Is the new age Indian chef innovating or simply turning gimmicky?

The bao seems to be following me everywhere these days. Till a few years ago we were fairly obsessed with dumplings, and then it was sushi and suddenly it is the bao — more slider-like, little burger baps wrapped around stuff like pork belly or soy-milk-marinated chicken, sichuan mayo and kimchi.

The Indian gourmands’ journey has come a long way in the last five years. Manu Chandra, Chef Partner Toast & Tonic, The Fatty Bao & Monkey Bar, is today in the forefront of a food revolution sweeping across the Indian restaurant scene which is bubbling over with various drama in presentation and east meets west experiments. Toast and Tonic, Chef Chandra’s  latest offering has been garnering unsolicited accolades from the likes of Matt Preston, the famed Masterchef Australia judge and the South African Cricket Captain AB de Villiers who while visiting Bangalore recently tweeted spontaneously about it. “Perfect atmosphere and lovely food,” said AB de Villiers. Manu credits his phenomenal success rate to just one fact, “My food is fresh and never compromises with flavours. It is innovative but not gimmicky.”

Gimmickry is an interesting development in a world which is very fussed on the palate. Indians like their home cooked food and traditional flavours. Chef Gulam Qureshi, Senior master chef and Brand Custodian, Dum Pukht at the ITC Hotels which is recognized as one of the “World’s Best Classic Restaurants” by Conde Nast Traveler Gold Standard, holds forth for the Indian love for classic food. “Indians love the traditional and traditions are not born overnight. There is an Indian food legacy of which we are very proud.”

Translating India’s fussed eating habits and huge diversities into fine dining has been a long and tiresome journey for those leading the changes.
Often seen as a game changer, Manish Mehrotra, Corporate Chef, Indian Accent (New Delhi and recently launched New York) says, “In the beginning it was very difficult as the cuisine was new to the mind as well as the palette. It took us time to bring people out of their comfort zone. The challenge was to match the ingredients and make the perfect combinations. We had to ensure that people relate the tastes to their usual palette. It took time… but it worked.” His food is a unique marriage of global ingredients and techniques with the flavours and traditions of India leading to the birth of butter chicken kulchas, foie-gras stuffed galautis and blue cheese naan all of which the new evolved Indian gourmand fawns over!

So, deconstructed bhelpuri and vada pao sliders: is the new age Indian chef innovating or simply turning gimmicky?

At Tian-Asian Cuisine Studio, ITC Maurya, Chef Vikramjit Roy, leads a spectacular show of art meets food having earned his spurs under the creative guidance of the legendary Chef Morimoto, Vikramjit ranks amongst the pioneers of the Progressive Asian cuisine movement in India.  He firmly says, “The ‘Sense of Sensibility’ and ‘Clarity of Concept’  have to be very well thought out. Food is not a destination, but a journey and various styles will only add and take our  food movement forward. 

“I believe that all of us should spend time studying and understanding the technique and thought process of why do we need to ‘deconstruct a bhelpuri’. Till the time there is a sensibility in doing so, it’s all good. Merely lining up test tubes with concoctions or layering smoky flavours without a concept will only confuse guests. The deconstruction of such variations should harmoniously unveil story of the dish, not shock the guests.”

Anoothi Vishal, a food columnist who tracks culinary cultures, the historicity of foods, restaurant trends and the business of food and beverage in India, has been curating experiences that put Indian community based and heritage foods on centre stage.

Anoothi’s  “Kayasth Holi pop-up” was a sell out.  Says she, “one of my interests is in being able to showcase Indian community based cuisines to a larger audience through my pop-ups. This is a way of being able to market and revive foods that would be forgotten otherwise. Luckily we are at a time when interest in Indian cuisines is at a high. People want something “exotic” including forgotten foods. It is a fad. But it is advantageous. And even vada pav sliders et al are refashioning Indian food traditions for a newer audience.”

Hemant Oberoi, the legendary Former Corporate Chef, Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palace who has had a career spanning almost four decades in a hotel kitchen, is now re-inventing as a celebrity food consultant lending his name to an Indian fine diner in Singapore, Yantra. Chef Oberoi likes keeping the flavours classic and  laments that Indian cuisine is too flexible and too accommodating. The chicken tikka masala gets his goat. “Multiple different avatars exist in London, and not one is close to what it is back home!”

Well, Matt Preston, seems to think the same! When asked to pick one Indian dish that was done to death in Australia, he said,  “Chicken tikka masala. Made with too much tomato it tastes like someone opened a can of American tomato soup and poured it in!”

But worry not, the new brigade of talented Chef entrepreneurs are changing the game. When asked which Indian chef you would wish to invite to guest-host an episode of MasterChef? Preston said: “Manu Chandra and Manish Mehrotra.”  As a matter of fact neither of these two has chicken tikka masala on their menus… Lal Maas Phulka Tacos or Chicken tikka quesadilla, take your pick.

The writer is a lifestyle journalist. Currently partnering a digital start- up www.inspiredtraveller.in that does inspirational storytelling for an evolved community of travellers