Tommes (once incorrectly referred to here as Thomas), the chef who greatly improved the kitchen at Enoteca, is moving on. He will be Stefan Stiller’s sous chef at his new restaurant opening this spring.

I just spoke to Eduardo Vargas, who will be opening a new restaurant just beside Azul/Viva in the coming month or so. Eduardo’s new one will serve standout Southeast Asian dishes from places like Laos, Cambodia and Bali – not Southeast Asian fusion but authentic representations of dishes from across the region.

Finally, local blog Shanghaiist recently published a piece that described their favorite places to eat out in town. I always enjoy playing this game with people who like eating (or reading about it) and so I click-clicked. And, to my horror, I found out that Wing Ling Soh, a writer there, decided to dangle a carrot in front of our very noses. Soh likes eating at a Gujurati thali "sort of restaurant" somewhere in Pudong, in someone’s house, and won’t tell us where. I find this not only portentous but really tempting.

Mark my words, Wee Ling Soh: I will find your Gujurati clubhouse, and cackle from the depths of my gullet as they sloppily spill lentils, over and over, into so many stainless steel bowls!

((below is an image of the last thali (sort of like a cheap, serviced buffet) I ate in India many moons ago))