India, March 24 -- What's one major difference between eating at home and eating at a fancy European style restaurant?

Easy: At home we share everything. At upmarket restaurants we have to eat fancy food carefully arranged by chefs on pretty plates designed for the single diner. Nothing is meant to be shared.

That, I sometimes think, is also the basic difference between how Indians (perhaps all Asians) and Europeans eat at restaurants.

We share. They keep it to themselves.

It is, I think, the most important factor in deciding which restaurants succeed in India. Think about it. Why do we like going to restaurants that serve butter chicken and biryani? Why do we like places that heap on the hakka noodles so that we can have them with st...