India’s regional cuisines are being reimagined in fine dining
Restaurants Naar in Himachal Pradesh, Papa’s in Mumbai and Farmlore near Bengaluru are each reimagining India’s regional culinary traditions in the format of contemporary fine dining. Chefs use local produce, seasonality, fermentation, smoking and fire cooking, Channel NewsAsia reports.
The new approach draws on ingredients and techniques characteristic of specific regions of the country. The publication notes that younger diners, whose tastes are shaped by travel, international media and diaspora interest, are increasingly seeking more sophisticated interpretations of Indian cuisine.
Himalayan cuisine and fire
Naar, located in the mountainous region of Himachal Pradesh, has only 16 seats. Its owner, Kashmiri chef Pratik Sadhu, has dedicated the restaurant to Himalayan cuisine. The menu is updated every two months in accordance with the Himalayas’ six seasons, and a significant share of dishes is prepared over firewood or charcoal.
The name Naar means “fire” in Kashmiri. The restaurant team forages wild fruits, herbs and plants in pine forests and near rivers, and also buys produce from local farmers. The kitchen uses food-preservation methods traditional to mountain communities: fermentation, drying, smoking and pickling.
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Reimagining familiar dishes
At Mumbai’s Papa’s, which seats 12 guests, chef Hussain Shahzad combines fine-dining techniques with recognizable Indian flavors. The tasting menu includes unconventional versions of laddoo, biryani, samosa and bebinca. Ingredients include rabbit from Nashik and weaver ants from Odisha.
Shahzad describes the restaurant’s concept as “fine, without the fuss” — fine dining without excessive ceremony. The venue is designed as a residence in Bandra from the 1980s.
A menu determined by the farm
Farmlore operates on a 37-acre family farm on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Chef Johnson Ebenezer and his business partner Kaushik Raju turned to this available farm after the COVID-19 pandemic halted their original plans to open a restaurant in the city center. The farm subsequently became the defining foundation of the restaurant’s concept.
About 60% of the produce served at the restaurant comes directly from the farm, while mango tree trimmings are used for the fire. The dishes change depending on the harvest, while retaining a foundation of South Indian flavors. Among the dishes described by the publication are Indian seabass in a ripe mango marinade with raw banana miso, duck aged for 13 days in gulkand, and fried octopus with tamarind and pickled peppercorns.
