#blahvsfood in 2018 : The India edition

2018 was the greatest eating year of my life, eating at some of the world’s and the country’s greatest restaurants. For convenience I’ve kept India and International completely separate and two separate posts. So read what you’re interested in or better still, read both!

PART 1: INDIA 

I wasn’t in India much last year but there are still a few restaurants, chefs and meals that I felt blew me away. I’ve also shared my thoughts on how I see the food scene in India evolving at the end...

Bombay Canteen is still the most influential restaurant in India. When I started saying that Bombay Canteen was India’s best restaurant from a pure food perspective a few years ago almost everyone disagreed with me. I’m glad to see it finally being acknowledged as the powerhouse it is. Chef Thomas Zachariah served me an omakase vegetarian meal last year that is one of the best vegetarian meals I’ve ever had in my life, an ode to Indian produce and India’s culinary heritage that will be hard to beat. 

Masque is possibly the single most important restaurant in India today. I am writing a much longer piece on why Masque is such a seminal restaurant, one that will change how Indian restaurants are perceived globally in a way that goes far beyond what any other Indian restaurant has ever achieved. Chef Prateek Sadhu’s focus has narrowed, digging deep into his Kashmiri roots, creating food that is breathtakingly original and creative, infused with soul and flavour and touched by genius. No restaurant in India has ever cooked food that is even remotely in its space. I don’t think it’s food for everyone but I don’t believe any restaurant in India serves a better meal. 

O Pedro finds that perfect balance of vibe and fun, of creativity and authenticity. While most people look at Goan food as seafood driven, I feel Chef Hussain Shahzad (this guy will be a superstar) is at his best when cooking with meat, and one of the country’s two best chefs when cooking with pork. 

The king of cooking pork is of course Gresham Fernandes. But Gresham isn’t just the king of pork, he is a true master. The St. Jude’s project is an experience that compares to any 3 star Michelin restaurant anywhere in the world and I can’t wait for the day when Gresham’s food is served in a restaurant format. I would be amazed if it isn’t one of the top 3 restaurants in India in is very first year. 

Two other talented chefs in Bombay I want to highlight are Rishim Sachdev and Varun Kinger. Rishim has transformed Olive, making it a food destination for the first time in well over a decade. His understanding of produce and freshness is up there with the best of them and all he needs to take that final step is to create food that represents his original voice and that isn’t tethered to a legacy menu and the expectations of old regulars. 

I ate Varun Kinger’s food at Edo in Bangalore before he started Rivers2Oceans and was blown away. This is a young chef who understands flavour instinctively, who is unafraid of taking risks and who has enough confidence in his skill and technique to pull off the risks he takes. Part of the reason why Massive Restaurants is so successful is because they give their customers a degree of flash and frill that Indian diners clearly enjoy but I would love to see Varun cook food that is simpler, gimmick free and that highlights his ability to create food bursting with flavour. I wasn’t a big fan of R2O but this is a chef to watch. 

Moving on from Bombay, I continue to be blown away by four chefs. 

If there is one chef in India who could benefit with more marketing it’s Manu Chandra. He is seen as a restauranter/tycoon first because of the empire he has created with AD Singh. But the truth is that Manu is a path-breaking, revolutionary chef, and Toast and Tonic Bangalore is a criminally underrated restaurant. When I see food awards that rank tourist traps like Trishna above Toast and Tonic Bangalore, it truly blows my mind. One of the things I look forward to most about moving to Bangalore is the opportunity to eat Manu’s food regularly and I hope that he finds a way to make the highly influential media in Delhi and Mumbai give him the recognition he deserves. 

Manish Mehrotra is the godhead and spiritual father of India’s restaurant scene. I am in awe at his courage at seeking new challenges rather than sit on his laurels, whether it is conquering new countries with Indian Accent or trying something completely new with Comorin, probably the restaurant I’m most excited at trying out.

The other restaurant I want to visit is Miss T. I have immense respect for Gauri Devidayal but even more than that, I have worshipped at the altar of Bawmra Jap for a decade now and any restaurant where he has consulted on the food is a restaurant worth eating at. I just wish I could eat with Bawmra more often than annual trips to Goa. 

Mumbai’s food scene suffered a big loss when Vikramjit Roy moved back to Delhi from POH. Vikram was finally achieving the simplicity and purity in his cooking that did his incredible talent justice. Like Prateek this is a chef who was making his transition from showcasing his skill to showing us his soul. I wish him all the best in his new role and look forward to eating his food soon. 

Other restaurants I want to highlight...

Thanks to my friend Vir Sanghvi I had some brilliant Chinese food with Chef Neeraj Tyagi at Shang Palace at Delhi, the only Chinese restaurant that I feel compares to China Kitchen and China House. It’s much better than Royal China and miles ahead of the overpriced, overrated Hakkasan. Vir also introduced me to the incredible Dim Sums at Baoshuan at the Oberoi in Delhi. 

Two restaurants that don’t get enough credit are Varq and Edo. There can only be one Indian Accent but if there’s any restaurant that comes close it’s Varq. Under the guidance of executive Chef Arun Sundaraj, Chef Rajesh Singh has created an exquisite restaurant where every dish bursts with flavour and where the meal no longer feels imitative of Indian Accent but brilliant in its own right. 

Edo is a phenomenal Japanese restaurant, much better than the spectacularly overrated Wasabi Mumbai and deserving of more recognition. 

Finally, I love what Slink and Bardot pulls off night after night. I think that Chef Alexis Gilbaum cooks fun, comforting, unpretentious French food that’s hard not to love. But the real genius of Slink and Bardot is Riyaaz Amlani’s uncanny gift for understanding the vibe of a place, the emotional experience of a meal or an evening out, and his ability to translate that into living spaces and at a price point that hits it out of the park. The synthesis of food, drink, vibe, music and price at Slink and Bardot is absolutely perfect and wonderfully managed by Nick Harrison. 

Outside of the fancy restaurants two pieces of advice. If you go to Bangalore please go beyond Nagarjuna or even the Donne Biryani places and try the military hotels. I strongly recommend the Gowdru, Shivaji and BR Military Restaurants as well as the brilliant Sangam Mess. And if you go to Goa, please eat at Bhatti Village, India’s best regional restaurant by miles. 

For me the next big trend is the discovery of the broader food experience beyond restaurant menus. For a discerning diner looking for something unique and memorable, the move towards home cooked and bespoke food experiences will only increase and I don’t believe that the future is in 5 star events with celebrity chefs. While my mother’s Khasi/Bengali mash up meals are always special, this year I also had a superb Marwari meal cooked by Aditi Duggar’s mother (again one of the best vegetarian meals I’ve ever had). Monisha Advani served an spectacular coastal seafood meal at her home where I can still taste the flavour of the shrimp oil that she used. Rohan Vyavahankar opened his home to allow me taste the food of the Pathare Prabhu community cooked by his mother. 

Despite all the great meals I’ve mentioned, last year was also the year when I truly began questioning the restaurant experience and whether there was something missing in most restaurants I went to. I’m not just talking about restaurants in India but places like Nihonryori Ryugin in Tokyo with its three Michelin stars and Atelier Crenn, Dominic Crenn’s much raved about ode to food and poetry in San Francisco. The cooking maybe technically perfect, the service impeccable, the dishes creative and original but what takes a meal from being brilliant to being unforgettable is a little extra... a dash of magic, a dollop of soul, warmth and honesty... none of these are easily found in a restaurant. 

I can’t speak for everyone but for me what I seek from food is changing... I don’t seek competence or technique, but a feeling. Food as an emotional experience. Food as culture. Food as connection. Food as an expression of the human experience. Food that breaks free from the tyranny of critics and experts and connects to the senses... taste, smell, sight, texture... at a visceral level. Maybe it’s human nature to seek the undiscovered, to experience what feels authentic, to search for a bit of soul in a soulless age. Whether it’s formats like Social and Flea Market Cafe or places like The Bohri Canteen, eating out is becoming more and more about community and connection and I for one can’t wait to see how this transforms India’s food scene.