Health Food by Devanshi Mody
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The French think they have a monopoly on fine food? Their counterparts can give them a run for their money.
Chef Hemant Oberoi’s prodigiously radical and ultra refined Indian cuisine with his conceptually visionary Masala brand has transformed the nature of Indian cuisine. You can feast on a meal fit for a maharaja yet walk out feeling you haven’t eaten a thing. Chef Oberoi reveals that only two packets of butter and two of cream are used in the entire day’s preparations in a restaurant packed for lunch and dinner. Instead of the explosively overpowering curries you’d expect at a “normal” Indian restaurant, here you find the most gorgeous creations that are miraculously, divinely delicate.
The same goes for the mindblowingly perfect textures and a la minute perfectionist cooking techniques that bring you the most tantalisingly textured creations, be they Delhi street food speciality, pudina paratha, paneer or guchi mushrooms, so difficult to procure, so easy to overcook. The rabdis, phirnis, gulab jamuns and kulfis are in a healthy league of their own.
The hippest restaurants are New Delhi’s first gastronomic Indian restaurant Varaq, a super swank silver and gold leaf adorned affair, and the ultra smart Masala Club in Bangalore.
Wasabi, Mumbai’s first contemporary Japanese restaurant can beat its prototype Nobu, be it in London, Paris or Dubai. Chef Morimoto started the trend in New York but Chef Oberoi is the imagination behind a menu so extensive you might have grey hairs by the time you’ve got to the end of it. His team has toured Japan, eating in every gastronomic Japanese restaurant so that they can now beat the best. Anyone will tell you Wasabi beats Nobu. After tofu cheesecake and Wasabi Crème Brûlé, you’ll agree – so did Liz Hurley, Richard Branson and Richard Gere.
Mumbai’s Indigo: Rahul Arkekar and his team ever strive to push the boundaries of the “accepted,” bringing together apparently contradictory flavours in the most subtly exquisite and insanely imaginative creations. Such is the creative genius of the chef that he will present you with corn ravioli in lemon-grass foam ever so slightly enlivened with a smattering of sambhar masala, jeera and other Indian seasoning and you will love it!
As for dessert? At Indigo, you’ll discover Zucchini goes splendidly well with dark chocolate. With such heady gastronomic concoctions, the only sobering thing you can find is the international award-winning wine list.
In the Arabian world, The Oberoi Zahra is as much a culinary cruise as a cultural one. Begin with breakfast buffets including exotica like fresh guava juice and pomegranate yoghurt... mmm. As the day progresses, Egypt’s wonders are revealed off board, whilst on board you discover the 27-year-old chef Siddhartha Chowdhry’s adventurous gastronomic creations include Egyptian, Indian, pan-Asian, continental and Mediterranean fare.
The gnocchi is gorgeous. Desserts are inspired. This is the place for dessert in the desert! The food is so yummy you’ll want to get on the next cruise back from Aswan to Luxor. If the lovely cuisine hasn't satisfied your appetite, the guide will stuff you with exaggerated stories about the sites – most amusing.
Dar El Jeld, Tunisia’s most celebrated restaurant, lures The King of Spain, the Crown Prince of Japan, Gerard Depardieu and Jacques Chirac. The old converted 'tunisois', or aristocratic home, is an exuberance of tasteful traditional Tunisian art and antiques.
Gastronomic Tunisian cuisine with a Frenchified twist is served in a mesmerising candlelit ambiance. Expect exquisitely fine couscous and inconceivably rarefied North African cuisine. A special treat is the tray of delicately handmade local sweetmeats, but the almond cream dessert Zriga takes the cake!
Diplomats in Damascus venture up to Aleppo simply to sup at Sissi House, a charming 17th-century reconverted Jdeide mansion teeming with beautiful artefacts. Royals and celebrities grace its precincts, including the Queen of Spain, Princess Diane de France, Lord Sainsbury and Catherine Deneuve. The Syrian President is a regular at Syria’s premier fine dining restaurant, even if locals protest the food is Frenchified not authentic Syrian.
The ultra refined mezes of extraordinary textures and subtle flavours are to die for. Thought that Arabic sweets are sugar-saturated inelegant dough balls? Think again. Sissi House’s exceptionally light and utterly divine sweetmeats are a revelation.
Ottoman, Dubai’s contemporised Turkish restaurant, exudes oriental chic. Everyone wants to sit on the al fresco terrace overlooking the Marina. Wherever you’re seated, the Turkish breads taste just as good and the chef makes a trendy Turkish version of ravioli. Try the “designer” rose petal Turkish dessert.
Indego, Dubai’s gastronomic Indian restaurant par excellence, is style incarnate with exquisite decor. Michelin-starred chef Vinnet Bhatia’s contemporised Indian cuisine includes inspired asparugus and coconut samosas, shitake mushroom biriyani which comes with the flakiest, loveliest bread covering and kulfi ice cream (a Western take on the traditional dessert). Especially memorable are the striking presentation and superb service.
Guests used to Tex Mex complain that Dubai’s Maya’s food isn’t authentic enough, much to the chagrin of Chef de Cuisine Ruben Herrera, whose piquant conversation adds further spice to the revolutionary, refined and racy Mexican cuisine. Try lovely, light tacos and enchiladas topped with authentic Mexican cheese. The banana pancakes taste better than they sound.
Brand new Fire & Ice is arguably Dubai’s finest restaurant. The 26-year-old French chef’s ultra innovative cuisine seamlessly fuses oriental and occidental. Choose the menu degustation and let the chef astonish you with ethereal creations like marinated cauliflower caviar topped with raspberry and balsamic air, tempura with togarashi sauce and trilogy of dust (including green tea dust) and pumpkin vanilla espuma and almond foam. Other options include ginger risotto and lemongrass air, or hibiscus spices soup with assorted berries, hibiscus espuma and Sichuan pepper.
There’s nothing healthier than vegetarian food, so Dubai’s Magnolia offers a gastro scene with its new concept: adventurous vegetarian fine dining. The lovely lady chef seduces with sublime smoothies, lentil pâté that tastes like foie gras and inspired, exotic innovations expertly prepared, and exquisitely presented, embellished with flowers and herbs from her herb garden.
Texture, London’s latest sensation has 30-year-old Icelandic chef bringing an Icelandic touch. Expect the unexpected in the avant-garde, spectacularly presented creations. This restaurant offers you a gastronomic voyage on a plate. Try Balinese rice risotto with passion fruit coulis, raisins and almonds. Sounds wacky? But it’s fantastic, as are the most exquisitely rarefied desserts.
True to its name, the restaurant places emphasis on one of the most significant aspects of gastronomic cuisine – texture. The food is so light you feel you haven’t eaten, but that’s super – because after lunch, you can just go back for supper!
London’s Quilon is the world’s first fine dining South Indian restaurant, but Benares’s Chef Athul Kochchar participated in “Cook for the French.” Amidst exotically sumptuous water pools with lotuses, lush lounges et al, discover elegant Frenchified Indian cuisine that titillates the taste buds of Michelin, Laxmi Mittal and Mick Jagger.
Amaya is en vogue for its innovative cooking style with ultra light specialities targeting the Western palate. Relish adventurous grilled kebabs prepared a la minute at the open kitchen. Ah, what crispy exteriors and melting centres, that only a master chef can muster!
As far as Budapest, at Baraka, making the “World’s Best Tables” lists and propelling Budapest’s gastronomic scene to international fame, Chef Norbert Biró’s creativity translates in East-West-boundary-transcending exotica. Seafood is a specialty and black tiger shrimp poached in kaffir lime with glass noodles a signature dish.
Feeling adventurous? Try five spice duck breast with mango-papaya, Indonesian black rice and Tokay raisin sauce or unctuous balsamic chiboust with coconut cream cheese mousse and caramelised pear purée on coconut-almond macaroon.
German food has a reputation for being notoriously frumpy. Gastronomes and bon vivants can indulge in culinary escapades in Cologne, though. The recently refurbished and ultra sexy three-Michelin-star Vendome is oft ranked amongst the world’s top restaurants. Notice the attention to detail, right from the serviettes rolled up in a “V” form. It’s certainly victory all the way with Wissler’s epicurean flights which bring you Frenchified, modern, ethereal, visually striking creations.
Essensia, Prague’s Euro-Asian restaurant is a byword for style – from the suave décor, cool cutlery and table layout to the strikingly presented fare on the “dual personality” menu.
Forget the fancy modern European concoctions and go for refined Oriental cuisine with innovative twists. They also do the most luscious Thai Green curry ever. Who said you couldn’t possibly lavish four hours on relishing pan-Asian cuisine? At Essensia you’ll find you do. The food is so light you keep eating and eating.
La Degustation: Young chef Old?ich Sahajdák who has worked under culinary gods like Boulud, Keller and Robuchon presides over an open kitchen in a historic building. Strenuously recommended is his seven course Sélection du Chef menu – each exciting preparation and its complementing amuse bouche marries seemingly contradictory flavours.
The cuisine pretends to be “Traditional Czech and Mediterranean recipes prepared using modern culinary techniques,” but dishes with la-di-da almond purée, madeira glace, tapioca pearls and olive oil laudemio ice cream are hardly Czech!
Italian cuisine isn’t necessarily about carbs and guilt pangs later. Prague’s Allegro has some of the world’s finest gastronomic Italian cuisine. You can even, on request, lunch at 10.00 am. Summoned from Florence to galvanise the city’s culinary scene, the chef proceeds to do the maximum to titillate your taste buds with creations of extraordinary flavours, textures and aromas, including lyrically light lasagne and sublime tiramisu.
True to its name, the restaurant translates Prague’s fabled musical tradition in a symphony of savours. It’s worth going to Prague just to eat at this restaurant.
But in Milan Cracco Peck, the wacko chef, Italy’s most innovative, with three stars in the country’s numero uno Rosso Guide and two Michelin stars, is arguably the world’s best Italian chef. This is attested by his unforgettable potato and white truffle soup, a wondrous creation of minestrone-like grated potato and white truffle shavings in a tangy emulsion.
Desserts, which you’ll have at 1.00 am, include yummy ricotta and coffee compote and exude hydrogen fumes when you bite into them.
Even in Genoa locals are getting health conscious. At Bucca della San Matheo 25-year-old chef Marie boasts a Gambero Rosso star for revolutionising traditional Genoese cuisine. Inspired, adventurous creations are exquisitely presented with fabulous flowers and intricately twined leaves. Homemade trenette (typical Genoese pasta) in a subtly different pesto sauce arrives on a sea shell.
Dessert is even more elaborately adorned. Marie recommends her specialty orange soufflé. You protest you don’t like Orange soufflé. You won’t be heard protesting when she suggests seconds after you’ve swiftly demolished the first portion.