Your honour, THERE IS NO SCOPE for any misunderstanding. The accused, fine dining restaurateur Vinayak Deshmukh, not his real name, is squarely charged with having scattered chopped coriander leaves over my clien's strawberry cheesecake before serving it. Being a refined diner yourself, Your Sour Eructation will already know what a gosh-awful combination that is. The accused did it anyway, claiming that every dish in his restaurant is routinely sprinkled with coriander before it leaves the kitchen.

He claims it's the "Indian way", handed down the generations to him by his very grandfather. My client, name withheld, is a discerning gourmet and strongly feels that the dignity of fresh strawberries and cream in purest cheesecake is irretrievably slurred when coriander is arbitrarily sprinkled on it. He says you would never ever see such a travesty of dessert in his home city of Bangkok, where coriander is treated with respect befitting a noblewoman.