Chef Hubert with specialities from the new menu at Chinoiserie

Come Chinese New Year and the Tangra and Tirretti Bazaar areas in the city are thronged by people eager to get a load of all the action for the New Year celebrations are indeed an experience to remember. However, if gaining entry proves difficult (and it is, if you don’t have an obliging Chinese friend), The Taj Bengal is offering darned good consolation. Chinoiserie, the hotel’s Oriental speciality restaurant is celebrating the year of the Monkey in its own special way and here, the doors are open to one and all.

Hosting the festivities is Chef Hubert Wen, but he, for the most part, remains behind the scenes, allowing his food to do all the talking. The tent card menu lists an impressive line-up of starters, soups and main-course delicacies all priced between Rs 220 and Rs 825. For an appetising start, try the Cha Chi Kai (deep-fried spring chicken with delicious dip) and Chow Ma Tofu (crispy tofu tossed with Szechwan wild peppers). Soupy affairs come by way of Cream of Seafood and Crabmeat Soup and the Tofu and Pickled Vegetable Soup and main course masterpieces include Prawn Jhang Jhing-style, Chilli Honey Pepper Lamb, stir-fried pork sausages with snow peas and a corn, potato and haricot bean blend in Mahlak oil among others. Going a long way in keeping with the spirit of things at the restaurant, energetic dragon dances await on weekend nights courtesy one of the only two dragon-dancing troupes in the city.

Now while you can monkey around with the tent-card menu only till February 8, the good news is that Chinoiserie has also laid out its new menu for the season. We especially loved the Prawn Butter Chilli Garlic, the Chicken with Peppers and Toffee Walnut and the Burnt Garlic and Spring Onion Fried Rice. A word of warning, though: elastic waistbands and fat wallets are necessary.

June Maliah at the launch of Rejoice at The Oberoi Grand

Tress-talk

Did you know that men require more frequent haircuts as their hair grows faster than women’s? Or than an average human head has over 1,00,000 strands? In case you didn’t, these, and many more hair-raising facts were thrown up at an interactive session at The Oberoi Grand recently when hair-care giants Procter and Gamble launched their latest product, Rejoice — the world’s third largest-selling shampoo — with a unique hair quiz.

Present at the occasion to unveil the product was actress June Maliah who stressed on the importance of tress-care, adding that, “If your hair quality and style are not good, no amount of sartorial elegance or physical attributes can make up for it. Smooth hair draws appreciation and is a confidence-booster for us women too.”

So, handy tips on hair-care were doled out at the session even as film snippets showing actresses tending to their luxuriant tresses paved the way for the launch of Rejoice. The new product, formulated with patented micro-silicone conditioning technology comes in three variants: Rejoice Silky Clean for heavy-oiling customers in South and East India, Rejoice Rich suited for the dry climatic regions of the North and Rejoice Complete, a 3-in-1 shampoo that’s not only an effective dandruff-buster but gives silky-smooth hair that smells great all day long.