On a toothpick

If you've been mixing with the right kind of partying people "" not the average politician or bureaucrat, who'll serve the greasy samosa for several years more "" you couldn't have missed the democratisation of the sushi. Not only has it become acceptable with Black Label, it has become the darling of the cocktail circuit.

The new chicken tikka, as staff at the new Cafe Red in Gurgaon would vouch for. The restaurant does brisk biz in sushi takeaways, with corporate types ordering in for Friday night dos too. There are similar instances in both Bangalore and Mumbai. But we'll leave those out. Today, we're trend-spotting: What's 'in', what's 'out' and what are the fashionable cocktail snacks?

Clearly, the dish on the dining table has become as much a lifestyle statement as the Fendi clutch. But just as labels can be acquired either from high-end stores or from Bangkok flea markets, 'delicacies' do not always translate into top-of-the-line stuff. Lesson 1: Don't get excited if you find caviar, salmon, oysters or crab cake on a party menu.

Yesterday's exotica is de rigeur today, much more accessible but the quality often debatable. Instead, what party-hardened hostesses deem truly trendy is low-cal hors d' oeuvres. As 'spa lunches' gain ground promoting salads-over-foot massages, ladies-who-lunch are making a dedicated effort to throw the cheese out and replace it with alternatives like hung and whipped curd!

Whether you view this as a gastronomic tragedy is immaterial. In fact, bird-shaped, bite-sized canapes served by a Delhi hostess recently became a talking point just as the otherwise humble breadstick served at a fashion designer's send-off bash did "" the bread seasoned with different herbs, you get the drift...

Though if you go by Delhi-Mumbai-hopping socialite Ramona Garware's advice, junk the bread too. "An occasional bruschetta is fine but there's much less bread and much less cheese happening in parties", she says.

What is definitely happening is grills. No frying, please. Grilled prawns are thus better than 'golden fried' and if you find tandoori too cliched, a hipper alternative could be the Japanese yakitori. Food to grill could be fashionable seafood, or you could go fashionably green with everything upwards of button mushrooms.

Though, please, please stay away from the satay. Cliched like the paneer, which even shaadi caterers are now eschewing. "Earlier we used to have paneer tikka, now people want something different so we offer things like the makai kebab," says caterer Amit Dua.

But certain paneer-fixated party-throwers have found an equally obnoxious substitute. Tofu; replacing the paneer tikka with grilled tofu. While on the green cause, vegetarianism got elevated to never-before chicness when guests at another do in the Capital actually got truffles served on skewers.

The mushroom "" if you must call it that "" worth its weight in gold, was hitherto best found as shavings in Ritu Dalmia's pastas.

The thing with meats is to dress them up differently. "It's the same things accessorised differently," says a hostess. So at one end of the spectrum you could have the uber-chic bacon-wrapped asparagus.

At the other, something that goes under the name 'mutton raunq-e-seekh', supposedly Avadhi, popular in Ludhiana-industrialist parties. The mince is coated with coloured bell peppers and grilled. Don't screw up your nose.

If you are inclined to be more stylish, try serving the dolma (mince in vine leaves), like at Olive Bar and Lounge that has recently introduced an entire evening to snacking (and win-ing), called Apperitif. While on mezzes, do leave pita pockets to kitty parties.

For the truly exotic, take consultant Manu Mohindra's advice on the smörgåsbord. A Scandinavian seafood buffet, it comprises a number of small dishes, yes, like the mezze, or the Spanish tapas"" herring, salmon, sardines, meatballs... in various recipes.

Mohindra also recommends the Russian equivalent of the smörgåsbord, Zakuski, as the new barometer of gourmet snobbery. The way to serve is begin with cold fish dishes and end with hot meat dishes. Who needs dinner?