‘Young chefs entering F&B augurs well for the industry’

While most Indian chefs swear by their maa ke haath ka khaana and getting influenced by the delicacies they served to them as kids, Chef Manish Mehrotra says he never entered kitchen when his mother or grandmother were cooking. In fact, getting admission at IHM Mumbai after passing out from school was a step to stay away from his father’s business. “I never wanted to run a petrol pump like him,” says the Culinary Director at Indian Accent Restaurants. 

Ironically, Mehrotra found kitchen to be one of the most innovative places at IHM Mumbai. “This was the place where I thought I could express myself better than any other department so kitchen it was and kitchen it has been ever since,” says Chef Manish who has spent over two decades with Old World Hospitality after starting his career with Ananda Solomon’s team at The Thai Pavilion of the Taj Hotels. Reminiscing the bygone days, he says, “It was a tough life. For days, I thought of running away from it all but then I managed to stick around and weather all that came my way. Today, I advise the younger generation to stick to their roles for the first five years of the career as I did and then sky can be the limit. But I must admit that the first five years at The Thai Pavilion laid the foundation of my life. I’m where I’m due to the learnings and experiences during that period. And then Old World Hospitality, which I joined in 2000 and Indian Accent which opened in 2009, played a major role in my life. It gave me unlimited opportunities. The free hand I got here helped me learn while I traversed the world.”

Indian Accent New Delhi is ranked #22 Restaurant in Asia by Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants for 2022 and has been awarded the San Pellegrino ‘Best Restaurant in India’ by Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants for seven consecutive years (2015-2021). It is also the only restaurant from India included in the ‘World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ list. Not this alone, the restaurant has also been rated as the ‘No.1 Restaurant in India’ by TripAdvisor consistently from 2014-2019. Recognised by Time Magazine ‘Amongst the World’s 100 Greatest Places’ and awarded the Number 1 Restaurant in India by Condé Nast Traveller and Himalayan Sparkling Top Restaurant Awards, Indian Accent has a second outpost in New York.

Over the years, Indian Accent has offered an inventive approach to Indian cuisine with the pathbreaking, and inventive menu designed by Chef Manish who has reinterpreted nostalgic Indian dishes with an openness towards global techniques and influences. Little wonder then that the Patna-born Mehrotra has often been named as the most exciting modern Indian chef in the world. 

Sharing his thoughts on how challenging it can be to take cuisine from a country to an alien land and popularise it, he says, “It can be quite a task, especially when there is general presumption that everyone knows Indian cuisine well. On the contrary, the fact is that apart from a few cities or countries, no one knows much. However, change is happening with Indian chefs around the world – Himanshu Saini in Dubai, Gaggan Anand in Bangkok, Vineet Bhatia in the UK and Hari Nayak in the US – reaching out to get people closer to the real Hindustani khaana. I’m sure the time is not far when Indian food will be more popular than any other cuisine in the world.”

Does a chef need to factor in certain dos and don’ts while creating a menu so that it appeals and suits all palates? “It is extremely important for a chef to know and think whom he is cooking for – guests’ food preferences and their demographics. It is not possible that every dish will suit every palate as each one is different. However, there is a common word to describe the cuisine – tasty. As a chef, you should always try to create tasty food. Though it can be a vague description but in terms of texture, colour and flavour, these should be balanced in a dish and only then it would suit every palate,” he explains.

Optimistic about the future of the country’s hospitality industry as the world is opening up and life returning to normal, he opines that the next five years will be phenomenal. “A number of young chefs and F&B professionals are entering the industry which augurs well for future. Also, restaurants are serving cuisines which they never did, and it is a positive sign too,” says Chef Manish who loves home-cooked food but doesn’t usually cook at home. “I enjoy whatever is served to me as I’m not a fussy eater,” he adds.

New experiments, innovations and learnings are a part and parcel of a chef’s life, feels Chef Manish, adding that had he been not a chef, then for sure “a political journalist”. The creative genius adds that whenever he finishes creating a tasting menu, he thinks whatever he has learnt has been put on the plate and that there will be nothing new next time. “But after a month or so, I come up with a new idea or a dish I want to experiment with, and a new tasting menu is ready. For over a decade, this cycle has been repeating,” shares the veteran chef for whom his team is his favourite at Indian Accent. “When it comes to a dish, I love each one on the menu. They won’t be on there if they weren’t my favourites,” says Chef Manish who unwinds by watching South Indian movies dubbed in Hindi apart from cricket. 

On what keeps him going, he shares, “My team and guests keep me on my toes at all times. Honestly, there is no better satisfaction than the happy face of a guest after enjoying your food. Likewise, the team needs to be happy at the end of each day to start afresh the next morning.” Though there is loads in the pipeline, says Chef Manish, he is really excited about the launch of Indian Accent Mumbai. “It is going to happen soon, and we are eagerly awaiting it,” he says. nSan Pellegrino