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One confidently credits the delicious cuisine on this planet to the Spanish genius chef Ferran Adria and what cannot be denied is that his approach to cooking and his culinary algorithms have inspired the minds of chefs around the world. freed them, inspired them to break norms, and utterly enthused. To be generation free and explore infinite horizons.
For some time now, Indian chefs have been trying to apply the same laws of evolution to Indian food. A great feat for anyone who wants to fool around with the taste and flavor that we so deeply root for in our conscience and palate. Vineet Bhatia was one of the first to try it with Indian food at his old London restaurant, which actually won him a Michelin star, and to this day, at many of his restaurants around the world and at Zia in Mumbai’s Oberoi, he Still trying to convince us that Indian food can break the shackles of hundreds of years of tradition and still be Indian food. Around the same time, Chef Manish Mehrotra was busy building India’s most iconic restaurant – Indian Accent.
At Zia, Vineet reinvents Indian food, rediscovering it with a refreshing treat, paired with palate cleansers and paired wines. Their earlier menu astonished us with dishes like Prawn Chaat Toffee, Mango Chop-Chop Kachumber with Sesame Honey Cod, Smoked Aubergine Raita and Mustard Chicken Tikka with Spinach Thin. Edamame Coconut Porridge, Hazelnut Butter Lobster with Turmeric Moily. The menu varies with their imagination and today it has Honey Tamarind-Salmon Tikka, Wasabi Hummus, Edamame-Radish Sundal, Ghee Mutton Roast, Spinach Upma, Soya Jaggery Tofu and Avocado Pomegranate Chaat.
But convincing the hard-and-hard Indian palate that there is life beyond butter chicken is actually a colossal task, though a bit easier to do in foreign countries like the UK. In London, the cuisine of the subcontinent emerged in its most legitimate and most real form about 10–15 years ago, albeit with fertile and vivid freedoms. Take a small lanky restaurant called “Hoppers” run by Chef Karam Sethi and team of Gymkhana London in Soho, London. Try their bone marrow vruval with roti (two thick loaves in a spicy oily coconut sauce), deep blackened pork curry, or their deviled prawns. Earthy Taste Lankan food, unapologetically spicy and faithful to the taste. Similarly, Manoj Vasaikar’s regional Indian food explodes India Zing in Hammersmith. Scallops in Hirva Masala. This Indo-Pacific mollusk tossed in traditional Maharashtrian green spices is a taste of home in distant lands, as is prawns and aubergine kharfle (jumbo prawns and pickled marinade with aubergine, caramelized onions and tomatoes). Of course, the happening restaurants Dishoom and Roti-Chai have struck a chord with the locals as well, and stalwarts like Amaya and Veeraswamy will stand the test of time.
Then came along with Bombay Canteen. The late Floyd Cardoz’s partnership with Bombay’s young boys Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage has not only opened doors for a new order in Indian food, but also windows. Lesser-known regional Indian food with new technologies as this generation. Theplas with Pork, Pulled Pork Vindaloo Tacos and Pumpkin-Spinach Lentils, Black Pepper Head-on Prawns, Arbi Tuk, Banana Leaf Wrapped Roasted Fish, Tandoori Pork Square Ribs and Tamil Kothu Roti made history. The menu keeps on evolving and this season it includes slow cooked pork belly thukpa, paya soup momos, toor raj kachori with ragda, amchur chutney, and pickle curd, charred carrots with goat cheese, pickled onions and pistachios, There is so much more.
But this weekend, I arrived at Joshi House in Mumbai, which was hosting two amazing chefs. Chef Suveer Saran, who earned a Michelin star reveling Indian cuisine in America at a restaurant called American Masala, and her executive chef Vardan Marwah. Together they did a pop-up at this fab Bandra restaurant with a menu that truly proved that you can prepare imaginatively Indian haute cuisine without the trade-offs on bare bones. A seven-course menu, which begins with the all-too-familiar pani puri, made with strawberries, chutney, green apples. Kheema Aloo, Spicy Mutton Mince with Velvet Mash, garnished with finely crunchy Salli. Alleppey style prawns served with Bengali Jhal Muri. The meal culminates in a mix of ghee roast, lamb chops, dak seek kebabs, and mango sweets.
It was one food that finally put Indian food on the path of growth in my mind.
Kunal Vijaykar is a food writer based in Mumbai. He tweets @kunalvijayakar and can be followed on Instagram @kunalvijayakar. What is the name of his youtube channel? The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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