OMO with Vanshika Bhatia

With chef Vanshika and her co-chef Ravikant Shukla 

I have been a fan of Vanshika Bhatia ever since I ate her take on the Assamese bas mangxo (bamboo meat) at her previous restaurant Together at Twelve. I know this is an age where words like cultural appropriation are used very quickly, but it moved me tremendously to see a humble family dish from my roots reimagined and presented in a way that would to justice to any sophisticated fine dining restaurant. 

Eggplants and seasonal greens ravioli with tomato broth and a LOT of fresh truffles 

I did feel (and say) that Vanshika was a work in progress. There were dishes that didn’t always coalesce coherently, like she was still exploring her ideas and seeing how far she could push them. That is a healthy thing in any young chef but as you grow older, that needs to find expression on the plate in the form of a fully imagined dish, not as a work in progress. 

Root vegetables with hempseed dip

At her new restaurant Omo, Vanshika is cooking with a confidence and clarity that just blew me away. Everyone uses words like ingredient focused but these are just buzzwords that manifest themselves in sourcing rather than in flavour. With Omo, the interplay between the produce and how it is cooked is balanced to perfection. 

White asparagus and balsamic buerre blanc 

The white asparagus isn’t blanched but seared lightly so that it’s crunchy and fresh, and richly complemented by the butteriness of the balsamic buerre Blanc. 

King mushroom 

There is a King mushroom cooked in butter, onion and black pepper (served with pepper and raw mango sauce) that feels like you’re having a steak and reminded me of Thomas Frebel’s maitake mushroom steak at the much missed Inua in Tokyo. Vanshika’s attention to detail lay in the choice of mushroom. You don’t get maitake in India but instead of the huge, dry King mushroom she’s specifically getting the younger ones grown to order so that they have the freshness and texture that the older ones lack. 

Beetroot carpaccio 

The Beetroot carpaccio with berry dressing and pistachio cream really shouldn’t work because it felt like too many sweet elements for a savoury dish but somehow it does. The beetroot is slowly braised in berry juice and then the same juice is used to make the dressing and it ends up like a wonderfully light, fresh, summery salad. 

Dulce the leche “pure” cheesecake 

The dulce the leche cheesecake by Chef Ravikant Shukla, who is Vanshika’s partner in crime at OMO, is a marvel. We use the word signature so loosely that we need a better word for this. Maybe I should describe it as a pilgrimage dessert because it is well worth the trip for this alone. A slow baked cheesecake with no crust,baked with some steam at low temperatures, it is served with some extra virgin olive oil and Arabian sea salt. The creaminess, the acidity from the olive oil, the salt…this dessert is spectacular and no words can do justice to its brilliance. 

Spaghetti aglio e olio with butter poached cauliflower 

Between Elaa, OMO and Araku Cafe, I feel increasingly that the idea that one needs meat protein to eat great food is archaic. It is an ideological belief that isn’t backed by the the reality of the eating experience. This is food that is filled with wonder and surprise, with flavour, with creativity. Food you don’t eat just because it’s better for you and better for the planet but because it’s genuinely delicious and path breaking. I increasingly feel that the most interesting things in food are happening with vegetables and not meat and it’s time for restaurants that cook meat to work harder to stay relevant. Progressive animal based food today has to be rooted in meat that is available locally and sustainably and cooked in a way that ends the wastefulness exemplified in eating specific cuts, but instead respects the animal and all parts of it. This is the way our ancestors ate and lived, when we were in harmony with our planet, and the only way to cook progressively is to cook sustainably, ethically and honestly. 

Today, it is the plant based restaurants that are showing us how…

Naga chilli cauliflower 

We ate:

• Root Vegetables with hempseed dip 

• Eggplant and seasonal leaves raviolo with tomato miso broth 

• Naga chili cauliflower

• Beetroot carpaccio with berry dressing and pistachio cream 

• Grilled calari rolled in flat bread served with bellpepper sauce and green chili salsa

• Peruvian asparagus with white balsamic burre Blanc 

• King mushroom cooked in butter, onion and black pepper. Served with pepper and raw mango sauce. 

• Homemade spaghetti aglio e olio with butter poached cauliflower

• Dulce de leche cheese cake with olive oil and sea salt 

• Sorbets and gelatos made inhouse