Desi Cuisine Becomes Gentleman

For Indian food, the long wait to get into the power corridors of fine dining is finally over. Desi khana has arrived.

For Indian food, the long wait to get into the power corridors of fine dining is finally over. Desi khana has arrived.

For Indian food, the long wait to get into the power corridors of fine dining is finally over. Desi khana has arrived. Not so long ago, the very mention of Indian cuisine would conjure images of creamy dal makhani, flaky naans and juicy tandoori chicken, all dumped on a platter. These dishes represented comfort and nostalgia, but one could hardly associate them with the words ‘romantic’ or ‘chic’. After a while, the same old curries became boring; they were ordered as an afterthought from takeaways and home delivery services after all other options were exhausted. It was time for drastic action, to save Indian food from being relegated to the annals of ennui.

In the past five years, a handful of master chefs have managed to do just that—rescue our cuisine by giving it a new personality. By skillfully playing with textures, colours and flavours, these culinary wizards have transformed Indian food from a dumpy, boring person to an elegant, sophisticated diva.

It has taken time for people to accept Indian food in this new ultra glam avatar. Who would have ever imagined that exotic ingredients like caviar, foie gras or scallops would ever find a place in Indian cuisine? Or that our food would be elevated from greasy balti curries to French-styled, pre-plated masterpieces? As knowledge of this nouvelle Indian cuisine expands, acceptance is also building up. This is evident in the fact that more restaurants dedicated to this novel culinary style are coming up, the latest addition being Ziya at The Oberoi, Mumbai.

Conceptualised by Vineet Bhatia—the only Indian chef to have two Michelin stars and the only one apart from Gordon Ramsay to have one outside his home country—Ziya replaces Kandahar in Oberoi’s post 26/11 renovated outing. It is interesting to know that Bhatia was the one who started the nouvelle food trend in India in 2001 with his restaurant Mushq at Delhi’s Manor Hotel. At that time, the concept fared badly with diners who refused to let go of their obsession with makhanis and tikkas.

Long after Mushq shut down, restaurateur Rohit Khattar, the man behind eateries like Oriental Octopus, Tamrai and Sitaarey, took over and created the Indian Accent to test new boundaries in Indian cuisine. This time round, people didn’t seem averse to trying out arbi satay, galangal-infused Mekong basa or water chestnut paper dosai. Soon things started looking up and finally changed for the better. Today, fine dining restaurants like Indian Accent and Ziya in Mumbai; and Monsoon at Le Meridien and Varq at Taj Mahal Hotel, both in Delhi, are doing very well after having made a mark with the well-travelled connoisseur.

Chefs like Bhatia, Atul Kochhar and Debu Saha have transformed the Indian foodscape abroad and wish to bring the same experience to India. If you were to visit Devi or Tabla in New York, you will find Indians happily tucking into Goan shrimp bruschetta or a masala fried quail. London has taken Indian food to another level with exemplary presentation styles and radical cooking techniques. Restaurants like Amaya and Cinnamon Club serve culinary works of art such as tandoori breast of Anjou squab pigeon, a chaat of tamarind-glazed tandoori fruits with passion fruit raita and Carpaccio of cured organic salmon with onion seeds and horseradish raita. When Indians travel to these cities, they realise that while our good ol’ cuisine is being interpreted in newer avatars, it seems to have stagnated in the country of origin. “It is the past five to six years that have witnessed a change. Indians are travelling abroad a lot more. When they visit places like London or New York, they observe trends which are accepted by Indians living there. It is no wonder then that they want the same things when they return to India,” says Bhatia.

Nouvelle Indian cuisine doesn’t just play on the flavours, it plays on the eyes as well. Instead of everything coming together on a platter or in a handi, chefs present the dishes in a series of courses, each focusing on a prominent protein, sauce or garnish. Instead of looking like a big dump of food, small portions are arranged delicately on a plate, creating a sense of exclusivity.

“Till some time ago, apart from a couple of restaurants like the Zodiac Grill, no one was doing proper plated food in any cuisine. Italian was just pasta heaped on a plate and continental meant roast chicken with gravy smeared on the sides. However, now, presentation is everything,” says Chef Manish Mehrotra of Indian Accent, who has recreated classic gol gappas by arranging them with dainty servings of masala cous cous, and four flavours of water and jal jeera.

At Ziya, too, Bhatia’s dishes are a contrast in textures, flavours and temperatures. His food displays a respect for classical cooking while showcasing his creativity and innovation. The idea is to use combinations of certain proteins and ingredients that will enhance the taste and look. The dishes need to be modern-looking and yet light on the palate. “At my London restaurant, Rasoi, we have a tandoori chicken which is black in colour. We use squid ink to give it that unique hue and then garnish it with gold leaf,” he says. Bhatia uses this and many more visual tricks to create a sensorial treat for his guests. For instance, he serves a home-smoked salmon on a glass-filled dome. As soon as it is brought to the table, the glass is taken away and the salmon is swathed in a mist of smoke. “Each time a guest comes to your restaurant, he must go back with a memory,” says Bhatia.

Master Chef Hemant Oberoi has extended the idea of elegant presentation not just to the food but to the decor as well. Everything at Varq epitomises luxury and elegance. The restaurant boasts of French crockery from Reynaud designed by Chef Thomas Keller, and its fine series of glasses are from Schott Swizel of Germany. People at Varq consider food an art that needs to be savoured only in the finest of surroundings. The menu here is a mix of classical Indian dishes as well as innovative creations such as tamarind sorbet, kadi patte ke scallops, varqi crab or a mille feuille of peppered crab and baileys kulfi.
Gone are the days when all Indian restaurants would serve the same ten dishes. Today, no two eateries specialising in nouvelle Indian cuisine would have identical menus. Each chef brings his own unique style and imagination to the table. “In order to innovate, you need to know your food well. And that’s where the chef’s training comes in. Till 28, you are like a sponge, observing and soaking everything up. It is only after this that you develop your own style. You need to make sure that flavours gel well, otherwise the dish will be like a flop movie which doesn’t get its formula right,” says Bhatia.

It is also easier now for chefs to dabble in this kind of cuisine because of the easy availability of ingredients. “If two years ago I had asked my supplier for foie gras, he would have given me tins of pate de foie gras. Today, you have fresh, juicy chunks of goose liver in the market,” says Mehrotra.

With foreign ingredients, chefs need to redefine their cooking techniques as well. Over-cooking and flash frying have lost their charm. Instead, chefs now go for blanching, roasting and searing. They are also looking at toning down spices while successfully extracting their essence and flavour. Different techniques are mixed and matched to create something different. For instance, Tarun Kapoor, executive sous chef with Chutney at Delhi’s Metropolitan
Hotel, creates a hugely popular sushi kathi roll. Similarly, Chef Subasis Bandopadhyay at the six-month-old Khana Sutra in Kolkata’s Chrome Hotel, does an innovative tarkari tortellini ka shorba along with an amuse bouche of tomato and ajwaini paneer insalata caprese.

According to Bhatia, one needs to understand the composition of each component. For instance, foie gras is a lot like chicken liver and he does a brilliant kadhai kaleji masala with it. However, instead of flash frying the foie gras, he simply sears it. At Ziya, guests are also treated to a wild mushroom khichdi with makhani ice cream. The gravy used in butter chicken is churned like an ice cream and this combination of hot and cold makes it a great hit.

However, while playing around with textures and flavours, chefs have to keep in mind that the original identity of the dish is maintained. If doing a tikka or shorba, one needs to get the basic essence of the dish right to help guests form an association with the food. “Whatever you do, the dish must be in sync with the identity of the original. I make a foie gras gilawat in my restaurant. No matter what ingredients I use, no one can challenge me that this is not a gilawat,” adds Mehrotra. Chefs believe that this can only come about if one has respect for one’s tradition of classical cooking.“We need to have respect for our local cuisine. For anyone in the world to take us seriously, we must first learn to appreciate our own food. As Indians, we are not less than anyone else in the world. Our food can be just as grand and sophisticated. That’s what nouvelle Indian cuisine is all about,” concludes Bhatia.

About The Author

Avantika Bhuyan