Scene and Heard

Marcellus Baptista

What's happening at Mumbai's hotels? A peek into the party circuit and events in the city...

Little Italy

Riyaaz Amlani and VJ Ramona at Salt Water Grill

The breezy beachside setting of Salt Water Grill was the happy venue to celebrate Festa Italiana 2005 and launch the Italian food festival. The party was in honour of Gianfranco Ferre and Beatrice Trussardi who showed off their creations the previous night onboard the IMS Vikrant. While Massimo Macchi, CEO, Gianfranco Ferre, was there, Trussardi was missing. But very much making their presence felt was the AC Milan junior football team who beat the Mumbai celebrity team earlier at Bombay Gymkhana. Among the many Italians seen was Dr Andrea Bonardi, secretary general, Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Of course, also present were two chefs flown in from Italy, Iervolino Attilio and Porcaro Orlando. While the pasta was passable, the real attraction was the pumpkin risotto prepared before your eyes. The guests were quite a mix with models Carol Gracias and Binal Trivedi, designers Neeta Lulla and Pria Kataria Puri, artists Bose Krishnamachari and Arzan Khambatta, singers Mehnaz and Sanjay Maroo, actors Divya Palat and Aditya Hitkari, restaurateurs Sabina Chopra and Riyaaz Amlani, socialites Ramona Vadhera and Monica Vaziralli.

Single And Mingle

Mitali Kakkar, Zeba Kohli, Prahlad Kakkar at the Glenrothes party at the Taj

Single malt gives rise to multiple emotions. You would have felt so if you happened to be on the lawns of Chambers at the Taj. It was a night of discovery of Glenrothes, the Rolls Royce of single malt whiskies, hosted by Chris Burns of the liquor group and Farhat Jamal, general manager of the Taj Mahal Palace & Towers. It was a formal affair with men in dark suits and women in colourful attire, all enjoying the wondrous taste of the whisky and the sweet sounds of Bianca Gomes on vocals.

History has it that on December 28, 1879 two momentous things happened in Scotland. The new rail bridge over the River Tay collapsed, plunging a train into the icy waters and killing all 75 passengers. That same day, the first pure spirit flowed from the stills of the Glenrothes distillery, considered a ray of sunshine on an otherwise dark day. Guests at The Taj went back and forth, as they sipped and savoured the golden liquid with its soft, fruity, ripe black plum and liquorice bouquet, a palate of citrus, orange zest and sherry oak with a medium length and spicy finish. That was the 1992 vintage of the single malt. The feelings changed as you had the older vintages, making you think of the good old days and the wonder of the new and now. Enjoying the intoxicating and invigorating experience were the likes of single malt lovers Anish Trivedi, Anil Dharker and Prahlad Kakkar and mixologist Shatbhi Basu who had her drink with ice and a splash of water.

Dome Delivery

Gautam Kapoor, Vinod Khanna with wife Kavita at Dome

Suddenly, everyone is heading up to Dome, the sky bar at InterContinental, Marine Drive. The breezy venue has been a happy ground for several promotions including Campari and Evian, parties like the launch of the music album of the film 'Holiday'. A recent event held there was Fashion Domein, showcasing international and emerging fashion trends. Maheka Mirpuri showcased her collection here and so did the Italian fashion brand Police, famous for its sunglasses endorsed by the likes of David Beckham, with a launch of a range of watches and jewellery, brought to India by Rajiv Mehra, Haresh Chainani and designer Gautam Kapoor, popularly known as Gomzee. He was dressed in casual chic and guests included Vinod Khanna and wife Kavita, and other couples like Mandira Bedi and Raj Kaushal, designer Azeem Khan and Sameena, Kishen Kumar and Tanya, Raju Daswani and Esther, Ash Chandler and Nethra Raghuraman, Rohit Roy and Manasi Joshi, Arshiya and Rij Eappen, Deepa and Suhas Awchat, Suchitra Pillai and Lars. There was also a sprinkling of models like Nina Manuel, Reshma Bombaywalla, Diandra Soares, Maushmi Udeshi and Chesz Shetty. Looks like Dome is fast turning out to be the fashionable place to be.