Last month’s version of this post began by noting that January had been a record month on the blog for traffic, with all-time highs—by some margin—for both page-views and unique visitors. This was due to the sudden explosion of interest in India in the controversy over the owner of Indri, which led a lot of people via search to my review of their whisky, Trini, early last year in which I’d noted his scrubbed history/identity as the killer of Jessica Lal. That interest tapered off in February—I’ve no idea if all the outrage amounted to anything finally or if it’s business as usual for the company. I rather suspect the latter. My review of Trini was still the most-read post in February but the page-views were only about 10% of what they had been in January (which is to say, they were still quite high). I’m not sure if any of the short-term Indian visitors have stuck around—I hope at least a few will become occasional visitors. What else were people reading on the blog in February? Here is the rest of the month’s top 10, followed by a quick look ahead to March.
Top 10 Posts by Page-Views
- Indri-Trini, The Three Wood
- Bukhara (Delhi, March 2022)
- In and Around Mangwon Market (Seoul, March 2024)
- Biryani Stop (South St. Paul, MN)
- Eating at Mercato Centrale (Florence, June 2023)
- Mingles (Seoul, February 2024)
- Trattoria Monti (Rome, June 2023)
- Eating at Noryangjin Fish Market (Seoul, Feb/March 2024)
- Kwality (Delhi, January 2023)
- Christmas Lima Beans with Coriander and Roasted Cumin
So, it’s the usual pattern for these lists: a new review of a place in the Twin Cities’ east metro rises into the top 10 but it’s otherwise a familiar cast of characters. I assume the numbers for the Mercato Centrale, Trattoria Monti, and other Italian reviews outside the top 10, will start picking up again as the summer begins to get closer. Meanwhile, Mingles in Seoul picked up their third Michelin star last month, which pushed them up from the bottom of the top 10 in January to the middle in February. I assume that traffic will be regular for a while as for some reason my reviews is right at the top of Google search results for “Mingles Seoul”.
Alright, what’s coming up in March? Only two restaurant reviews from the Twin Cities. We are scheduled to go back out for ramen today. And next weekend we have reservations to finally eat at Diane’s Place. After that I’m off to Delhi by myself again for the second half of the month. The rest of the month’s restaurant reports will accordingly be posted from Delhi. Those will all go up on Wednesdays. On the booze front, you can expect the usual single review per week on Mondays. Cooking continues to be featured on Instagram—though it’s not unlikely that recipes might start making a return to the blog sometime this year.