You come from Parsi-Catholic parentage, what kind of food do you eat at home?
Parsi-Catholic food, with lots of curry-rice, and not a single vegetarian dish. Till I was 18, I had no idea that being vegetarian was a proper diet! I used to think it was a joke! But now I'd seriously like to give up meat.

Whatever for!
Well, I am a animal lover, and I write in favour of animals. I want to give up meat. Start eating eggs. I'll take it step by step. Maybe, I'll start eating human beings. They are the lowest species!

What's your favourite meal?
Chinese... when money's not a problem. I cannot eat it every day, but I tell my mother, if I make 50 crore, I'll employ a full-time Chinese cook. I love Chinese food all over the world. People say it's different in England and US and China and Hong Kong. Doesn't matter, I still like it!

And your favourite restaurants are?
I like the starters at Chinese Palace, the sui mai at Ling's Pavilion, I used to love the food at Nish and Mandarin, but they've closed down. I've got some panvati with Chinese restaurants! I'm not big on five-star restaurants.

Can you cook?
Once when I was in the US for four months, and I was facing desperate financial issues, I called my sister and took down the recipe for kheema-pav. This was probably the only time in the world anybody ever made orange-coloured kheema. My room-mates ran away!

Are you an adventurous foodie?
No, I am conservative! But I experiment. I love South Indian-North Indian food. I love the way Mangaloreans make Punjabi food. Like a butter chicken, they make it dark red, whereas in the dhabas outside Delhi it would be bright orange! And I love sauces, chutneys, pickles, they are a big thing for me. I can sit eating them with a masala papad.

What food can you eat or not eat at any time?
Bhel! I can eat bhel on the road anywhere. I grew up doing this. And I cannot eat fish. I love prawn, crab and lobster, but not fish. Also steamed rice, why do people eat it in restaurants? I would go home and have it!

So what kind of foods excite you?
Okay, the mutton biryani at Delhi Darbar; brain masala at Olympia; the dhansak at home, it's a killer; the raan-masala at Shalimar; the crab and corn soup at Fountain Inn; anything out of the wok at Stir-Fry; the salads and buffets at Starters & More; the Chinese food at CCI (if you can get the waiter's attention!); the starters at Chinese Palace; and, the chicken tikka roll at Noorani.