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Indian Takeaway: A Very British Story
As a boy, Hardeep Singh Kohli knew where home was: Glasgow. But everyone else always assumed he was Indian. Because surely he couldn't be British, with his brown skin and turban? Thirty years later, Hardeep sets out on a journey to discover where he is really from. His story is as hilarious as it is moving.
304 pages, Paperback
First published September 4, 2008
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149 people want to read
About the author
Hardeep Singh Kohli
8 books4 followersHardeep Singh Kohli is a writer, presenter, broadcaster and reporter of Punjabi Sikh descent from Scotland.
Hardeep Singh Kohli's parents came to the UK from India in the 1960s. His mother was a social worker, and his father a teacher.
He was raised into a tenement-living family and was initially schooled at Hillhead Primary School in the West End of Glasgow. The family then moved to their own house in Bishopbriggs, and Kohli then moved to Meadowburn Primary. Aged eight, his parents could afford to move their children out of state schooling to be educated by the feepaying Jesuits at St. Aloysius College, a Roman Catholic school in central Glasgow. To finance their family through private school, Kohli's parents ran a corner shop. Kohli gained eight As in his O-grades, and four As and a B in his Highers.
While studying, Kohli managed a few restaurants and began working as an Usher at the Citizens Theatre - where his love of playwright Arthur Miller began.
After graduating, he was hand-picked for the prestigious BBC Scotland graduate production trainee scheme, which involved two years of training.
He moved to BBC Television Centre, London to direct Children's TV, and then series direct from Manchester on Janet Street Porter's series Reportage. He returned to London to direct RTS and BAFTA winning show It'll Never Work.
Kohli left the corporation in 2000 to begin working independently. He is known for writing, directing and starring in Channel 4's Meet the Magoons in 2004. The show was nominated for a Golden Rose at the Montreux Comedy Festival.
Kohli wrote, produced and presented the RTS nominated documentary In Search of the Tartan Turban for Channel 4, which explored cultural identity as a Briton and a Scot belonging to an ethnic minority. It won a children's BAFTA and spun off into a daytime Channel 4 series, Hardeep Does... that covered a variety of different topical issues: sex, religion and pets. He went on to write and presented A Beginner's Guide to Scientology.
In January 2007, Kohli had a three-part series on Channel 4, £50 Says You'll Watch This, exploring gambling. The show involved Kohli taking part in a celebrity card game, visiting casinos in Las Vegas and losing a substantial chunk of his fee through his inability to gamble successfully.
In October 2006 and February 2007 he appeared on the BBC political panel programme Question Time.
An occasional presenter on Newsnight Review, Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4 and guest presents on Loose Ends.
Kohli writes a column entitled Hardeep is your love for Scotland on Sunday, and has since March 2007, covering topics as diverse as suspicions that he is a terrorist and being ashamed of enjoying Harry Potter. He also occasionally writes for The Guardian and The Independent.
Kohli wrote a book about food and travel in India and appeared as a regular reporter on BBC1's The One Show.
Kohli was Man Booker Prize judge for 2008.
Hardeep Singh Kohli's parents came to the UK from India in the 1960s. His mother was a social worker, and his father a teacher.
He was raised into a tenement-living family and was initially schooled at Hillhead Primary School in the West End of Glasgow. The family then moved to their own house in Bishopbriggs, and Kohli then moved to Meadowburn Primary. Aged eight, his parents could afford to move their children out of state schooling to be educated by the feepaying Jesuits at St. Aloysius College, a Roman Catholic school in central Glasgow. To finance their family through private school, Kohli's parents ran a corner shop. Kohli gained eight As in his O-grades, and four As and a B in his Highers.
While studying, Kohli managed a few restaurants and began working as an Usher at the Citizens Theatre - where his love of playwright Arthur Miller began.
After graduating, he was hand-picked for the prestigious BBC Scotland graduate production trainee scheme, which involved two years of training.
He moved to BBC Television Centre, London to direct Children's TV, and then series direct from Manchester on Janet Street Porter's series Reportage. He returned to London to direct RTS and BAFTA winning show It'll Never Work.
Kohli left the corporation in 2000 to begin working independently. He is known for writing, directing and starring in Channel 4's Meet the Magoons in 2004. The show was nominated for a Golden Rose at the Montreux Comedy Festival.
Kohli wrote, produced and presented the RTS nominated documentary In Search of the Tartan Turban for Channel 4, which explored cultural identity as a Briton and a Scot belonging to an ethnic minority. It won a children's BAFTA and spun off into a daytime Channel 4 series, Hardeep Does... that covered a variety of different topical issues: sex, religion and pets. He went on to write and presented A Beginner's Guide to Scientology.
In January 2007, Kohli had a three-part series on Channel 4, £50 Says You'll Watch This, exploring gambling. The show involved Kohli taking part in a celebrity card game, visiting casinos in Las Vegas and losing a substantial chunk of his fee through his inability to gamble successfully.
In October 2006 and February 2007 he appeared on the BBC political panel programme Question Time.
An occasional presenter on Newsnight Review, Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4 and guest presents on Loose Ends.
Kohli writes a column entitled Hardeep is your love for Scotland on Sunday, and has since March 2007, covering topics as diverse as suspicions that he is a terrorist and being ashamed of enjoying Harry Potter. He also occasionally writes for The Guardian and The Independent.
Kohli wrote a book about food and travel in India and appeared as a regular reporter on BBC1's The One Show.
Kohli was Man Booker Prize judge for 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
May 19, 2013
With many memoirs, I find that either the plot or the writing is very good, but it is hard to get both right. For me, this didn't get either right. The writing tried too hard to be funny, with mixed results. The 'hook' of the book wasn't strong enough to carry the plot. The whole thing fell a bit flat.
Two stars because he had some great descriptions of India. I'm planning a trip there, so they were of great interest.
Two stars because he had some great descriptions of India. I'm planning a trip there, so they were of great interest.
August 27, 2018
The story itself is actually a great concept. As a daughter of parents who immigrated to a new country and someone who is continuing to try and find the balance between culture and personal identity, I can absolutely relate, however this book turned out to be very disappointing.
Kholi's writing has a way of making mundane events seem even more mundane and boring. When he wants to make a point or connect his past and present, you have to endure, at minimum, three confusing and vaguely related anecdotes until you've all but forgotten (or stopped caring about) the original point.
Most of his meals are miniature disasters where he doesn't expand on what he's learned from the previous experience, though it seems he knows a lot that he doesn't share with the reader, and we're left wondering what we missed.
The material is all there, but he would definitely have benefited from a few more editorial eyes. Also the book is weirdly packed with grammar mistakes. Although I'm glad I read this book, I'm very disappointed by the writing.
Kholi's writing has a way of making mundane events seem even more mundane and boring. When he wants to make a point or connect his past and present, you have to endure, at minimum, three confusing and vaguely related anecdotes until you've all but forgotten (or stopped caring about) the original point.
Most of his meals are miniature disasters where he doesn't expand on what he's learned from the previous experience, though it seems he knows a lot that he doesn't share with the reader, and we're left wondering what we missed.
The material is all there, but he would definitely have benefited from a few more editorial eyes. Also the book is weirdly packed with grammar mistakes. Although I'm glad I read this book, I'm very disappointed by the writing.
December 1, 2012
Abandoned after first few chapters. For me, he simply wasn't succeeding on any level. Not as memoir, not as travelogue, not as foodie. And I found the idea of going to India to cook British food for Indians to be completely pointless...confirmed after the first time he cooked for a restaurant staff at a five-star resort. It might have been a great story, but the telling was so dull and lackluster that it made me give up on him as someone I wanted to follow on a journey.
October 7, 2021
In the first few pages, Kohli rambles so much that I could not decide where it was leading. Then, he throws a stupid zinger of cooking British food for Indians he meets while travelling. He offers no explanation of his desire. He is torturous in Kovalam. In Mallampuram, he caught my heart and was a much more bearable thereon. You really have to give it to Kohli for the way he describes his cooking. It is really detailed and connectable. The travel part, is skimpy at it is best. If you have read other foreigner-writes-about-India, skip this book. If you are really set on understanding an NRI's take on his ancestor's land, I would recommend movies from Gurinder Chhadha instead.
The cover has a few snippets from reviews and they talk about how humorous the book is. I did not find Kohli's stale jokes humorous. He really over does things like his fathers' refrain, "Sign those documents son" was easily predictable before its each instance. The only humorous part was Victoria's Sponge or Victoria's punj and this I understood, because I speak Punjabi; it would probably be lost on other readers.
Lastly, his writing is quintessentially British. You know, how they take a million words to say something that could have been conveyed in just a few. It is amusing the first few times but seriously bugging afterwards and I found skimming through 4-5 line when Kohli entered his British mode.
The cover has a few snippets from reviews and they talk about how humorous the book is. I did not find Kohli's stale jokes humorous. He really over does things like his fathers' refrain, "Sign those documents son" was easily predictable before its each instance. The only humorous part was Victoria's Sponge or Victoria's punj and this I understood, because I speak Punjabi; it would probably be lost on other readers.
Lastly, his writing is quintessentially British. You know, how they take a million words to say something that could have been conveyed in just a few. It is amusing the first few times but seriously bugging afterwards and I found skimming through 4-5 line when Kohli entered his British mode.
December 22, 2011
A very average read and self-indulgent for the most part. the author is a man with many childhood memories to share as a Sardar from Glasgow.
What beats me is why he would come all the way to the country of his origin not so much to partake of its food, but to thrust his favourites like fish and chips down the throats of locals.
And the reason he would do this is...er...to find himself?
Humourous in parts, especially where he recounts his train and road journeys. Would have been a great idea by the commissioning editor but the end product fails to whet the appetite.
What beats me is why he would come all the way to the country of his origin not so much to partake of its food, but to thrust his favourites like fish and chips down the throats of locals.
And the reason he would do this is...er...to find himself?
Humourous in parts, especially where he recounts his train and road journeys. Would have been a great idea by the commissioning editor but the end product fails to whet the appetite.
May 29, 2016
An enjoyable read. So many things in this book i could relate to as a Sikh boy/man myself. Always nice to read about other Sikhs and their upbringing. No matter where our lives have taken us, we will always share the same roots.
August 19, 2013
The writing is as self-indulgent as the writer's journey. Some paragraphs were a chore to read - long-winded and repetitive, using g100 words when 30 would suffice. I can't believe I wasted so much time reading this book, only to be rewarded with an anti-climatic generic ending. The only reason why I have this book 2 stars (instead of just one), was because I enjoyed the cooking bits. Skip this unless you are a foodie.
October 15, 2009
I really enjoyed this funny book. I probably annoyed my wife to no end as I kept reading her passages aloud.
April 17, 2015
The book's premise is nice. I liked most of the book. However it not written very well. Same things are repeated many times. Also I couldn't quite identify with the writer.
December 5, 2018
“I am indebted to my father for making the choice to move to Scotland, since I think being Scottish has improved my life immeasurably. I am funnier, wittier, and better looking for it, and am far more likely to invent things and educate the world about the philosophy of economics. That is what it is to be Scottish. “
Loved this book. So much love
Loved this book. So much love
April 27, 2019
I first became aware of Hardeep Singh Kohli though the Channel 4 television series ‘Meet the Magoons’ which was set in a Glaswegian curry house and starred a bunch of great British Asian comic actors. These included his brother Sanjeev Kohli (the writer of the equally fabulous radio 4 comedy ‘Fags, Mags and Bags’), the guy who plays the postman in East Enders and the father from The Kumars at No. 42. I thought the series was hilarious and I loved the weirdly eccentric turban-wearing kilted Kohli. Unfortunately, it seems that only I, my husband and another three viewers who were probably Kohli relatives thought it was funny and the show was pulled after just one series. I never have been good at finding humour where others look for it.
Once found, Kohli was difficult to lose again. He popped up all over the place – though admittedly quite a lot on Radio 4 and usually doing documentaries on what it’s like to be a Glaswegian Sikh who really likes nice clothes. He is definitely one of the most instantly identifiable of characters – who else do you know who can carry off a bright pink turban, a snazzy designer jacket and a kilt? He looks like your favourite teddy bear fell into the dressing up box with his eyes closed and rolled out again looking very pleased with himself. And whilst I’m thinking about it, what IS the Kohli clan tartan? Identity crises and self-doubt abound in a lot of his work but at heart, I can’t help thinking he’s just a media boy who happens to have a good excuse for wearing skirts (sorry, I mean kilts).
I suspect that reading this book if you don't already know HSK is risky and looking at the reviews on here, I'm tempted to suspect that those who didn't know him before reading, mostly didn't much like the book. It's something to keep in mind.
'Indian Takeaway' is an account of a journey that Hardeep Singh Kohli took a few years ago, ostensibly to ‘find himself’ and to try to identify what it means to be a British Indian and yet be intrinsically neither British nor Indian. As he travels he learns rather more about his father and what it must have taken for the man he calls the ‘big fella’ to up sticks and move from a village in the Punjab to seek his fortune in Delhi and then move to London and Glasgow in search of a better future with his wife and for his (at that time) unconceived children.
Every travel book needs an ‘angle’ and simply going in search of yourself in the country where more people are self-searching than any other just wouldn’t cut the mustard. Hardeep Singh Kohli decided to turn the tables on the concept of an Indian takeaway and go to India and cook British (or occasionally when he bottles it, Italian-ish French-ish) food. With a lot of help from his father and his father’s contacts in India, he puts together an itinerary every bit as daft as the ones I create for my own holidays but with seemingly rather less knowledge of what he’s doing when it comes to organising travel. Next time Hardeep, give me a call and I’ll give you a hand with your train tickets.
Starting at what might be considered ‘the bottom end’ of India he bounces back and forth across the tip of India before heading north through Mumbai and Delhi and up to the most northern big city of Srinagar. Then he’s back to the ancestral town of his father and grandfather before heading back to the UK. It’s not clear how long all of this took but I’d guess not much more than a month. It reads as if there really should have been a camera crew hot on his heels recording his adventures – I’m sure it would have been a very funny show if there had been and I can’t help thinking that it probably would have been more funny and compelling on the screen than it is on the page. But in this case, HSK is on his own and on the road (and rail and airways) although friends and family and friends of family and family of friends are scattered along the way to help him on his mission.
Some parts of the journey are hilarious and authentically inevitably Indian. He gets diarrhoea on the 29-hour train journey from Mumbai to Delhi, he waits hours to fill a shared taxi and ends up having to buy all 7 seats for the 8-hour drive that would have taken 30 minutes on a plane. He tries – and often fails – to feed bland English food to bemused locals who just don’t get what he’s trying to do. It is a reminder of the classic ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ sketch where the Indians go out for ‘an English’ to abuse the white waiter and compete to eat the blandest things on the menu. Occasionally he gets it right – feeding fried fish (the chips didn’t work – the wrong type of potatoes) to fisherman in the middle of Dal Lake in Srinagar, and cranking out some fish cakes in a tiny cafe by the beach in tsunami-struck Mamallapuram – but more often than not the cooking mission is a bit of a waste of time. He doesn’t get his potato to meat ratio right on the shepherd’s pie, can’t make toad in the hole if there are no sausages and can’t stop himself from sticking coriander and chilli into everything he makes.
Hardeep Singh Kohli is clearly a bit of a whizz in the kitchen. I subsequently learned he did very well in Celebrity Master Chef so I guess he learned a lot from his mother’s kitchen and from working in the Glasgow restaurant trade. Whilst I love to eat and love restaurants, I don’t generally enjoy reading about food and I hate novels that try to shoe-horn recipes into their text. I was initially really pleased that Hardeep Singh Kohli hadn’t given in to the temptation to attempt a fusion of travelogue and cookery book to go along with his Glaswegian-Indian fusion theme but actually, I found myself reading his descriptions so closely that I realised I would have liked a few more details. I hate to say it but I wanted the recipes. After roundly slagging off a book called The Hindi Bindi Club a few months ago for the sin of mixing recipes and fiction, I was almost eating my words (along with chopped chillies and a sprinkle of coriander of course).
Hardeep Singh Kohli does come across as a lovely, jolly, self-deprecating and a rather modest chap. He makes perhaps too many references to his portly stature and his looks but on the whole, he comes across as a turbaned teddy bear with whom you could have a good dinner, though probably one with rather a lot of pork in it. I never really got a sense for WHY he felt the need to go on his journey although the book was published in 2008 and I suspect the breakdown of his marriage the year before might have had something to do with feeling the need to hit the road but that’s really just speculation on my part fuelled in part by his emphasis on focusing on the land and time of his parents and only rare references to his wife and children.
Where his book perhaps falls short of what I’d hoped for is in the overwhelming sense I got that he just feels he has to try to be funny all the time. On radio and TV he exudes a natural humour that doesn’t seem to transfer well to the page. The puns in his chapter titles are excruciating although I did laugh out loud (in a smug insiderly way) at his joke about opening five cakes shops in Delhi and calling them Victoria’s Punj (punj is five in Hindi – Victoria’s Punj = Victoria Sponge). Sadly the chap he cracked the joke to (and probably most of his readers) didn’t get it.
I’ve been to more than half of the places he describes in the book and there was no mismatch for me between what he wrote and what I’ve seen myself so I tend to believe the account he gives of the other places that I haven’t visited. For me to describe Amritsar as a bit crap is one thing, but for a baptised turban-wearing Sikh to say the place is a “shit hole” takes a higher level of honesty than most writers are entirely willing to commit to. (An aside: he should go back now as the whole area around the Golden Temple has been beautifully cleaned up and refurbished). Whilst he is perhaps trying a bit too hard to get a laugh, he’s brutally honest about the highs and lows of his experience. The beautiful things are beautiful and the eyesores are not dressed up as anything more than eyesores. If you’ve never been to India, then what you’ll find within the covers of Indian Takeaway is a nice little taster of what to expect. It’s like the traditional thali – a metal tray with lots of small portions of different curries, chutneys, rice and even desserts. Indian Takeaway is just that – a bit of everything, some good, some bad but entirely authentic.
Once found, Kohli was difficult to lose again. He popped up all over the place – though admittedly quite a lot on Radio 4 and usually doing documentaries on what it’s like to be a Glaswegian Sikh who really likes nice clothes. He is definitely one of the most instantly identifiable of characters – who else do you know who can carry off a bright pink turban, a snazzy designer jacket and a kilt? He looks like your favourite teddy bear fell into the dressing up box with his eyes closed and rolled out again looking very pleased with himself. And whilst I’m thinking about it, what IS the Kohli clan tartan? Identity crises and self-doubt abound in a lot of his work but at heart, I can’t help thinking he’s just a media boy who happens to have a good excuse for wearing skirts (sorry, I mean kilts).
I suspect that reading this book if you don't already know HSK is risky and looking at the reviews on here, I'm tempted to suspect that those who didn't know him before reading, mostly didn't much like the book. It's something to keep in mind.
'Indian Takeaway' is an account of a journey that Hardeep Singh Kohli took a few years ago, ostensibly to ‘find himself’ and to try to identify what it means to be a British Indian and yet be intrinsically neither British nor Indian. As he travels he learns rather more about his father and what it must have taken for the man he calls the ‘big fella’ to up sticks and move from a village in the Punjab to seek his fortune in Delhi and then move to London and Glasgow in search of a better future with his wife and for his (at that time) unconceived children.
Every travel book needs an ‘angle’ and simply going in search of yourself in the country where more people are self-searching than any other just wouldn’t cut the mustard. Hardeep Singh Kohli decided to turn the tables on the concept of an Indian takeaway and go to India and cook British (or occasionally when he bottles it, Italian-ish French-ish) food. With a lot of help from his father and his father’s contacts in India, he puts together an itinerary every bit as daft as the ones I create for my own holidays but with seemingly rather less knowledge of what he’s doing when it comes to organising travel. Next time Hardeep, give me a call and I’ll give you a hand with your train tickets.
Starting at what might be considered ‘the bottom end’ of India he bounces back and forth across the tip of India before heading north through Mumbai and Delhi and up to the most northern big city of Srinagar. Then he’s back to the ancestral town of his father and grandfather before heading back to the UK. It’s not clear how long all of this took but I’d guess not much more than a month. It reads as if there really should have been a camera crew hot on his heels recording his adventures – I’m sure it would have been a very funny show if there had been and I can’t help thinking that it probably would have been more funny and compelling on the screen than it is on the page. But in this case, HSK is on his own and on the road (and rail and airways) although friends and family and friends of family and family of friends are scattered along the way to help him on his mission.
Some parts of the journey are hilarious and authentically inevitably Indian. He gets diarrhoea on the 29-hour train journey from Mumbai to Delhi, he waits hours to fill a shared taxi and ends up having to buy all 7 seats for the 8-hour drive that would have taken 30 minutes on a plane. He tries – and often fails – to feed bland English food to bemused locals who just don’t get what he’s trying to do. It is a reminder of the classic ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ sketch where the Indians go out for ‘an English’ to abuse the white waiter and compete to eat the blandest things on the menu. Occasionally he gets it right – feeding fried fish (the chips didn’t work – the wrong type of potatoes) to fisherman in the middle of Dal Lake in Srinagar, and cranking out some fish cakes in a tiny cafe by the beach in tsunami-struck Mamallapuram – but more often than not the cooking mission is a bit of a waste of time. He doesn’t get his potato to meat ratio right on the shepherd’s pie, can’t make toad in the hole if there are no sausages and can’t stop himself from sticking coriander and chilli into everything he makes.
Hardeep Singh Kohli is clearly a bit of a whizz in the kitchen. I subsequently learned he did very well in Celebrity Master Chef so I guess he learned a lot from his mother’s kitchen and from working in the Glasgow restaurant trade. Whilst I love to eat and love restaurants, I don’t generally enjoy reading about food and I hate novels that try to shoe-horn recipes into their text. I was initially really pleased that Hardeep Singh Kohli hadn’t given in to the temptation to attempt a fusion of travelogue and cookery book to go along with his Glaswegian-Indian fusion theme but actually, I found myself reading his descriptions so closely that I realised I would have liked a few more details. I hate to say it but I wanted the recipes. After roundly slagging off a book called The Hindi Bindi Club a few months ago for the sin of mixing recipes and fiction, I was almost eating my words (along with chopped chillies and a sprinkle of coriander of course).
Hardeep Singh Kohli does come across as a lovely, jolly, self-deprecating and a rather modest chap. He makes perhaps too many references to his portly stature and his looks but on the whole, he comes across as a turbaned teddy bear with whom you could have a good dinner, though probably one with rather a lot of pork in it. I never really got a sense for WHY he felt the need to go on his journey although the book was published in 2008 and I suspect the breakdown of his marriage the year before might have had something to do with feeling the need to hit the road but that’s really just speculation on my part fuelled in part by his emphasis on focusing on the land and time of his parents and only rare references to his wife and children.
Where his book perhaps falls short of what I’d hoped for is in the overwhelming sense I got that he just feels he has to try to be funny all the time. On radio and TV he exudes a natural humour that doesn’t seem to transfer well to the page. The puns in his chapter titles are excruciating although I did laugh out loud (in a smug insiderly way) at his joke about opening five cakes shops in Delhi and calling them Victoria’s Punj (punj is five in Hindi – Victoria’s Punj = Victoria Sponge). Sadly the chap he cracked the joke to (and probably most of his readers) didn’t get it.
I’ve been to more than half of the places he describes in the book and there was no mismatch for me between what he wrote and what I’ve seen myself so I tend to believe the account he gives of the other places that I haven’t visited. For me to describe Amritsar as a bit crap is one thing, but for a baptised turban-wearing Sikh to say the place is a “shit hole” takes a higher level of honesty than most writers are entirely willing to commit to. (An aside: he should go back now as the whole area around the Golden Temple has been beautifully cleaned up and refurbished). Whilst he is perhaps trying a bit too hard to get a laugh, he’s brutally honest about the highs and lows of his experience. The beautiful things are beautiful and the eyesores are not dressed up as anything more than eyesores. If you’ve never been to India, then what you’ll find within the covers of Indian Takeaway is a nice little taster of what to expect. It’s like the traditional thali – a metal tray with lots of small portions of different curries, chutneys, rice and even desserts. Indian Takeaway is just that – a bit of everything, some good, some bad but entirely authentic.
April 19, 2014
This is the Most Pointless Book I ever read..I feel like suing the publisher for falsely advertising this book in the Comedy Genre. Plus I am 200 % sure the Author paid helll lot of money to get this boring book published.Coming to the Story, The Author is in his Mid-30s ( behaving like a clueless & nervous teen) who still hasnt found himself. So in his path of finding himself, he plans to voyage across India, but by appealing Indian tastebuds with Britain cuisine..See my Point ?? No ?? Even I didnt see the Author's Point..The author hasnt even bothered mention abt his profession , apart from signing papers for his dad on some legal paperwork..which means he is just feeding on his dad's money..Anyways, when the Author lands in India, he stays in 5 star hotels & apart from cooking he does almost nothing for adventure..He is just stuffed in his Room all the time. You Further lose respect for him when the food he cooks everytime is unsavoury to the people who eat it..not to forget his constant excuse making habits of not finding ingredients or not having good equipments..1 thing I failed to understand is that why was the author naratting his cooking techniques step by step when eventually the dish would turn out unsavoury ? The Author keeps visiting new places, cooks shit food and uses same adjectives to define a place. Plus he keeps stuffing his boring stories of childhood, introducing you to his family members one by one by a very bland boring fashion..The Climax was Stupid as well as Shocking..Shocking because this book was marketed as a funny book yet I didnt find even 1 single joke in it...0 Stars for this Book.
August 19, 2011
This one's entertaining without being laugh out loud funny and I felt disappointed that Hardeep's examination of his mixed heritages wasn't more revealing. You can read it as a book on cooking and culture (OK); Hardeep's childhood (where it is very good) or one man's middle-aged voyage of discovery (less so).
I didn't find the cooking stuff sufficiently engaging but that was probably because the idea of cooking British food in India for Indians just struck me as perverse - I was much more interested in hearing about the amazing sounding dishes his mum made when he was a child.
The scenes describing Hardeep growing up in Glasgow are by far the best and the juxtaposition of the immigrant family against the new culture bring out the best in his writing and will resonate with anyone who's experienced the same journey.
While the trip to India is in part portrayed as the quest we all reach in our forties and wondering who we are, with Hardeep rather than middle-aged angst what you get the impression that deep down he's actually pretty OK and what will make him happy is the thought of his next good meal. I don't mean that in a bad way - that's how he comes across.
I wish they had half stars in the Good Reads' rating system - This is better than a three but not quite a four.
I didn't find the cooking stuff sufficiently engaging but that was probably because the idea of cooking British food in India for Indians just struck me as perverse - I was much more interested in hearing about the amazing sounding dishes his mum made when he was a child.
The scenes describing Hardeep growing up in Glasgow are by far the best and the juxtaposition of the immigrant family against the new culture bring out the best in his writing and will resonate with anyone who's experienced the same journey.
While the trip to India is in part portrayed as the quest we all reach in our forties and wondering who we are, with Hardeep rather than middle-aged angst what you get the impression that deep down he's actually pretty OK and what will make him happy is the thought of his next good meal. I don't mean that in a bad way - that's how he comes across.
I wish they had half stars in the Good Reads' rating system - This is better than a three but not quite a four.
May 4, 2011
I love food - cooking it, eating it, shopping for it, reading about it - you know who else likes all of those aspects of food? Hardeep Singh Kohli, an Indian guy living in Scotland. And for some reason, he thinks he needs to go to India and cook British food to find himself. In my opinion, it sounds like a terrible idea, but it turns out to be an interesting read - part travelogue, part love letter to food, part memoir - it left me with a crazy craving for pork vindaloo and a desire to spend a few days traveling around India.
July 23, 2011
Kohli's questions of identity as a british Indian gives him a reason to explore India from the south, criss-crossing between eastern and western coasts till he reaches the northern town of Srinagar. As a self-confessed foodie he takes his knowledge of culinary skills and makes friends, and meets old buddies along the way. i enjoyed his toungue in the cheek v english humour and wry observations, but this is no big literary genius and Kohli's take on identity will seem somewhat irrelevant in a rapidly multicultural britain and globalised world.
September 8, 2011
A thoughtful and honest book, Hardeep Singh Kohli's travel memoir blends a colourful picture of India with warm reminiscence about his family and acute observation of his own status as a Glaswegian-born Sikh with a longing to maintain his ancestral feelings for the Punjab. The narrative hangs on his attempts to introduce British cooking to the Indians (fish and chips in Kashmir?), but the real subjects are the author, his family - especially his father - and his relationship with both Scotland and India. It's a treat.
November 26, 2011
Hardeep Singh Kohli is a comedian and presenter, born in Britain of Indian descent. In Indian Takeaway he attempts to better understand and reconcile his Britishness and Indianness, by undertaking a tour of India. So far so ordinary. The twist? That he would cook British food in each place, serving it to friends, family or total strangers.
As another reviewer put it, this is part travelogue, part love letter to food, part memoir. I wasn't particularly drawn in by the book but it gave me some insight into the vast subcontinent. Entertaining without being laugh out loud funny.
As another reviewer put it, this is part travelogue, part love letter to food, part memoir. I wasn't particularly drawn in by the book but it gave me some insight into the vast subcontinent. Entertaining without being laugh out loud funny.
August 12, 2013
Per una volta, lo spaesamento generazionale proprio dei figli di immigrati di seconda generazione, viene narrato in maniera lieve ed umoristica. Il nostro simpatico protagonista è veramente un ghiottone e va alla ricarca della sua identità attraverso il cibo, non solo quello tradizionale della sua famiglia, ma anche attraverso quello del paese che li ha accolti. Uno spassoso libercolo da leggere a stomaco pieno!
July 6, 2013
Hardeep Singh Kohli is a very funny man. He's also a very talented writer.
This book details his attempts to define himself- by returning to India, his parents' homeland, & cooking some UK cuisine for native indians. Sadly, things don't always run according to plan....
This is an excellent piece of travel writing, flavoured with much childhood reminiscence. As you'd expect from someone who comes across as a genuinely nice guy, the writing is full of warmth & humour.
An excellent book.
This book details his attempts to define himself- by returning to India, his parents' homeland, & cooking some UK cuisine for native indians. Sadly, things don't always run according to plan....
This is an excellent piece of travel writing, flavoured with much childhood reminiscence. As you'd expect from someone who comes across as a genuinely nice guy, the writing is full of warmth & humour.
An excellent book.
April 27, 2009
Not the best writing on the planet (and I found so many typos and grammatical errors, where are the editors!) but I love Hardeep and I love that he loves food. I think he loves it even more than I do, which is quite a lot. It's a lovely story and a peek into what India is like both culinarily and culturally.
August 31, 2014
A nice lighthearted funny read. It's not quite a cookery book, neither a travel book or a biography it's an amalgamation of the three and I think it works quite well. If you're looking for a cleverly complicated and philosophical book this is not it, but if you're looking for a nice funny holiday read I would recommend this book
November 13, 2014
Quite interesting book about India from different perspective. BUT - I didn't like, that feeling, that author created close to an end of every chapter. The feeling - that again everything is not the way, that he wants. I said OK once, OK next time, but on third, fourth, ... times I wanted to say - wtf, dude, calm down, everything is ok.
November 29, 2014
Audio book. I loved listening to the author tell of his growing up in Glasgow, his love of food, British & Indian, his travels around India & his quest. I thought he told his story extremely well, with wit & eloquence. I listened in the car & was always hungry for Indian food at the end of my journey!
January 27, 2015
Shocked that most ppl didn't like the book much. Took it without any expectations from the British council library. A book on travel and food traversing India. It was unintentionally funny - the NRI perspective where he tells ppl of kerala speak 'keralan'.
Decent , entertaining and I was constantly hungry when he started talking about food!
Decent , entertaining and I was constantly hungry when he started talking about food!
January 23, 2016
Hardeep's voice in telling this story felt very natural and there was a sense of honesty about it. His self-depreciating humour made him seem particularly British. I enjoyed the unique personal commentary that separates this out from other travel books. I was left with the question of whether he ever got his pork vindaloo though.
January 8, 2010
I picked this up because I like Hardeep on the telly and I also like food! I liked the photos of Hardeep and his family, they reminded me of my family pics - I'm from the same generation of dodgy 70s/80s hair/clothes! This is a warm and funny book, very enjoyable.
June 28, 2011
More like 3.5. Kohli is clever, and his views are rather astute (and it's really strange to read about his childhood memories of places very near me), but I would have preferred something more in-depth.
May 21, 2012
Started 28/2/2012
Just read that Mr. Hardeep was accused of being a bad lessee in Scotland. His flats were dingy and grubby. Oh dear, can I continue with this book?
Also read that he is a groper.
Finally finished this thing, it's not up the standard of other cooks travels.
Just read that Mr. Hardeep was accused of being a bad lessee in Scotland. His flats were dingy and grubby. Oh dear, can I continue with this book?
Also read that he is a groper.
Finally finished this thing, it's not up the standard of other cooks travels.
February 1, 2016
Laughed out loud at some parts, but seemed to drag on by the last couple chapters. That said, the narrative voice is quite chatty and witty and it's overall an enjoyable read. Even for someone who is neither British nor Indian!
January 8, 2011
I wasn't really a fan of this one...it was repetitive and I never got to the point. I didn't finish it.
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