Soul Kitchen, the new restaurant in Delhi's busy business centre of Nehru Place (opposite Park Royal Hotel), pitches itself as a place that offers "food, music and peace". The promise, in many ways, is fairly well-kept. It has an airy, drawing-room atmosphere, books to browse, mixed cuisine fare with a decidedly adventurous touch, and an impression that management will permit you to linger for hours over a cup of coffee. The food's good (try the fish cake, Malaysian chicken Borbodour served with fragrant yellow rice), the prices middling for a place like this (meal for two with starters and soft drinks mark Rs 700-plus). It would help though if the waiters weren't nervous, if duck -- the bird a'la orange is a speciality -- were available all the time. It might also help if the management got rid of crockery that bears the name of another venture by one of its partner that closed down not long ago: Chez Nathalie. That's an iffy memory, despite making a mark with its avant garde decor. The good thing about Soul Kitchen is that a meal there leaves decidedly better ones. This is nouvelle cuisine with a bite, flaws apart, value for money.

Photography

Usually, photographers of the Press Trust of India are known for their for-the-record pictures, important but routine images for the next day's newspaper. Sometimes, more arresting slice-of-life photographs don't find place. They do in an exhibition on at Max Mueller Bhavan (until March 22), marking 50 years of PTI.