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Global IndianstoryManjunath Mural: The Michelin star chef making Singapore fall in love with Indian cuisine

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Manjunath Mural: The Michelin star chef making Singapore fall in love with Indian cuisine

Written by: Global Indian

(October 14, 2021) Who could have thought that an unassuming middle-class boy from Mumbai who came to Singapore a decade ago would score a Michelin star for an Indian restaurant in South East Asia not just once but thrice? Meet Manjunath Mural, the man behind the Asian-Indian gastronomy style that has satiated the palates of thousands of people in the last one decade. The 48-year-old plays with flavors, colors and ingredients like no one else, and is on a quest to make Indian cuisine as popular as French cuisine.

In the last few years, Mural has become a name to reckon with in the world of food. But it took him many years of hard work to hone his craft and reach the zenith. From someone who had no inclination of becoming a chef to winning three Michelin star for The Song of India, Mural has come a long way.

Accidental chef

Born in a family of doctors in 1973, Mural was raised in Mumbai. Being surrounded by medical professionals in family for most part of his early life, everyone expected Mural to follow the league. However, he had a different plan. No, it wasn’t to become a chef. Instead, he was keen on becoming a room service manager. His mother supported his decision to try something different and so he enrolled himself into a hotel management course at IHM Bangalore in 1993. But fate had already rolled its dice and as a part of industrial training in the third year, he was send to a Thai kitchen at the Taj President for three months. This was a turning point in Mural’s life who discovered his passion for cooking and there was no looking back for him. “It was during my training at the Taj President where, while training in the Thai restaurant, I met two Thai lady chefs who really inspired me with the feeling that being a chef is a respectful career which requires a great deal of passion,” he told Career Ahead in an interview.

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The experience at the hotel put the seeds of hope in his fertile mind that he could become a world-class chef. So he returned to his college for his final year and put himself to test at the chef competition and bagged himself a second position. This was yet another turning point for Mural as it allowed him to compete on the national level. While Mural had his eyes on toque blanche, he had to fight the prejudices to take a leap of faith. “In those days, the chef profession was looked down upon. People said, ‘Yeh bawarchi banega?’ It was my mother who supported me unconditionally and persuaded my father to give in. She said, ‘Follow your dream,’ he told Hindustan Times.

Mural relentlessly worked to make it happen but his mother passed away due to cancer. This untimely loss of the only person who believed in him led him to promise himself that he wouldn’t stop until he did her proud.

Chasing his dream

This cemented his belief in himself and in order to chase his dream of becoming a chef, he joined The Resort, a five-star hotel in Madh Island. Working in the kitchen, he learnt the trick of the trade and was soon selected as a management trainee in kitchen at Centaur Hotel in Mumbai. It was here that Mural got to work with renowned master chef Sanjeev Kapoor and Milind Sovani. Under their guidance, he enhanced his skills as a chef. Such was his progress that he was soon appointed as chef de partie (a chef in charge of a particular area in a restaurant) and continued to specialize in Indian cuisine. His passionate work in the kitchen translated into ample opportunities and one such led him to Taj President where he trained under the famed chef Ananda Solomon. Mural was hopping from one restaurant to another and this made him restless despite his progress. At this time he was looking to work with an international chain but all his effort was in vain.

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After trying his luck at many places, he got his first big break at the Renaissance Powai. “I was surprised that the head chef, a foreigner, selected me as junior sous chef. For me, that was a dream come true, to be working in a global hotel chain where I could learn so much more. It was here that I gained tremendous confidence. Soon, a new ambition started forming in my mind – to get a job abroad,” he added.

Mumbai to Singapore

He feverishly started to apply to kitchens in London, Dubai and the United States. But to his dismay only junior positions were open. However, he kept himself afloat and the right opportunity knocked on his door in the form of his former mentor Milind Sovani with whom he worked briefly at the Juhu Centaur. Sovani offered him a job at The Song of India restaurant that he founded in 2006 in Singapore. Mural jumped at the opportunity and moved to the Garden City. Upon his arrival, he realized he had no idea about international palate. For months he struggled to control his hand as spicy was the only way he knew Indian food. That’s when chef Sovani stepped in and made him understand his vision. Two years later, Sovani moved to India giving the reins of his restaurant in Mural’s hands, who became the restaurant’s executive chef.

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Over the years, Mural developed an Asian-Indian gastronomy style, wherein he played with ingredients, flavors, colors and presentation to cook up a plate that was rich in palate. In between he won a gold medal in gourmet hunt Singapore 2007 for The Song of India and participated in a reality TV show on cooking. He even earned a nomination as Best Asian Chef of the Year in 2012 and participated in World Gourmet Summit 2013.

A Michelin star that made him a star

But it was in 2016 that this Global Indian‘s biggest moment came. Ten years after he set foot in Singapore, he won the restaurant its first Michelin star, the first for an Indian restaurant in South East Asia. The next year too, he renewed the honor. In 2018, he led The Song of India to score a hat trick as the restaurant was awarded a Michelin star for the third consecutive year in a row. “For a chef, being awarded a Michelin star is like winning the Academy Award,” he told India Today.

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After serving as Song of India’s culinary director for 14 years, Mural bid adieu to the long association as he opened his own restaurant in Singapore called Adda in 2020. Mural is keen to put Indian cuisine on the global map like no one else. “My personal goal is to share the rich heritage and diversity of Indian cuisine, and hopefully one day, people will regard it as highly as they do French cuisine,” he said.

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Published on 14, Oct 2021

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Meet Chef Radi Manoj – serving modern Indian food with an attitude at Tevar, Hyderabad

(January 21, 2024) Chef Radi Manoj’s visiting card describes his designation as Flavour Architect/Bhoj Samrat. This attitude, where he truly loves what he does, shows up on the menu of Tevar – the Progressive Indian Kitchen and Bar, a restaurant in Knowledge City, one of Hyderabad’s newer corporate areas. From an avocado kulfi to a paan-based mocktail, Chef Radi Manoj’s food is all about contemporising Indian cuisine From a CA to a Chef [caption id="attachment_48509" align="aligncenter" width="473"] Chef Radi Manoj[/caption] Chef Radi Manoj hails originally from Rajasthan, but grew up in Mumbai, wanting to be a chartered accountant. Even while doing his B.Com, seeing his older brother become a professional chef inspired him to want to do the same. He loved to sketch and paint, and occasionally cook, even as a child. He completed the first year of his CA course after graduating, then changed trajectories and gave the entrance exam for hotel management. On clearing it, he joined the Institute of Hotel Management in Bhopal, and loved every minute of it. Sitting in a sunny corner of Tevar, Chef Radi tells Global Indian, “After my first year, I had to do an internship and I worked at ITC Maratha

, he joined the Institute of Hotel Management in Bhopal, and loved every minute of it.

Sitting in a sunny corner of Tevar, Chef Radi tells Global Indian, “After my first year, I had to do an internship and I worked at ITC Maratha in Mumbai. I am not an introvert, but I was not comfortable interacting with people all the time. I preferred being in the kitchen and getting creative with dishes. I decided then that I wanted to be a chef.”

As part of campus recruitment, Chef Radi got offers from the Taj and the Oberoi Groups of Hotels, but he chose to go with Old World Hospitality, the company which later launched Indian Accent, by Chef Manish Mehrotra. He says, “I would call him my guru and mentor as a lot of what I create today is based on what he taught me. He is the pioneer of modern Indian cuisine. He always said, ‘Don’t fix what is not broken. Don’t make a Paneer Chettinad because that region doesn’t eat paneer. Don’t mix flavours for the sake of it; uplift a dish where possible.’ At Indian Accent, the clientele were global, well-travelled affluent people, so we had to give them new flavours, but nothing that seemed forced.”

Arabian Days and Nights

After four years and a lifetime’s worth of learning, a fluke call asking him to join another legendary chef – Sanjeev Kapoor – had Chef Radi moving to his company. With this job, he travelled all over India, setting up restaurant franchises for the brand. He would be travelling almost 300 days every year; and three-plus years later, he decided he wanted a change. He says, “I was not able to spend enough time with my family so I met Sanjeev and told him I wanted something less hectic. He suggested I go to Oman, where they were setting up five restaurants. I took it up and moved to the Middle East. Initially, I couldn’t understand Arabic food. I saw everyone relishing it but I didn’t find it flavourful. That doesn’t mean the food is bad; I didn’t have the palate for it. It was a learning curve because I got to learn about different Arabic flavours.” The Oman stint led him to Dubai to work with a company he later discovered wasn’t well-funded, but in the process, he met Ananda Kumar Pillai, an entrepreneur who invited him to set up a restaurant in Kuwait.

Chef Radi Manoj | Global Indian

That move was a milestone for him as he worked on the concept for six months, and set up Agnii – a restaurant that serves Indian and Kuwaiti food. Today, the brand is a chain of eight uber successful restaurants. He says, “It was his concept; and we launched a 69-seater restaurant, of mostly Kuwaiti and some Indian food. We would do 350 covers a day. The concept was that of a central kitchen where the food was cooked and sent to the other venues, in refrigerated vans.” Each outlet had a smaller kitchen where the food would be thawed, heated and served. It did phenomenally well. “When we had leftover biryani, I would mix it with cheese and herbs and serve it as arancini balls. They became so popular that we had to make them as a dish and not just from leftover biryani.”

Indian Food with Attitude

Moving back to India after the second lockdown when his father passed away due to Covid, Chef Radi was still in two minds about going back to Agnii and Kuwait. He chose to stay back as his mother would be alone and he wanted his family nearby. Then he got a chance to launch Tevar – The Progressive Kitchen and Bar in Hyderabad, for entrepreneurs Narendra Pal Singh and Nikhil Dhawan. He says, “The owners had a clear vision – we would not serve fusion food, but Indian dishes in a contemporary way. No roti and sabji in a taco or a chicken tikka masala in pasta. It would be regional Indian food with a twist. I personally like to use indigenous ingredients that are the underdogs of Indian cuisine; like arbi, lotus stem and yam. We created a kakori kabab with lotus stem, and because it is so soft, we serve it on a piece of rusk. We make a galouti kabab with arbi – the methods for both are the same as the non-veg versions, but we use vegetables not normally associated with kababs. We serve bhel made with banana flower and an avocado kulfi with banana and honey.”

Even the ubiquitous samosa gets revamped in Chef Radi’s hands. Since most people like the crust, his version of the much-loved triangle of fried heaven is served as a tower of alternating layers of crust and filling. Needless to say, it is one of the most frequently ordered snacks at Tevar. Chef Radi loves pani puri so he had to put it on the menu here. And, in the 15 years of being in Hyderabad, it was the best I have tasted in this city. The waiter comes up with a wooden trolley and serves it at your table, just as a street vendor would – with different stuffings. Eating with one’s hands is encouraged and all the creations have an attitude – evident through their taste and garnish.

[caption id="attachment_48511" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Chef Radi Manoj's recreation of the samosa[/caption]

His favourite ingredients are coconut and curry leaves and he prefers the minimalistic approach where he uses not more than eight to ten ingredients in his dishes.

A team effort

Frequently giving credit to his team of chefs, Chef Radi reiterates that they experiment with recipes and make them three or four days in a row. If he dislikes a dish one day and likes it the next, they tweak it further and then take a consensus on whether it should be on the menu. Having said that, he innovates considerably. The Katafi Paneer uses roasted vermicelli [katafi is the Arabic name for it and is popularly used for a dessert in Kuwait] and it is served with an orange reduction giving it a Mediterranean flavour. The Achari Paneer Tikka is marinated in a Rajasthan chilli pickle instead of the usual pickle masala. An Assamese style Black Chicken is cooked with black sesame seeds. A soft dhokla is served with slightly sweetened sour curd on top and a Malai Chicken Tikka is marinated in blue cheese. Paan leaves are used in a mocktail while a dash of vodka added to pani puri makes it a cocktail.

[caption id="attachment_48512" align="aligncenter" width="438"] The dhokla at Tevar[/caption]

The point is that Indian ingredients and methods of cooking are celebrated at Tevar unabashedly. There is a modern touch that gets added with flair which take regional Indian cuisine to the next level. And while the recipes keep evolving, Chef Radi would like his career graph to move towards launching his own restaurant some day. We hope the universe is listening.

While travelling, Chef Radi likes to eat at:

Pune: Local street food
Chennai: Thali at the Southern spice restaurant at Taj Coromandel
Indore: Street food, Poha Jalebi and Makai Ki Kees
Oman: Lamb Shuwa during the desert safari – the way they roast it in the ground is a unique experience.
Follow Chef Radi Manoj on LinkedIn and Tevar on Instagram.

Chef Sujan Sarkar on winning Michelin star for Indienne: Felt confident we’d be recognised

(November 26, 2023) As one steps onto the quiet, tree-lined Huron Street in Chicago, it's hard to miss the 19th-century printing warehouse that has now been converted into an Indian restaurant - Indienne - that speaks volumes about progressive Indian fine dining. When it first opened its doors for Chicagoans in the fall of 2022, its tasting menu that seamlessly blends Indian culinary artistry with the refined techniques of classic French cooking became an instant hit. In just fourteen months since its grand opening, Indienne has bagged its very first Michelin star, making Chef Sujan Sarkar proud and ecstatic. "We were expecting something but it was still a great feeling when it became official. A special moment and milestone for the team that has worked so hard," Chef Sujan tells Global Indian. [caption id="attachment_47019" align="aligncenter" width="685"] Chef Sujan Sarkar[/caption] With the rave reviews and the grand reception that Indienne got in the first months of its opening, Chef Sujan was expecting a Michelin star "before a year was up." However with a delayed ceremony this year, he had to wait a little. "Because of the standard we set, I definitely felt confident we would be recognised, by Michelin and by

ienne got in the first months of its opening, Chef Sujan was expecting a Michelin star "before a year was up." However with a delayed ceremony this year, he had to wait a little. "Because of the standard we set, I definitely felt confident we would be recognised, by Michelin and by our diners," says the Bengali Chef adding that at his restaurant one can expect a different interpretation of Indian food. "Come without expectations, you will enjoy the experience more. It will feel Indian and completely different at the same time," he smiles.

Indienne is a restaurant that he calls truly his own as he saw it come into existence brick –by-brick, and wanted to bring "finesse, presentation, technique, a fresh format and a new interpretation for flavours and inspiration that are rooted in India." But what sets this Indian restaurant apart from the many in the US is the tasting menus. "We do a lot of things differently; other than the dishes on the menu, simply the fact that we offer only tasting menus and such an extensive variety (the veg and non-veg menus do not overlap and are completely distinct from one another) make us stand out," he explains, drawing attention to his version of yogurt chaat, tender coconut payasam and scallop with uni malai curry that he calls “unmissable”.

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An accidental chef

Hailing from a small town outside of Kolkata, Sujan's early life was shaped by a deep appreciation for agriculture and locally sourced ingredients, a value instilled by his father, who is an agriculturalist. "As kids, we used to go to the haat (local market) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays with my dad, and the market used to be bustling and lively. It was the widest variety of fresh produce you could imagine – freshly caught fish (almost a hundred different kinds), chicken, goat, and more, even a few food stalls. How we learned about what was on offer was very organic as we would walk through the market and my dad would explain more about what all was there," adds Chef Sujan.

It was this strong connection with his roots that formed the philosophy behind his restaurants. But not many know that being a chef was the last thing on his mind. He was keen to be a designer, however, he missed making it to the list in the top two fashion schools - NIFT and NID. "So I switched my line," he says, adding that food was something that he always gravitated towards. He eventually enrolled at IHM Bhubaneshwar, a place that became a learning sanctuary for him. It was a lot different than cooking in his mom's kitchen, but he enjoyed every bit of it, especially getting first-hand experience in professional kitchens during his internship. "I was in Cidade de Goa and I still have memories from there. Now it's a Taj property," says the Chef.

[caption id="attachment_47021" align="aligncenter" width="683"] Chef Sujan Sarkar | Global Indian Scallop with Uni Malai Curry at Indienne[/caption]

Mastering the craft of culinary creation

Understanding various culinary approaches and methods not only influenced his career but also defined his unique culinary style. Having learnt from some of the best-known chefs, he was keen to take over the world. He soon took a one-way flight to London, a chapter he calls "wildest and most colourful canvas so far." It was in 2004 that he stepped into the pulsating city of London and started working at Galvin at Windows at the Hilton London Hotel. "I was a young chef, everything was new. It was hard work but also punctuated with a lot of fun and exploration. Eating out and exploring all the different markets. Fresh produce, different cuisine, everything was so novel," says Chef Sujan for whom things got exciting when he took up his first Head Chef job at Automat in Mayfair at the age of 27. Soon after, he successfully opened and ran the adjoining Almada – a celebrity hotspot located on Berkeley Street, London.

Moreover, it opened up his mind as to "how the industry is about so much more than just cooking. It's a community, it's buzzing with camaraderie. You slog but you also have fun." Those years in London honed his culinary skills alongside some of London's finest gastronomic talents, and after a decade, he decided to return to India. His journey led him to Mumbai's Olive Bar & Kitchen as an executive chef. In between, he also curated and launched TRESIND in Dubai and opened India's first artisanal cocktail bar called Ek Bar in Delhi.

[caption id="attachment_47022" align="aligncenter" width="787"] Indienne Restaurant | Global Indian Michelin-award winning Indian restaurant Indienne[/caption]

London – Mumbai - Chicago

Having spent over a decade in the UK, Chef Sujan was now ready to spread his wings in the US. In 2017, he opened the doors to a progressive Indian restaurant ROOH in San Francisco, serving a new India on the plate. This was followed up with another branch of ROOH in Chicago, Baar Baar in New York, and Indienne in Chicago. Ask him if his restaurants have helped shape the palate of food lovers in the US, pat comes the reply, "I think we have opened up people's minds and perceptions to what Indian food can be. ROOH, Baar Baar, and Indienne are also geographically in different areas. I'm offering a wider variety to a wider audience and it's a different level of offering. They are so different as experiences even to one another. The core idea is to always offer something different in a way that would spark their curiosity to know more about Indian food."

[caption id="attachment_47020" align="aligncenter" width="685"] Chef Sujan Sarkar | Global Indian Dahi Bhalla at Indienne[/caption]

He has long aspired to elevate Indian cuisine onto the global stage, a vision he has consistently realised by reimagining and reinterpreting traditional Indian dishes to cater to an international palate. For him, it goes beyond mere food; it encapsulates our culture, art, and the essence of what defines India. He is glad to witness the global evolution of Indian cuisine, particularly noting the return of many Indian chefs to locally sourced ingredients. Though in its nascent stage, he says, "We are exploring more, digging deeper into ingredients that have been forgotten and that is opening up new possibilities."

He has come a long way since his first venture but it hasn't always been an easy journey. Putting the right team together was one of the biggest challenges as finding the team that "understands and is aligned with the vision, skill-set, concept and ultimately, execution," was a herculean task. "Not many people here in the US are trained in this cuisine, Indian food is still not that popular. There was nothing much in the last 10-15 years, so it was a challenge to find the right team and even train them once they joined. It's also about the team outside of the kitchen – the ones handling the front of house and other roles," he adds. He also points out "finding the right audience who will embrace this and explore with you" as another hitch.

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Chef Sujan, who unwinds by running and listening to music or catching up on a new series, is keen to turn his Michelin star soon into two. "We'll keep doing what we're doing – grow our audience, grow our formats. Take our vision to a wider audience."

He finds his roots in Indian cuisine but over the years, it has become his strength. "I've grown up eating Indian food. But as a chef, I wasn’t cooking Indian cuisine from day one. Now slowly, in the last 10 years, it has become my core strength. What I bring to the table today, what I have to offer to the diners, to the industry, to the ecosystem is much more. It’s a different vision and version of the cuisine, more modern and yet more easily acceptable. I'm an Indian chef cooking in America – it’ll always be like that. As long as I'm here," he signs off.

Follow Chef Sujan Sarkar on Instagram and website

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Elizabeth Yorke: Upcycling spent grain from breweries to make food products

(May 18, 2024) Her city Bengaluru is home to 72 breweries, and chef-turned-food researcher Elizabeth Yorke couldn't help but think how the micro-breweries were using the spent grain. A concept she came across while interning with food historian William Rubel in California in 2018, who was recreating bread from the 16th century. She learnt that spent grain, a by-product of brewing, has the potential to be repurposed into flour, which otherwise makes its way to landfills. This led her to start Saving Grains in 2022, to upcycle spent grains from breweries into products like cookies, flour, granola, biscuits, and ladoos. "An average microbrewery in the city uses nearly 200 kg of grain/day that’s about 12000 kg of grain is potentially wasted every day within the city," according to Elizabeth. "We're rescuing these grains to make a 'Good Flour.' Why good? Because we're creating a model that derives value from waste by capturing food waste streams in cities - built for communities, through a human-centered approach." [caption id="attachment_51704" align="aligncenter" width="662"] Elizabeth Yorke is the founder of Saving Grains[/caption] How a chef turned into a food researcher Growing up in a family where food played an integral part as it brought people

ight="662" /> Elizabeth Yorke is the founder of Saving Grains[/caption]

How a chef turned into a food researcher

Growing up in a family where food played an integral part as it brought people together, Elizabeth consciously gravitated towards culinary arts and pursued the course at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education. The route took her to multiple restaurants and hotels across the US and Mexico where she worked as a chef for almost six years before exploring food outside the kitchen space. "I have always been drawn to cooking naturally. A kitchen always brings family and friends together; an interesting space to be around. A kitchen is a place that can build perspectives on food and the supply chain," she said in an interview, adding, "Being around food has always prompted me to think of what happens to food before and after it is served on the plate. That curiosity and learning have shaped what my worth is as a cook."

The curiosity to learn more took her to California in 2016 for an internship with food historian William Rubel, who was recreating bread from the 16th century. While learning the history of bread, she discovered the concept of spent grain - a byproduct in the beer brewing process and also the relationship between the bakers and brewers. Throwing light on it, she said that brewers and bakers used to work in similar spaces. "They would share common ingredients, its byproducts, and work in a closed-loop circular system. For instance, bakers gave brewers their leftover bread to convert into beer, and brewers gave bakers leftover grain to make bread. Back then, bakers would bulk up grain because flour was an expensive commodity," said the Global Indian.

Elizabeth Yorke | Global Indian

Armed with this knowledge, she moved to Bologna in Italy in 2018 to work as a food innovation research fellow at Future Food Institute, where he focus was on understanding circular and sustainable food systems. This gave her an insight into ways of minimising food wastage as well as the lifecycle of food.

Circular food economy

Inspired, she returned to Bengaluru to start Saving Grains in 2021 as an attempt to upcycle the brewery grain. Explaining the process on the Saving Grains website, she wrote, "Brewing relies on grains, typically malted barley, which are first soaked in hot water. This step releases sugars that are crucial to the later production of alcohol. Once those sugars are released into the liquid, the grain is discarded. That discarded grain is called spent gain."

The spent grain is collected by Saving Grains from local breweries and then taken to the facility where it's dried and processed into products such as ladoos, biscuits, granola. cookies and flour, which has 22% protein, 45% fibre and 20% carb.

Elizabeth Yorke | Global Indian

Spreading awareness to create impact

However, convincing people to consume by-products of a waste product has been a challenge for Elizabeth. "Repurposing spent grain is an extra effort for most stakeholders. Also, it has nothing to do with the beer production. This mindset needs to be changed, and a sense of ownership of material needs to come into place," she added. Elizabeth, who upcycled 1200kg of spent grain, also found coming up with new recipes with the ingredients to be an obstacle. But she kept researching and experimenting and developing and has also written a handbook on how to make new recipes from spent grain.

Apart from partnering with breweries, she has collaborated with Kutumba Community Centre in Bengaluru to engage the community in a circular food economy. "The people at the community centre can freely use the flour to make rotis. This collaboration has been done to put people and the community at the heart of the circular food economy," she added. Being a food researcher and educator, she started the Serial Upcyclers Club which educates people about spent grain and the concept of recycling. She wants to create awareness among people and communities about spent grain. "There's a saying, ‘Waste is what is left when our imaginations fail’. It is time that we try to understand the potential of food as a resource and the strategies we can employ to reduce food waste," she added.

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Chef Chintan Pandya: The desi ‘Dhamaka’ in NYC

(October 8, 2022) The biggest misconception about Indian food in America, believes James Beard Award-winning Chef Chintan Pandya, is that it is "too heavy." Maybe it had to do with the American-Indian fare commonly found in the US, but Americans believed - that "if you eat Indian food for lunch, you won't be eating dinner," Pandya told Money Control. Pandya and his business partner, Roni Mazumdar run three immensely popular restaurants in New York City - Rahi, Adda and Dhamaka. Restaurant fare was doused liberally with cream and butter and as any Indian will tell you, that's not how we do it at home. Instead, Pandya ensures his food contains no cream or butter whatsoever. Everything is cooked in ghee. They revel in their Indian-ness, so much so their company is called Unapologetic Foods, while their servers wear t-shirts with 'Unapologetic Indian' written across them. On any given night in New York City, the waiting list for Dhamaka is around 1500 people. Global Indian looks at Chef Chintan Pandya's remarkable journey. [caption id="attachment_30366" align="aligncenter" width="618"] Chef Chintan Pandya and Roni Mazumdar[/caption] Regional flavours to the fore You're also not likely to find the sort of 'gourmet' Indian fare that's usually

dian.com//wp-content/uploads/2022/10/chintan-and-roni.jpg" alt="" width="618" height="412" /> Chef Chintan Pandya and Roni Mazumdar[/caption]

Regional flavours to the fore

You're also not likely to find the sort of 'gourmet' Indian fare that's usually served up at desi restaurants in New York City. Pandya and Mazumdar refuse to serve their Indian food with "truffle, wasabi or parmesan to make it gourmet. We were ashamed to make real Indian food," Pandya remarked. "This recognition will empower a lot of chefs to believe that simple Indian food can be successful and it can bring you recognition and accolades.'

At Dhamaka, you can ease your way in to the menu with vada pav, or "spiced potatoes in a bun with turmeric and chutney," or the fried pomfret. If you're feeling more adventurous, you could branch out into the Meghalayan boiled pig's head salad. All their food is served in the same vessel in which it is cooked, a bluntness of style that has drawn praise and criticism and in both cases, recognition.

In 2022, Chef Chintan Pandya was named Best Chef in New York State at the James Beard Foundation Awards, after Dhamaka made it to No. 1 on the NYT New Restaurants list. It was more than he could have imagined. He thought he had peaked when Adda became the first restaurant to make it to the coveted list.

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Learning from setbacks

Growing up in India in a vegetarian household, Pandya always knew he wanted to be a chef, because he "genuinely loves to eat," he told Eater. "I always wanted to be a chef so I could eat as much as I wanted and not have to pay money." At home, the Sunday meal was much anticipated, "because that's when mom made dal dhokli," he said, in the interview with Moneycontrol. "So bhelpuri, sevpuri, dosa and Chinese food from the roadside stall were a huge part of my life. Rasraj and Guru Kripa in Vile Parle at Shiv Sagar at Chowpatty were favourite haunts."

The first time he handled meat, poultry and seafood was at culinary school, which he attended for three years before joining the Oberoi Centre of Learning and Development for his master's degree. That's where he specialised in Indian food, a turn of events that happened almost by chance. Italian cuisine was his first choice but there were no openings at the Oberoi Grand, where he was at the time and he was assigned to the Indian restaurant instead.

These were the early setbacks in Pandya's life and he admits there have been "multiple," which have only "made him stronger." In 2008, he quit hotels and worked as a food and beverage manager for an international airline, which involved lots of desk work and no cooking. His first break came in 2009, when he moved to Singapore to serve as a chef-partner at a fine-dining restaurant, where he remained for four years. In 2013, he came to Cleveland, working with a company there as its culinary director.

Rahi, the trendsetter

It was around this time that he decided to do something on his own and Atlanta seemed the place to be for Indian food. Pandya was wrong, however. He "lost a certain amount of time, money, effort, everything." So he packed his bags once more and arrived in New York City. In 2017, he founded Unapologetic Food with Roni Mazumdar and they opened Rahi, an upscale Indian restaurant in Greenwich Village. Their take was contemporary fusion, with offerings like truffle khichdi and smoked salmon chaat.

[caption id="attachment_30364" align="aligncenter" width="510"] The truffle khichdi at Rahi. Photo: Instagram[/caption]

Indian and proud

A year down the line, they changed that approach. Adda opened up in Long Island in 2018 and Dhamaka came to the Lower East Side in February 2021. They did away with the tikka masala and salmon and truffles, bringing regional flavours boldly to the fore. While Adda dished up a Lucknow-style goat neck biryani, Dhamaka brought more exotic offerings to the table, like the Meghalayan doh kleh. In 2022, one year after its opening, Dhamaka fetched Pandya the James Beard Award for best chef.

Now, the duo wants to step out of the diverse and cosmopolitan hub that is New York City, to test themselves in tougher environments. "Until we really reach the heart of the country," Mazumdar told the New York Times, "I don't think we can really move Indian cuisine forward." There are perceptions to battle - "Americans expect to pay less for tandoori paneer than they would a burrata salad, and to dictate the level of spiciness," Pandya said, in the same article. "We are stopping this idea of catering to every other person but the Indian palate."

Follow Chef Chintan Pandya on Instagram

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Chef Krishna Chaithanya gives Indian food a contemporary touch and flair at Zila

The depth of Indian cuisine with French finesse are given a modern interpretation by Chef Krishna Chaithanya, the Chef De Cuisine at Zila in Hyderabad. “The food I make represents my entire culinary journey thus far; it is parts of everywhere I have been,” says Krishna Chaithanya, Chef De Cuisine at Zila - the progressive, upmarket restaurant in the Knowledge City area of Hyderabad. And he has been around the block – working at several legendary brands with Michelin starred chefs. Each time, the urge to move has been spurred by wanting to get creative with what he did. And the learning offered with these moves now reflect in the gourmet food with an Indian heart that he makes. An early start On paternity leave at the time of the interview, Chef Krishna’s family friends and cousins are associated with the Vellanki Foods and the Rameshwaram Café brands. Several others owned tiffin centres and messes which served simple, wholesome fare. He recalls, “I was exposed to the restaurant and food business even during school, when I would go to help out in the absence of a staffer. Though my parents wanted me to take up engineering, I chose to go

wanted me to take up engineering, I chose to go to culinary school. I joined the Culinary Academy of Hyderabad and my parents saw the change in me. I was more driven and focussed. For my first internship I chose ITC Park Sheraton, now the Crowne Plaza, in Chennai, as I wanted to explore life and food outside Hyderabad. I would explore the food and neighbouring areas like Puducherry.”

[caption id="attachment_48993" align="aligncenter" width="621"] Chef Krishna Chaithanya is the Chef de Cuisine at Zila in Hyderabad[/caption]

Chef Krishna joined the Taj Krishna Hyderabad, after completing his course, as a hotel operations management trainee. This was his base for four years and he worked at Firdaus, their Indian restaurant, and Encounters and Alfresco, the all-day diner. This was followed by a short stint at Barbecue Nation, setting up their flagship outlet, and then Taj Krishna again as for what was to be a short stint. In the midst of all this, in 2017, he was part of a team that was sent to Davos, Switzerland, as part of the Andhra Pradesh entourage for the World Economic Forum. His job was to cook Andhra food through the day – from breakfast to lunch to high tea for the delegates who visited their stall called Sunrise Café. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to then AP CM Chandrababu Naidu and several world leaders, they all sampled the food he had made.

Michelin Stars and more

Then, a call from a friend in Bangkok led Chef Krishna to the kind of creative environment he craved. Gaggan Anand, the Michelin star chef wanted to speak to him. He recalls, “It was past midnight and Chef Gaggan called; all he asked me was whether I could make idlis, dosas and upma. I said yes and he asked me to come to Bangkok as he was looking for someone with my skill set. It was barely five months after I had rejoined the Taj and this was an offer of a lifetime. There is no culture of holding back anyone at the Taj, so I decided to go to Bangkok despite misgivings from my family and girlfriend.”

Moving to Thailand and specifically, working with Gaggan Anand was, for Chef Krishna “an experience like that of a kid in a candy shop. There was so much equipment I had never seen before – where a carrot would go in at one end and come out as paper at the other. It felt like a miracle and took a week for it to sink in. I finally felt like this is what creativity should be. The usage and understanding of food at a molecular level, playing around with textures of dishes and learning the attitude of ‘why not’ were my biggest takeaways here.”

Unfortunately for Chef Krishna, after three months, due to some differences between the investors and Chef Gaggan, the restaurant closed down and he chose to go with the investors who wanted to start something new. The core team was sent to India to explore the cuisines they specialised in before the launch. While he was here, he got the opportunity to work at Karavalli, at the Taj Gateway in Bengaluru, which strengthened the foundation of his knowledge of South Indian cuisine. “I travelled to Chennai, all over Karnataka, sampled several dishes and found out how they were originally made. It was like a research trip. Then, as we entered Bangkok the lockdown began and five or six of us were cooped up in an apartment. We started experimenting with dishes and creating new ones for the restaurant. The investor, Rajesh Kewalramani, wanted us to capture the finesse of European food and add it to the depth that Indian food already had.”

The restaurant they helped set up is now called Indee, and it has recently been awarded a Michelin star. Again, Chef Krishna had to move, this time for personal reasons. On his return to India, he joined the Sheraton Grand in Pune where he was in charge of creating the menu for global cuisine at their restaurant Nuvo, which was a fine dining restaurant in the evening and after 11 pm, it turned into a high energy nightclub. He says, “Here I had the freedom to do anything with the food and while it was creatively a great step, I still missed Indian cuisine. After a year, I got the offer to move to Hyderabad with Zila and I took it up because we were expecting our first baby and it made sense to be close to family.”

At home with contemporary trends

At Zila, Chef Krishna seems to have finally found his groove. Indian food is given the finesse of presentation like European food. Its soul is essentially Indian and experimentation is within those parameters. Chef Krishna explains, “We make a kachumber which looks nothing like what it traditionally is. It is a constructed salad with stracciatella topped with cured cucumbers in sake, mirin apple cider vinegar and black salt, then arranged with sliced heirloom tomatoes topped with a smoked tomato and date chutney. Then we add a dollop of our chunky mint chutney to bring all the ingredients together. To make it sustainable we make a juice out of all the trimming of vegetables and season and foam it up and serve it on the side. This is in keeping with the global trend of sustainability, as it has zero wastage.”

With so much thought going into a salad, other dishes get similar respect. With Rogan Josh, instead of mutton, he uses lotus stem, which is also native to Kashmir. “The easiest option to replace meat with a vegetable is raw jackfruit. I wanted to move away from that and try something else. It has become one of our most ordered dishes.”

In a nutshell, Chef Krishna reiterates that at Zila, they are elevating age old recipes, giving them a modern touch without losing out on the soul of the dish. A kulcha comes stuffed with brie and bird’s eye chillies, topped with aragula leaves, and the raw mango and cranberry chunda is a marriage between an Amritsari kulcha and a French puff pastry to give it a crunch.

And while he thinks he is still a long way from having the expertise of writing his own cookbook, he believes that sustainability and conscious eating are the zeitgeist now. “People are more aware of what they eat; our customers even ask us about the source of our ingredients. We try and minimise wastage and use every part of the vegetable where possible. Complex flavours are the big thing right now; whether through Pan Asian or Indian cooking.”

While travelling, Chef Krishna likes to eat at:

Garden Vada Pav, Pune: Vada Pav
Saengchai Pochana, Bangkok: Pad kra paw gai
Ram Ke Laddu, Lajpat Nagar, Delhi: Laddu
Shivaji Military Hotel, Bengaluru: Mutton Biryani and Mutton Chops
Nair Mess, Chepauk, Chennai: Meals
You can follow Chef Krishna on Instagram: coconut_curryleaf