It was a day like any other in Delhi, a midsummer lull as the city awaited the monsoons. Inside Indian Accent, the restaurant synonymous with the Portrait of a modern India to the world, the staff prepared for their afternoon service — veteran chef Manish Mehrotra’s collaboration with chef Prateek Sadhu of Naar, an ingredient-forward venture, that celebrates the hills.
The felicitous moment was not lost on anyone. Here was Mehrotra who brought the world to India for its new flavors and tastes, while Sadhu represents the new generation who is spotlighting Himalayan cuisine and stories, across seasons and terrain.
The two chefs are united by a core philosophy of making indigenous ingredients and techniques the hero. Mehrotra takes a page from the common man’s palate, while Sadhu focuses on mountain-sourced native ingredients. This climaxed in the dishes they put out — which celebrated the local, the modern and the native.
One of the dishes was Sundarkala — a type of pasta, with eggplant and tomato mince in a Sinki broth. While Sinki, a fermented radish base, is served in soups in Bhutan and Nepal, Sundarkala noodles are typically made of finger millets, or madua. The latter are native to Uttarakhand, and was an unlikely poster candidate at such a fine dining platform until now.
Hussain Shahzad, Executive Chef at Hunger Inc. Hospitality
What we witnessed was a rising trend — that of chefs bringing to the table items and ingredients that were so far considered to be too mundane. With that, some of India’s most famous restaurants and chefs are going back to their roots, bringing unlikely dishes that are far from rare, but definitely unexpected. Mehrotra, for instance, served a piquant aam panna, along with urad daal pakodis, sliced melons and ice apples. The epicenter of this dish — pakodis, are hardly fine dining fare, but here it felt right in place.
The NCR isn’t the only place where efforts to bring back the core soul of many a subdivision of the vast Indian cuisine is taking place. In February this year, Mumbai-based Hunger Inc Hospitality — the parent firm of The Bombay Canteen and O! Pedro, opened doors to a 12-seater experiential dining cave — Papa’s. Since then, Papa’s has generated enough buzz to now have a months-long wait list — less than six months since it opened. Amid the intimate, unexpected dining setup, the group’s executive chef, Hussain Shahzad served clarified rasam. The rasam was poured over Parsi topli paneer made with almond milk, hidden under thinly-sliced watermelon, topped with a lime-leaf oil that added a citric touch to the dish. Not only did Shahzad’s creative kaleidoscope make the most of a staple dish, it also served as the chef’s ode to his time in Chennai. His food antics further brought to the fore the philosophy of the Bohris — that of serving the kharas (savoury) first, and the mithas (sweets) later.
Speaking about bringing the as-yet non-commercial items into the menu, Shahzad said, “The dishes that we do here help us tell the stories about ourselves through the food. I grew up in a Bohri-Muslim household in Chennai, and it was only when I shifted to Mumbai did I realize how different and influenced the food of my house was from the region we were in, compared to the Bohri-Muslim food here in Mumbai. That part of my childhood is something that the diner gets to taste here,” Shahzad said.
Mumbai, in fact, even has its first ingredient-forward restaurant today — Ekaa, by chef Niyati Rao. Located in the ever-charming Fort area, Ekaa is located inside a 130-year-old building. The place does not stick to any particular cuisine, instead it is driven by seasonality and produce. One particular dish that will stay with diners forever is the ‘Pickle sandwich’. The latter uses a croustade, along with pickled cucumber, peanut brittle and a cheese foam topping. Rao said that the dish was inspired by the unusual combination of having peanut butter with pickled cucumbers in the same dish, but, somehow, it worked like magic. It was inspired by a childhood memory of one of her chefs.
Askalu: Askalu at Naar
Each of these experiences add together to define how such everyday, at-home items are being championed across some of India’s best restaurants. Food consultant Nikhil Merchant underlined that the trend originated as a necessity when in 2020, global free trade was suspended to tackle the pandemic. This was further exacerbated by external factors.
“The world is changing drastically, with issues such as climate change and the overconsumption patterns of the West affecting our lives. It’s only a matter of time before the food industry realizes the Importance of capitalizing on local resources rather than spending money and compromising quality on ingredients that are not locally sourced,” he says.
Merchant added that the pandemic restrictions “made the use of local ingredients paramount in menus. It’s a domino effect that has ultimately been beneficial.”
Beyond the technical necessities, chefs believe that there is a strong personal correlation in presenting everyday courses in fine dining. Speaking about why items such as pickled cucumbers and madua would make it to professional menus, Ekaa’s Rao said, “We want to make people feel comfortable when they taste the food. We like it when people have a tactile experience.”
What the: What The Duck at Papa’s Mumbai
For long, India, represented around the world by some of the greatest chefs, has echoed soulfulness. The modern Indian culinary playbook is heightening this even further — for while the soul of the food remains, what has evolved are the ideas. Diners, too, reflect growing maturity especially in metro markets, where they are receptive to new forms of presentation and finding humble, everyday ingredients instead of the deliberately cream and spice-stuffed fare.
For instance, at Ekaa, Rao runs an open kitchen where the diners can walk in and interact with the chefs — or simply observe the journey of the food from the kitchen to their tables. This helps in instilling curiosity towards the process.
Similarly, Papa’s is reminiscent of Mumbai’s famed Prithvi Theatre. The Chefs here are actors who put up a delicious show, hooking on audiences to their every movement and facial gestures. Diners are encouraged to be a part of the show, and after the final act is presented, the dinner itself feels like an interactive play.
Today, modern Indian cuisines are no longer about only the traditions — it is an eclectic combination of what a chef envisions their dish to be, and the stories they wish to weave. In the process, today’s creations involve precision and art on a plate the way India’s diverse cuisines have never been represented before.
Vernika Awal is a Delhi-based food and lifestyle journalist