There are various formulas to success in the food and beverage business. Consistency, creativity and connect. You could choose any one or more and make a mark as an establishment. Lets take consistency first- there's no better place to go than the one that gives you the same pizza (or Kebab) with exactly the same flavor, color and texture every time. After having worked with the Kebab vendors in Lucknow , that's a lesson I learnt first, the cut of the meat , the masala vendor , the measurements cannot change. Creativity on the other hand is a big deal for Raqabdars and the Banquet Khansamas as they cater to rich families and a competitive wedding market.
So if all of us from the street vendor to the Michelin starred chef aspire for the same attributes and tread the same road for success then why cant we have the Exact Charminar Ramazan food in a Glitzy establishment ? Why can't most star hotels recreate the taste of the streets? Why is the"real Tangra taste " found only in the small Tangra restaurants , why do Tunde kebabs at Chowk or Aminabad (depending on which brothers fan you are) taste the way they taste. Why the Old Dilli ki chaat can never be replicated outside of old Delhi in High rise restaurant complexes. The answers are many but I like the one that Harjinder "Sweety" Singh, an old Friend and a Dhaba Owner from Old Delhi gave me walking around in Chandni Chowk, a trip where I ate enough for three days in three hours.
He spoke and I quote "Having done many food festivals in Hotels I have seen that star hotels play the game of Intimidating with all they have - Décor, Processes, Latest technology and a lot more. You cannot connect when you are intimidated and food is all about connecting. Remember the movie with the Rat that you showed me where the critic cries when he connects to the ratatouille?" he explains in his own Funjabi way."Worst is the intimidation to the Kaarigar , when he sees this huge kitchen with a thousand one processes and every chef trying to outdo the other one with Knowledge and English .
He isn't cooking naturally anymore, his cooking becomes unsure cooking. That's why most Kaarigars either run away from high glitz establishments or become standardized intimidating process driven cooks and lose their charm". Being a Hotel Chef myself, one who's trying to find the formula for the kaarigar's Glorification in these surrounding, golden words indeed sweety ji .In the mean while let me leave you with a question as always, with so much great (read Intimidating) Molecular food around and most of it successful, have we just moved on from the Kaarigar to the Intimidator or the connect to food still matters? As for me, I strongly believe it will always matter and somewhere between curiosity and connect towards food lies the answer.
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