On Food Reviews and whether I’m too generous with praise… and on the role of kindness in my life.

So I’m the butt of many jokes among my food friends for being over generous with my praise.

“Blah praises everyone”.

“Blah likes everything”

“Blah finds everything amazing”.

And I laugh with my friends because I fully get where they are coming from.

Scroll through my feed on Instagram or my blog and you won’t find a single critical review unless it’s a restaurant that treats guests badly. But not one critical word about actual food. 

If everything is good then where is the discernment? How do you know what to actually visit? What’s actually worth recommending?

But there is more nuance to this than you may think. 

In a year I eat 600 meals outside home. 

I also tend to be careful about where I eat.

I understand three kinds of restaurants. Restaurants that focus on creativity. Restaurants that focus on regional food.

Restaurants that focus on very high quality of produce or technique or service. 

So most places I check out fall into one of these buckets. 

If you’re doing good but slightly generic food (regardless of cuisine), for a mid market audience I have nothing to say. 

That’s why I don’t go for most of the PR stuff I get called for. I have no opinion on a 7/10 European menu or a 7/10 North Indian brand or a super successful commercial format where young people go and party and drink and share small plates on a weekend.

But 600 meals out of home is still a lot. 

I cover no more than 100-150 restaurants based in India on Instagram. And no more than 5-10 a year on my blog. 

There are a few hundred meals and places I don’t write about at all. So then the question is why don’t I write about these places.

I pay for my meals so it’s not like I owe them anything. 

And don’t I owe it to my readers to warn them about places where they will be wasting their hard earned money? 

Well this may sound rude but the truth is that I don’t feel I owe my readers anything. Writing about food isn’t my profession. If it was I would have a professional obligation to share my opinion, good or bad, about restaurants and bars. 

No I write about food because it makes me happy. 

And it’s something specific that makes me happy.

In my professional life I was once a young person with dreams, trying to make it in an industry with nothing but passion and madness. I remember how hard it was to be not just a dreamer but to chase the dream without any support or encouragement or guidance from those who could have offered it.

When I was able to finally sell my company and have the freedom to live a life that fulfilled me, I realised that what made me happy was to help those who were in the position I used to be.

In my day job, I’m one of India’s most successful consumer investors. It’s because I don’t see a founder as just a receptacle for funds. I see my younger self. Brave but scared. Strong but lost. And to sit and support them and guide them and help them find success gives me greater joy than money. And that’s what makes me a good investor.

I have the same philosophy towards food.

When I meet someone brilliant and talented with the courage and conviction to follow their dreams I feel a sense of excitement and inspiration. I remember the early days of Indian Accent. The empty evenings at Bomras in Candolim. The meetings with Aditi Dugar and Prateek Sadhu about how to get Mumbai to understand Masque. The feeling that I was in the presence of genius and the gratitude of being able to help them in a small way on their journey to the world recognising and acknowledging their brilliance.

To help Azmat and Sarposh turn around their finances. To be there for Pallavi and Kanishka and their fearless journey with Navu. To help Divya Prabhakar fulfil her potential as an entrepreneur. 

To be able to share feedback and ideas with brilliant young chefs like Shubham Thakur and Niyati Rao and Priyam Chatterjee and Vanshika Bhatia and so many others. 

This is a privilege for me. 

To help talent realise potential, whether through critical acclaim or financial growth… what a fulfilling journey this is! 

And all it takes is a few posts and a little time, a conversation or a call, a few words sharing what I loved about their work and why it meant something to me. 

This is why I write. Because these people inspire me. They enrich my life and help me find fulfilment. Because I want to share their talent and brilliance with the world. 

Which brings me to the hundreds of restaurants I don’t write about and don’t criticise.

My take on this is simple.

Their food and their offering is not for me.

But not everyone is me.

Not everyone looks for the same things as me. 

Some people want variety. Some people like vibe. Some people like familiarity. Some people like value for money.

What makes me some big judge to decide what people should like or not like? All their choices are valid. What they seek is valid. It’s not in my place to say they are wrong or to adjudicate on good taste. That’s an act of ego and if there’s one thing I’ve thankfully left behind, it’s the raging ego of my younger years. 

More importantly, whether I like the food or not, I have immense respect for everyone who has the courage to start a food and beverage business in India. This is a bloody hard business. With zero support from government or authorises. Low margins. High capex. High attrition. Constant crisis mode. Daily pressure. High failure rates. So many broken dreams.

But they still do it. Out of love and passion. For food. For hospitality. For people. In a world where so many choose the safe path, they go and just do their thing and follow their passion.

That is something I admire deeply. And if nothing else that courage and passion deserves my kindness. I may not love their food. But that doesn’t give me the right to criticise them. To harm their business. To harm their dreams. To break their courage and shake their determination. That’s not who I want to be. 

So yes, I’ll happily have my friends make fun of how generous I am with my praise. 

And I’ll happily share with the world the places that give me joy.

And I’ll practice kindness even to the places who do not.

I just feel that’s a better way to be me.