From meals at Michelin star restaurants to roadside discoveries, six Bengalureans talk about their favourite culinary journeys
Two years ago, when Veena Ashiya decided to visit Italy with her husband, she charted a road map based on eateries and foods that she wanted to try along the way. The erstwhile vegetarian often found it a challenge to find restaurants serving vegetarian fare while travelling abroad – Italy being one of the few exceptions. “We were travelling across the south and west of Italy from Amalfi Coast to Bari and I found several interesting places along the way which were known for particular ingredients and dishes,” says Veena, who looked up Pinterest as well as spoke to friends who had travelled to the country before for recommendations. On Amalfi Coast, for instance, they stopped at a restaurant on the beach that served a delectable baked cheese; in Puglia, they dined at Grotta Palazzese, a restaurant set, rather dramatically, in a cave overlooking the Adriatic Sea. And though it has been two years since she travelled to Italy, Ashiya still remembers the meal of zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta cheese accompanied by an olive tapenade at the Grotta Palazzese. Her favourite, however, was a farm-to-table concept restaurant in Alberobello called Terra Madre. “There is a beautiful little farm from which they harvest and serve the freshest farm grown vegetables while you watch the little plants bloom in their glory,” says the founder of Monrow shoe brand.
Like Ashiya, there are several Bengalureans who take their food seriously enough to make it the focal point of their travel plans. For some, the planning and research starts months in advance. When Vivek Prabhakar, founder of Chumbak, decided to travel to Bangkok over a year ago, he wanted a different culinary experience from the usual street food scene that he and his wife, Shubhra, would generally explore there. On their wish list were some of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants in the annual San Pellegrino and Acqua Panna list. From Nahm, which specialises in traditional Thai cuisine, to the contemporary Eat Me restaurant and the perennial list-topper, Gaggan – the idea was to explore a new side to Bangkok’s culinary repertoire. “About four or five months before going to Bangkok, we started the process of making restaurant reservations,” says Prabhakar, who didn’t have any luck getting a table at Gaggan despite multiple calls. Finally, they decided to reach out to chef Gaggan Anand on his Instagram account. “About three days before our trip, he replied to our message talking about how he loved Chumbak and was organising a table especially for us,” Prabhakar recalls.
Needless to say, it was one of the highlights of their trip. “It was a 23-course meal and Gaggan sat and chatted with us so it was really special,” he adds. What stuck in Prabhakar’s mind was Gaggan’s version of idli-sambhar – a foam of sambhar on top of a small disc-like idli. “It didn’t look anything like idli-sambhar, but the taste was spot on.” Another one of Prabhakar’s favourite food memories is a 10-course tasting menu at three-Michelin star restaurant, Eleven Madison Park in the heart of New York City. “One of the dishes featured fresh salmon with a sauce that was a derivative of tea,” says Prabhakar of his favourite dish there. Of course, meals at fine dine establishments don’t come cheap – while the tasting menus at Eleven Madison Park range from $175 to $315 per head (Rs12,215 to Rs21,980), a meal at Gaggan will set you back by THB 6500 (Rs13,900). But as Prabhakar puts it, “At places like these, it isn’t just about the meal but the experience itself. The company you go with it is very important as not everyone will understand or appreciate it.”
Joy Basu, who used to run a European style eatery, Café of Joy, in Whitefield, will probably agree with Prabhakar’s sentiments. When traveling across South America and Mexico last summer, Basu and her husband actually cancelled and rebooked a flight ticket to Peru so that they could make it in time for lunch at Central, ranked The Best Restaurant in Latin America. “We were literally hopping from one country to another spending two-three days in each place and Central only had one lunch reservation free and then nothing for the rest of the month,” recalls Basu. But it was worth the hassle. “When we looked at the menu online we noticed that each dish came with a number next to it like 0 or -10 or 3500. Later, we came to realise that the number denoted different altitudes from where the ingredients had been sourced,” she adds. An exploration of its country’s biodiversity, Central takes diners on a journey through every altitude, from 20 metres below sea level to 4,100 metres above it. The tasting menu is a reflection of Chef Virgilio Martínez and his sister, Malena’s research into ingredients in the Andes, the Amazon and the sea. Basu, in particular, remembers a dish called Ocean Floor that resembled oceanic flora and fauna and came with scallops, seaweed and sweet cucumber.
Of course, eclectic food experiences aren’t just about dining at Michelin starred establishments or those on The World’s 50 Best Restaurant lists. As Basu tells us some of her best culinary experiences have come from hawker stalls in Singapore, small artisanal cafes in Europe and street food in Mexico. The only rule of thumb Basu follows is to avoid generic chain restaurants and coffee
shops that don’t offer anything unique or local.
Sometimes the most exciting discoveries come from stumbling across hidden gems that don’t find a place on any lists or travel guides. When Anirudh Kheny, partner, Plate Project Hospitality, travelled to Italy last year, he would ask the hotel front desk for suggestions on local places to eat and visit. Often they would come up with places that were off the tourist map. “On our last day in Milan, we went to this quaint little home-based Italian eatery which had been around for the last 20-25 years. Nobody spoke Italian there but we somehow managed to place our order and had the most incredible lobster pasta there,” says Kheny.
For some, food is a gateway to the local culture. That’s why entrepreneur Ahalya Matthan makes it a point to include at least one extraordinary dining experience on each trip. On a trip to Japan a couple years ago, for instance, Matthan and her family ate a meal at a training centre for sumo wrestlers and also partook of the Japanese custom of omakase where the chef decides on the menu and prepares your meal in front (usually consisting of different forms of sushi). “I have a lot of clients in Japan and one such client has a neighbour whose son trains as a sumo wrestler. They were the ones who suggested that we visit the school and have a meal there since we were looking at experiencing the local culture. It was definitely a one-of-a-kind experience that wouldn’t have happened if you don’t have local connections.” There they discovered what sumo wrestlers typically consume for lunch – chanko-nabe – a hearty stew comprising vegetables (such as bok choy, daikon and mushroom) and protein (chicken, fish, meatballs, tofu) in a dashi broth.
More recently, when the perfumer travelled to San Sebastian, a resort town on the Bay of Biscay in Spain, she discovered a local treasure in the form of a cheesecake shop. “It was recommended by the owner of the home stay we were staying in and the restaurant [La Vina] specialised in one kind of baked cheesecake. It was a family secret recipe with a cheesecake that was light and creamy at the same time.” Once there, Matthan also came to know of the local surfing culture. “The owners told us how it was almost a tradition for surfers to stop by the restaurant for cheesecake after a day of surfing.”
Closer home, Mohit Balachandran, country head at SodaBottleOpenerWala, has made several forays to Hyderabad and Mumbai to look for interesting variations of local delicacies. When he’s in Mumbai, for instance, Balachandran makes it a point to travel to Kalyan and Thane to sample some delicious vada pav. In Kalyan, he discovered the Khidki Vada Pav, which has, reportedly, been around for 60 years. “It was started by a lady who would sell vada pavs from the window of her house and they are known for their green chutney,” says Balachandran. In Thane, he sampled vada pavs served with a peela chutney made out of chura that comes out of frying the besan. “It is ground into a chutney and tempered with spices. It’s quite flavourful,” adds the founder of Chowder Singh food blog.
Another one of Balachandran’s favourite food destinations is Hyderabad. He is particularly fond of the unique Arabic-influenced cuisine available in Barkas located in the old city area. The locality is primarily populated by people from the Chaush community who have descended from the Hadhrami Arabs of Yemen. Originally brought to India to serve in the Nizam’s army, the community has their own unique take on Arabic cuisine. The mandi, an Arabic version of biryani, is one of Balachandran’s favourite finds there. Cooked in an earthen pit, the mandi is unlike Hyderbadi biryani. “It is minimally spiced but full of flavour,” the foodie attests.
So, whether you like to explore culture through local cuisine like Matthan or are a novelty seeker like Ashiya, the fact is that opening yourself to all kinds of culinary experiences while visiting new places can only enrich your journey.