DNA Mumbai Anniversary: Vikas Khanna - A taste of the good life

It is chef Vikas Khanna’s love for Indian cuisine and the quest to take it globally that led to Junoon, a restaurant in Manhattan (New York) that offers authentic Indian cuisine “besides paneer tikka and saag” and has earned a Michelin star for seven consecutive years since 2011. 

Besides running his restaurant, he’s been hosting and judging Indian and American cooking reality shows, writing several books on food and some for children, making documentaries, travelling to various parts of the country to understand regional cuisine, cooking for some of the biggest political leaders including Barack Obama and Narendra Modi and being a regular at Cannes.

But how did it all begin? His journey started in Amritsar. Born with clubbed feet, Khanna has had to wear specially designed braces in the form of shoes to align his feet. The braces not only led to bullying in school but they were also heavy, making it difficult for him to play with other children and the young Khanna found solace in observing his grandmother’s cooking.

Thus began his affair with food. In the years that followed, the braces came off and he started cooking in the kitchen of a local gurdwara before starting his catering business called Lawrence Gardens Banquets while still in school, catering primarily to the kitty parties. But the world was bigger and he felt the need to move beyond his own kitchen.

He then applied to a hotel management institute but there too he faced rejections initially. But a determined Khanna not only convinced them to give him admission but also went on to work with some of the biggest hotel groups in India. However, he couldn’t stay away for long from his catering business. “We were now hosting weddings and political gatherings and the business had really kicked off but one day the banquet was dismantled… it was an illegal construction. It was a really messy situation but I couldn’t sit doing nothing and then my brother suggested  I go to America,” recalls 47-year-old Khanna over a telephonic conversation from New York.

Initially he did several jobs –from menial to significant ones. “It is easier for the people in hospitality. There are always restaurants, hotels and banquets that are falling short of labour on any particular day and would give you a job, even if menial,” says Khanna who even spent some time in a shelter home but soon found himself a job in Salaam Bombay, an upscale Indian restaurant. The entrepreneurial bug wasn’t leaving him for long and a few years later, he opened Tandoor Palace, an Indian takeaway near Wall Street but soon came the big blow to US economy and his place started making losses. Confused about his next step, he met the Dalai Lama, who was coincidentally in New York. In the following days he left for Bhutan with his pen and camera and captured the culture, which went on to become the inspiration behind his book Return to the Rivers.

Once back, he was asked by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, with whom he had worked earlier in reality television shows like  Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares to host American reality cooking show MasterChef.  “But I had to refuse since my dream was to have a Michelin star restaurant that offers authentic Indian cuisine, which I hadn’t achieved yet. Besides,  I wasn’t comfortable with my English even though Gordon had told me that they would train me,” says Khanna. So, in 2010, he opened Junoon, which received a Michelin star the following year. Alongside, he was invited to host MasterChef India, and thus began another journey, one that made him the poster boy of Indian cuisine. He attributes his success to God. “Sometimes, the pressure of the water is so much that you end up landing on the most beautiful island.”