FORTUNE COOKIE: How Delhi Became India's Gourmet Capital

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

DELHI is experiencing an efflorescence of dining like it has never seen before. Today, it can lay claim with justification to the mantle of being the country's 'gourmet capital' -- a crown that Mumbai regarded as its birthright.

Rahul Akerkar (right), seen unwinding with his
star executive chef, Jaydeep Mukherjee, is yet
another established Mumbai restaurateur (after
AD Singh, Riyaz Amlani and Jay Singh) who
has recognised the potential of Delhi, which
he describes as a "well-heeled, well-travelled,
consuming market". 

I am using 'gourmet' not in the stuffy sense of the word, but to signify an informed interest in good food, irrespective of its provenance, whether from a hole in the wall that has stood the test of time or from a white-tablecloth restaurant that is the rage of the season. Delhiites like to eat and spend good money on food (as Mumbai's favourite restaurateur Rahul Akerkar of Indigo once described the city me, "Delhi is a consuming market, a well-heeled market"). And can they be opinionated about food and hold forth on it (mostly intelligently) for hours!

Go to Facebook and you'll see in abundance this side of Delhi. And just as you start thinking that you've seen the last of the food groups on Facebook, another one pops up with its own fan following. There are people who deride these culinary churnings as exercises in narcissism, as outpourings of extremely boring people who live in some la-la land, but isn't that true of people who are passionate about politics, films and sports?

Delhi's long march from the days when it used to be derided as the Republic of Butter Chicken is being reflected in the new wave of restaurants thriving across the city and now, increasingly, Gurgaon. I remember AD Singh, the brain behind the national success of Olive Bar & Kitchen, saying to me in 2004 that "Delhi goes to a restaurant to eat; Mumbai, to see and be seen." He was very nervous, in fact, before opening Olive Bar & Kitchen in Mehrauli, despite the success of its philosophy of laidback fine-dining in Mumbai, because he was certain Delhiites would judge the new restaurant primarily on what they got to eat, not the looks or the vibes. The city's fabled love of good food, and the lengths it can go to be adventurous, is mirrored in the new restaurants mushrooming all over, powered by imaginative young restaurateurs such as Zorawar Kalra, whose Farzi Cafe is the most anticipated restaurant launch scheduled for July.

Delhi was the country's first city to have a Spanish and a Thai restaurant with expat chefs -- Esmeralda (1986) and Thai Pavilion (1992), respectively, at The Oberoi -- but these turned out to be flashes in the pan. Its love for the unfamiliar and the authentic, this time round, is here to stay and get more intense as more restaurants open to cater to this gastrolust.

Delhi today has in Indian Accent the country's finest 'Inventive Indian' restaurant. It has India's first and only conveyor-belt sushi restaurant, which was started by Varun Tuli, whose calling card is his commitment to his calling, some eight or so years ago after he had just returned from higher studies at an American university. Delhi has also become the second home to regional cuisines -- from stalwarts such as Oh Calcutta, Punjab Grill, City of Joy, Saravanah Bhawan and Delhi Karnataka Sangha to newbies like Carnatic Cafe (New Friends Colony) and Yeti: The Himalayan Kitchen (Greater Kailash-II, M-Block Market), to the north-eastern quartet of Jokai (Assam Bhawan), The Nagaland Kitchen and Rosang Cafe (Green Park Extension), and Dzukou (Hauz Khas Market), to the Cyber Hub Gurgaon's quartet of Made in Punjab, Soda Bottle Opener Wala, Dhaba by Claridges and Zambar, and Bernardo's, Delhi-NCR's lone flag-bearer of Goan food a little farther away.

This passion to go regional now expresses itself even in global cuisines showcased in the city. Before Neung Roi opened at the Radisson Blu Plaza, Mahipalpur, did anyone care about the geographical divisions of Thai cuisine? Or did anyone have the foggiest on Emilia-Romagna till Artusi opened at the city's new foodie destination -- M-Block Market, Greater Kailash-II -- and popularised the region's cuisine? Today, we have what no one would have wagered on not even five years ago -- a thriving French restaurant (Rara Avis), a second outlet of the Spanish eatery Imperfecto, two more chef-driven restaurants to give the grande dame Diva company (Nira Kehar's Chez Nini and Julia Carmet De Sa and Jatin Mallick's Tres), and a neighbourhood Japanese restaurant (Guppy by Ai). Welcome to the Gourmet Capital!

FINE DINING UNDER THE METRO

IT'S A great feeling to be able to sit below a Metro line and have a fine meal without being shaken by the rattle and rumble of trains, looking out to a garden shielding you from the bustle of one of the city's busiest commercial complexes -- Nehru Place. I was at Fio Cookhouse & Bar, smacking my lips after a soul-warming portion of broccoli raviolo soup, in Epicuria, the country's first community food mall inside a Metro station.

Fio Cookhouse & Bar, without
doubt, is the finest restaurant
at the successful Epicuria
food mall at Nehru Place 

The brainchild of entrepreneur Vivek Bahl, Epicuria has transformed the Nehru Place Metro station into a destination. And with four lead attractions besides Fio -- the hugely popular nightclub Flying Saucer, Starbucks, Karim's and India's first Benihana (despite mixed reviews!) -- it has brought home the idea of dining at a Metro station. Epicuria, thankfully, will soon have three or four clones across Delhi, starting with the Airport Metro station at Connaught Place.

Fio at Epicuria turned out to be a real discovery, for I had last visited the original restaurant at the Garden of Five Senses in Said-ul Ajab, and was piqued by its attempt to balance Indian and Italian menus. The combination seems to have worked for its owner, Vineet Wadhwa, a 1980 graduate of the Institute of Hotel Management, Pusa (New Delhi), who spent his green years in the hospitality business under the tutelage of A.N. Haksar, ITC's first Indian chairman.

At Epicuria, Fio is a tad more Italian with a food library look. Its collection of culinary books neatly stacked in towering racks accentuate the sense of walking into a retreat where food for physical sustenance competes with food for the mind. After 11, though, the place transforms into a party zone for the hip and young where new genres of music rock the scene.

I haven't checked out Fio's desi menu, but sharing the chef's table, I was won over by the peri peri olive chicken noisette and the petit roesti (a nifty cocktail snack) loaded with butter beans, portobello mushroom, artichoke, caramelised onion and cheese phyllo, followed by the basil lime steamed fish with balsamic butter, the forest mushroom risotto with asparagus broth, and finally, the unforgettable Viennese chocolate mousse.

A BEEHIVE OF ATTRACTION

A NUMBER of tall buildings have natural beehives, but it takes a manager who thinks out of the box to turn one into a tourist attraction, which is what has happened to the beehive thriving on the ledge overlooking a glass pane on the 11th floor of Pullman Gurgaon Central Park.

To draw attention to the beehive, the hotel has put up a plastic sign on the window, which tells us, among other things, that a beehive can produce up to 27 kilos of honey in a good year. I doubt if anyone has ever attempted to extract honey out of the beehive tucked away in a corner of the hotel's exterior wall that even a spiderman would find hard to negotiate, but it has become a tourist magnet.

Not a guest passes by without shooting a picture of the beehive, or taking a selfie with the beehive appearing to rest like a crown on top of the head. Touches like these can make even anonymous corners of hotels become conversation points.

This column first appeared in Mail Today on June 19, 2014. Copyright: Mail Today Newspapers

DINING OUT AT UZURI: A Terrace to Die For and A Menu With Winners

This restaurant review first appeared in the 08/11/2013 edition of Mail Today. Copyright: Mail Today Newspapers.

To set the original, follow this link:
http://epaper.mailtoday.in/mailanartical.aspx?parentid=87186&boxid=133052203&issuedate=8112013

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

WHERE: Uzuri Deck & Dining, M-40, M-Block Market, GK-II. It's on the Chungwa lane on top of Market Cafe.

WHEN: Lunch and Dinner. High Tea to start soon.

DIAL: 011-41623623 / 25

AVE MEAL FOR TWO: Rs 3,500+++

The restaurant doesn't have a liquor licence. But you can buy a day licence and have a party on the terrace.

STAR RATING: ***1/2 out of 5

Animal prints and African artifacts are all
over Uzuri's fine dining section to reinforce
the restaurant's positioning as the purveyor
of European fine dining suffused with
 uniquely African flavours.

I DROPPED in at Uzuri Deck & Dining almost on an impulse at an unsually sleepy Greater Kailash-II, M-Block Market (post-Diwali fatigue, I guess!), with my good friend and man-about-town, Shaun Lobo, whose father Ronnie is a much-revered name among hoteliers. Shaun's mother Fatima is one of the three owners of Tres, which has become a must-go-to fine dining destination, thanks to the combined talents of her chef-partners Julia Carmen De Sa and Jatin Mallick.

I was therefore in good company -- and I was particularly keen on meeting Guy Clark, the Masterchef South Africa finalist who had guests at the wedding of Max India Chairman Analjit Singh's daughter (it was the wedding where Lionel Ritchie sang) eating out of his hands. Clark is one of the two chefs steering Uzuri, which bills itself as a European-African restaurant (the name itself comes from the Swahili word for 'goodness'), but he was vacationing in Rajasthan.

That gave me an opportunity to meet the restaurant's young executive head chef, Rishim Sachdeva, who has moved back from London, where he went when he was 16, after studying hospitality management at Oxford Brookes University and working at Fat Duck, Heston Blumenthal's celebrated Michelin three-star restaurant at Bray, Berkshire. I was particularly impressed by the last bit of the young chef's biography.
Rishim has actually worked for two years and half with the god of molecular gastronomy and was promoted to sous chef at Fat Duck, where most youngsters consider themselves lucky to be able to work as unpaid interns, just to be able to flash the name on their CVs. On the Uzuri menu, Blumenthal shows up with his invention, chocolate soil, on which rests the restaurant's must-have dessert with semi-frozen truffles, caramelised nuts, pickled grapes and butter caramel ice-cream. A silent tribute from a proud student.
I chose the two-storey restaurant's tastefully turned-out terrace, which was a delight on a nippy evening, and I could see it becoming the city's favourite party zone when the place gets its liquor licence only after the assembly elections. This hiatus may hurt the restaurant in the short run -- and it is showing in its uneven occupancy -- because its food is made for wine and long conversations. Frankly, I didn't say 'wow' after each dish, but the meal left me with a sense of satisfaction and a desire to return soon.

It was the mustard lamb shoulder, cooked for 48 hours and served on a bed of wild spinach with hazelnut salsa verde, that made me silently pray for this restaurant's long life. I had it with the herbed quinoa salad, bush-style smoked vegetables and truffle-scented pesto, whose charming simplicity won my heart, and the trio of beetroot and goat cheese mousse, toasted pumpkin seeds and warm bread. I just loved the bread, though I couldn't decide whether I loved the accompanying beetroot jam more (even the butter trio -- paprika, garlic and pesto -- accompanying the bread basket will make you consume a lot of carbs)!

The opening was heart-warming, but then came two jarring notes -- the Cape Malay fish cakes made me wonder why I was having aloo tikki in a restaurant that otherwise takes its food seriously and the pressed pork belly resting on an apple cider mash was left half-eaten. Before we could start complaining, though, we were blown away by the palate cleanser -- an unbeatable lemon souffle -- followed by the African-spiced leg of lamb with mint puree, onions carmelised for 48 hours, confit garlic and caper jus. I just loved the interplay of textures and tastes and how well they sat on my palate, and the twice-based cheese souffle served with braised edamame, sun-dried cherry tomatoes and balsamic fondue can give the grand-daddy in this department, Orient Express, a good run for its money. This is one restaurant that'll see more of me.

DINING OUT: Fashionably Late, But Cavalli Caffe Gets Its New Menu Right

This review first appeared in Mail Today, Delhi/NCR, on 10/11/2013.
Copyright: Mail Today Newspapers.

To see the epaper version, go to http://epaper.mailtoday.in/epaperhome.aspx?issue=1112013

and click on Page 23.

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

DINING OUT

WHAT: Cavalli Caffe

WHERE: Ground Floor Atrium, DLF Emporio, Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj

WHEN: 11 A.M. TO 11 A.M. (last order)

DIAL: 011-46950000; +919582645245

AVG MEAL FOR TWO (SANS ALCOHOL): Rs 2,000+++

WHEN Cavalli Caffe (the 'ff' is deliberate!) opened last year, next to the flamboyant silver-haired Italian designer's boutique at DLF Emporio, people joked that it got as many diners in a day as would fit into the monogrammed stretch limo that had ferried Roberto Cavalli to the launch party in the glittering presence of Bollywood's young celebs led by the towering Sonam Kapoor.

Split into two sections--one in the luxury mall's atrium and the other inter-connected with the store, with crystal lamps, floor-to-roof mirrors, zebra-print sofas and chairs, and framed black-and-white photographs of Cavalli schmoozing with international stars, the Caffe was at once perceived to be overpriced and too snobby for regular diners.

Its misfortune was compounded by its location next to Cha Shi, whose wholesome South-East Asian street food, sensible pricing and accessible style made it an instant hit. The Caffe's indifferent menu and Cavalli prices did it in -- in our picky city, the only way you can make a restaurant successful is by serving good food. People pay for taste and not for an international celebrity's licence fee.

The new menu has the power to bring life back 
to Cavalli Caffe, whose bright and fashionable 
decor hadn't been getting people to come in 
and dine. Image: Shekhar Yadav/Mail Today

The restaurant's owner and promoter of a number of luxe brands, Manav Gangwani, was quick to read the writing on the wall and at once drafted Vidur Parashar, formerly famous for Circa 1193, the restaurant that met with a premature end even though it served honest-to-goodness Pan Asian cuisine with an international twist. Parashar took up the challenge, though he knew he would have to work hard to convince Roberto Cavalli's chefs that tweaking their menu was important to get the crowds that the Caffe needed to post decent-enough financial results. In this monumental effort, Parashar was aided by Jatin Mallick of Tres, who, in his capacity as independent expert, convinced the Italians that the menu was badly in need of an overhaul.

The Caffe's new menu is not only miles ahead of its predecessor, but also gentle on the pocket, with most dishes priced between Rs 200 and Rs 500, the notable exceptions being the Sweet Lobster Linguine (Rs 1,000) and the Lasagna Tradizionale/Tagliatelle Amatriciana (Rs 700 each). It has more items in the 'Cavalli International Specials', including melt-in-the-mouth chicken shawarma that'll make you ask for a repeat and a soul-satisfying, soupy tom kha, which has been renamed Oriental Meal in a Bowl keeping in mind the restaurant's global credentials. It took the burrata, or mozzarella with cream inside, with nothing more flashy than cherry tomatoes and a hint of balsamico to give it company, that convinced me the menu had indeed been turned around. And the burrata, oozing cream like a god dropping manna from heaven, had been sourced from saddi Dilli's Flanders Dairy at Brijwasan.

I was eating in the company of Atul Sikand, whose Facebook recipe-sharing group, Sikandalous Cuisine, has become a phenomenon with 10,000 members (and counting). It's very difficult to make him happy, but Atul was as pleased as punch, especially after we spooned up the last drop of the Crema di Pomodoro, a hearty tomato soup served in a hollowed-out loaf of bread -- old-fashioned but wholesome. Next on the agenda was the Beetroot Vinaigrette with feta and arugula (rocket), a much-abused salad that could have stayed that way, but it was actually a delight for the senses. The portion of Cavalli Burger (our choice was chicken) came in as two delicious sliders, with the juicy chicken patty encased in a slightly crunchy breaded batter. And the thin-but-not-paper-crust Margherita Pizza that arrived thereafter blew us away with its sauce, which finely balanced sweet and tangy -- it is apparently not taken out readymade from a bottle, but made in the kitchen with Italian canned pelati (peeled) tomatoes that you'll find in plenty at INA Market.

A regular mortal would have stopped here, but as Atul and I were on a serious tasting mission, we ordered the burrata ravioli with burnt butter and sage -- the description on the menu said it was "divinity on plate" and we had to agree with it wholeheartedly, despite the patent immodesty of the declaration. The burnt butter just did it! The sweet lobster linguine was yet another temptress and it justified its price with the chunks of lobster in it. Our final dish was the Oriental Meal in a Bowl -- the creamy, soupy tom kha with chunky shrimps was just what we needed to prepare ourselves for the grand finale: airy hot chocolate foam sitting atop a rum granita.

The hot-and-cold sensation was just what we needed to be convinced that the new Cavalli Caffe menu not only has depth, but also quality. With it coming back to life (I hope it gets the numbers), the DLF Emporio atrium is now a complete dining experience.