2010 will be remembered most as the year Ferran Adria shut down the iconic El Bulli, rated best restaurant on earth by the magazine Restaurant and the subsequent elevation to number one of René Redzepi’s Noma, a Nordic cuisine restaurant in Copenhagen.
Closer home, the garden city of Bengaluru is maturing past its status as pub-hopping hub of the South. From its humble cantonment of early days it is now a bustling, evolving centre of international cuisine — a cornucopia of different tastes and textures.
The traditional favourites are now pit-stops on the foodie trail, consistent with a community feel. Karavalli’s coastal cuisine, Koshy’s melting pot of people and flavours, Sunny’s, the first standalone continental restaurant...
Standalone restaurants will come of age in a couple of years. Karnataka cuisine will be embellished, regional cuisines like Chettinad, Gujarati, Keralite will be honed to fit high-end restaurants. Mangalore cuisine is ripe to reinvent itself in a more innovative style with all facets of the cuisine exploited.
But where traditional restaurants once ruled the roost, high-quality international cuisine is now as much part of the city’s character: Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Caribbean jostle alongside the more regular Italian and Spanish. With its meld of professionals, traditionalists and expats, the city’s cosmopolitan nature embraces foreign cuisines, allowing them to flourish and though price sensitive, the clientele are more discerning. This is why a place like Caperberry is more than just a fine-dining experience — it’s about innovation, cutting-edge cuisine, to shape the art of cooking. It does not matter how great the ingredients are unless you have the skill and professional expertise to deliver.
Relishing food is a part of this journey and some places are outstanding. Blue Ginger, Toscano, Shiro, Mainland China, Samarkhand are on my list. Indian Accent in Delhi is loved for its perfect blend of the new with the traditional: the Foie Gras galouti, ash-roasted sweet potato chaat, golgappas with wasabi peas and tandoor foie gras. At Marut Sikka’s restaurant, Kainoosh, try the lamb spare ribs, red snapper musalam, tandoori lobster and the zucchini-yam galouti. At Edo (Taj Gardenia) in Bengaluru, the sushi and grilled skewers are awesome. Food can really open the mind, so bon appétit in your search for new cuisines.
Abhijit Saha is the founding director and chef of Caperberry and Fava, Avant Garde Hospitality
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