#blahvsfood: The Genius of Buland Shukla and thoughts on his Sunday Vegetarian Tasting Menu at FTR

 

Buland Shukla maybe the most brilliant and creative person I have ever met in my life. While I value our friendship, I am truly in awe of his intellect and ability. The relentless curiosity. The drive to not just understand but to master. The auto didactic nature of his explorations. 

This dude is an architect.

How does he become one of India’s greatest makers of audio equipment. And one of the best bread makers. And bartender. And a gypsy jazz musician touring the world. And distiller. And bar owner. And now a master chef.

Because have no doubt. A few years after he started cooking, Buland is up there as one of India’s best chefs, cooking food of such startling originality, creativity and skill that I would put him up there with the likes of Prateek and Auroni and Vanika and Vanshika and Hussain and the handful of others that inhabit that rarified layer. 

Akurache soup: Monsoon fern with Basil. Cucumber, coconut, yoghurt. 

What I found particularly interesting about this extraordinary meal is that unlike most tasting menus, it seemed so rooted in humility. Many of the tasting menus that I love showcase the quality of the ingredients and the brilliance of the chef, as well as their ability to imagine and inspire. I know that what I ate in this meal had the same effect. But although I can’t explain why, it didn’t feel like it came from that intent.

Jackfruit Seed mash aioli with grilled lionsmane

It just felt like someone wanted to take ordinary ingredients and ordinary Gujarati and Goan dishes and staples, to cook some food and serve it using what was available locally. Somewhere in that process, there were technical challenges (how do I make bajra less dry, how do I make a vegetarian kismoor) or creative ideas (let’s celebrate both Goa and Gujarat by making a Khandvi with rice). This combination of ideas and challenges then took a life of their own, ending up in a meal where every single dish was completely new, sui generis, an act of alchemy and creation and not just cooking. 

Steamed rice Khandvi with kismoor foam

The one technique that seems to inform Buland’s cooking more and more is fermentation. We’ve had the wonders of the black garlic tart at FTR for a while now. But he’s now diving into fermentation like an obsessive mad scientist, like a male Vanika Choudhary. This reaches its apogee in my favourite dish of the day, a funky, strong fermented soya beans, inadvertently tasting like the Khasi Tungrymbai (and smelling a little like it too), which is my favourite food in the whole world. 

Salt cured carrot with turmeric pate and veg Demi glace

Every dish is so considered and there is so much thought towards achieving harmony and balance, visually, texturally and in terms of flavour. Every plate looks like a work of art. The composition of the dishes allows you to taste every single ingredient. But every element has a textural or flavour motive behind it, even the tiny sliver of fermented garlic or the little droplet of betel leaf oil. You feel alive to nuance and subtlety with every bite. And still it all comes together to create dishes that feel cohesive and complete, like the notes coming together in song and symphony. 

Wild fermented soya beans with fermented rice and veg crisp

It is also the rare tasting menu that doesn’t leave you feeling heavy. It’s perfectly sized. Perfectly paced. Perfectly composed. So you’re full but not sluggish. Where the palate and the mind feel sharp and excited and energised rather than this python mode that you usually get into. Only one course (the tuber course) is based on starch so you really feel the freshness of great vegetarian cooking. 

Bajra buns with garlic chutney and white buerre monte

Genius follows its own beat. I don’t know how long Buland will cook this menu. It could be weeks or months. But I know it won’t be long. Because a fresh muse will visit. New ideas will germinate. New expression will blossom. So go there when you can. Book in advance. Go do a Sunday lunch in Goa. And eat a meal that really feels like something new, experience that sense of wonder and awe that I did. 

Roasted tubers (yam, potato, sweet potato) with fresh herbs and spices

Tasting menus are dead. I keep saying it. But then I eat a meal like this. And I keep being reminded how wrong I am. 

But only in the hands of genius. 

Pumpkin seed marzipan, black banana, coconut, fermented rice, merengue chips 

We ate (in Buland’s words).

- Akur soup: a soup made with a monsoon fern called Akur. It groves in the mangroves during rains. The soup is blended with fresh coriander and basil. 

- Jackfruit seed: a pâté made with jackfruit seeds and fermented mustard. Served with compressed and grilled lionsmane mushrooms. 

- Rice roll: steamed rice rolls with curry leaf tadka. Served with a kismoor foam made with coconut, kokum , chillies and dehydrated fermented soya beans to replace the shrimp 

- Carrot steak: salt cured carrot slices, rolled and seared, basted with herb butter. With garlic slices fermented in honey. Fresh turmeric root paté. Roasted Almonds. Radish. Coconut cream gel. A demi glace with vegetables. Betel leaf oil. 

- Fermented soya beans: wild fermented beans, similar to axone and natto. Fermented carrots and radish. Served on rice fritters. Coriander leaves. 

- Bajra Buns: aerated bajra Buns stuffed with garlic chutney. Beurre Monte with white butter. Leek and parsley gremolata. Pickled onions. 

- Tubers: pot roasted tubers with fresh herbs and spices. Lined with turmeric leaves. Feta emulsion. Wild mustard greens and green apple salad. Grilled spring onions. 

- Dessert : base of black banana. Pumpkin seed marzipan. Mousse made from fermented rice with coconut merengue chips. Coconut cream gel.