Sunday, October 9

Irma suggests that we eat out somewhere we have never gone before. When she says this I know immediately that she has somewhere in mind.

We head for Samudra and stop at Natesh Café, a restaurant we have indeed never visited before. It stands about twenty metres from Molly’s which we have also never visited. Both, I believe, act as magnets for expats everywhere.

We enter to find it deserted and we remain the only customers for almost all of the meal. Just before we leave a man, woman and daughter from Mumbai arrive, talking Hindi and English, and looking as though they imagine they have just stepped out of a fashion shoot.

I photograph the bar which contains a lot of flotsam and jetsam of one sort or another, along with icons and statues, all dimly but atmospherically lit.

For dessert I will have a fruit-filled chapati with custard, precisely because I see it on the menu and have no idea what I will get if I order it. When it arrives, after a lengthy wait, it will look like a large and sweet Cornish pasty, including the fluting around the crescent.

I will love it and note that, next time, I must ask for a double portion of custard.