A meal fit for a prime minister

HOSPITALITY: A lavish spread awaits Shinzo Abe on his visit to India.

When Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe comes calling today "" leading a 140-plus delegation from his country "" he is likely to feel more at home than he may have expected. Japan, after all, is quite the flavour-of-the-moment at the luxury hotel in New Delhi where the premier and the delegates are putting up.

Right from making sure that the okayu, or rice porridge (a special request apparently), is on the breakfast table for the PM along with elaborate omelettes, folded several times over and layered with the likes of nori sheets and flaked dry fish, to flying in 60 kg of fish from Tokyo, the hotel seems to have spared no effort in making its guests welcome.

A Japanese chef is being flown down from the hotel chain's trendy Japanese restaurant in Mumbai, and apart from the likes of steamed black cod on the menu, the prime minister and his spouse will also be treated to some special creations.

On the other hand, it is not yet sure "" breakfast apart "" how many meals the couple will actually be having at the hotel. However, since "the news has filtered in" that they also like curries, the Indian kitchen has been kept in readiness. On the menu are chicken curry, mutton biryani and the master chef's trademark galauti kebabs.

And if the visitors call for some beverage, a Japanese tea festival is fortunately underway too. About 12 varities of Japanese tea are on offer including Sencha, the most popular type, Macha, or powdered green tea, Hoji Cha, roasted leaf, and Genmaicha that is rice-flavoured. If you fancy a discerning sip, the hotel is likely to resemble a fortress these few days.

The prime minister and his wife are, of course, going to be put up in the super-plush presidential suite of the hotel, amongst the best in the country with its Napolean chairs, original artwork, gold-plated cutlery, IBM thinkpads, digital phones, weatherproof speakers in the bathroom, treadmill and the like.

A bevy of heads-of-states and corporate heads have availed of all these in the last few years but unlike the demands of some, the hotel says it has not received requests for anything special this time round "" apart from the porridge.

One request, however, is to arrange for a ladies' lunch at a tony club within the hotel to be hosted by Mrs Abe.

Needless to say, this too will be an all-Japanese affair but the menu, according to its executive chef, seems to be a trifle more eclectic: Green tea-flavoured noodles and, hold your breath, wasabi-flavoured creme brulee (all specials from the Mumbai restaurant)! Some would call it lunch diplomacy.