It could have been just another newsy listing about a Mumbai restaurant that landed in our inbox. Until the subject line (always works) caught our attention. The news was an announcement about a Mumbai chef-restaurateur who was invited to be a part of a gourmet festival in Singapore. And this wasn’t going to be just another high-end frou-frou celebration of uber-luxe food and dining for the rich and famous. It was a dedicated platform to showcase, discuss and share Indian culinary advances in the island country.

While on the one hand, we smiled that a Mumbai name would be on that plane to Singapore to ideate and gauge the impact of Indian food on the world gourmet stage, we couldn’t help but wonder why such events are not a part of the city’s F&B itinerary. A few weeks back, mid-day’s week-long bumper editions for its 36th anniversary had outlined this concern in one of the specials; here, solutions were spelt out on how to elevate Mumbai into a world-class food and dining destination.