Sweet Neem: Book Review by Asha Seth

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Author: Mohini Durgampudi| Genre: Fiction | Pages: 326

The Plot:

Sri and Mia, come back from America to take on the family business of running a hotel in downtown Hyderabad. Three generations of a family thus get-together to relaunch brand Annapurna and work towards its sustainability in the competitive Hyderabadi atmosphere by offering a whole plethora of cuisines right from Indian Chinese, to Italian, to Mughlai, to Anglo-Indian desserts, etc., weaving their way through the multitudes of dishes and tastes that perhaps, only Hyderabad is famous for.

musing quill reviews — Image Credit: Goodreads

The Review:

This is a wonderful little novel on food, culture, traditions, festivals, history, and legacy of one of the finest and oldest cities of India, Hyderabad, and is a wikipedia of sorts for all things food and their recipes. It is a delightful little gem for lovers and food and those in the restaurant business. Some really handy tips on how best one can handle the business and keep winning customers.

The author, who is a food connoisseur herself, has quite peculiarly, named the chapters after traditional dishes from myriad hyderabadi cuisines. She has linked chapters by tossing in the varied flavors of food blended with descriptions of how these dishes hold significance on specific festive days of the Hindu and Muslim year, thus forming a chain that finally completes with the successful relaunch of Annapurna with some considerable albeit commendable welcome change.
So then you ask – Why Sweet Neem? That is for you to find out.

This could easily pass for a four, if not for some inadvertent typos and the inordinate amount of dialogues that got in the way of my reading experience.

Read more about the author, Mohini Durgampudi.

If you happen to read ‘Sweet Neem’ or have already read it, do share your thoughts below.