philosophy

India and Japan are Asia’s leading “Whisky Nations” today with their own marquee home productions.But bothalso have long Imperial legacies where Scotch became a drink synonymous with luxury and aristocratic refinementin the 19^th century.

The Victorian age in Britain led to a globalization of whisky-- a spirit of the Caledonian islands (Scotland), whose distillation was treated as an art form by the Scottish. Queen Victoria, after a visit to the Highlands, became one of history’s most famous whisky patrons (and drinkers). As the Empire and fashion for Scotch grew, distilleries from Edinburgh and Glasgow started supplying to various outposts-- including to princely India, where the opulence of a fading Mughal empire still resided.

In Meiji Japan meanwhile, around the same time, a new policy of openness to the West meant that Scotch along with the likes of korokke (croquet) and kare (curry, from curry powder brought in by British naval officers) becamethe new coveted yoshoku (western) foods, extending the idea of luxury and artistic refinement of the Edo period.

But if the west came east—to the empires of the sun, Mughal and Meiji, Victorian Britain too imbibed the traditions of royal luxury from India and Japan. Kashmiri paisley shawls and kimono-inspired silk dresses became highly in demand, even as Indian maximalism and Japanese minimalism inspired artists and aesthetes in Europe (and America).

We celebrate this intersection of ideas and tastes of the East and the West, through this menu--- in a city that has known luxury like no other.