Fine dining is all about a luxurious experience — Mangal Dalal and Nachiket Shetye
Mangal Dalal and Nachiket Shetye
Good afternoon. Our speakers for today are Mangal Dalal and Nachiket Shetye. Mangal, a computer engineer, studied the culinary arts at Le Cordon Bleu, Paris, and subsequently completed internships in the kitchens of Le Cirque, New Delhi, and Noma in Copenhagen, rated the world’s best restaurant. Chef Nachiket’s training at the Culinary Institute of America has led him from the kitchens of Nobu and Per Se in New York to launching his very popular South Mumbai restro-bar 36 Oak and Barley. Four years ago, they introduced the international culinary event, Restaurant Week, in India. The event, held bi-annually in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, has given foodies like me something to look forward to every year. Early this year, they launched Cellar Door Hospitality Pvt. Ltd, a consulting firm with interests in gastronomic events, restaurant consulting, talent management and technical support to television food shows for development and research. They also have a culinary fund-raising platform where chefs and restaurants such as Salt Water Grill and The Sassy Spoon cook to raise money for charity. Well-travelled, addicted and obsessed with all kinds of food… please welcome Mangal Dalal who will talk about trends in fine dining in the best restaurants of the world. — R/Anne Umme-Haani Bagasrawala
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to start off by thanking Hani for giving me the opportunity to address this room filled with esteemed Rotarians.
Fine dining restaurants are those that go beyond delicious food and focus on the overall experience. Attention is paid to every aspect of customer experience — from the image of the restaurant to how it interacts with the customer through its ambience, food and service. In a fine dining restaurant, dining is elevated from a meal to an experience. Some restaurants, such as Zodiac Grill, pamper you with luxurious ingredients and grand settings. Others, such as Wasabi, use excellent ingredients and skilful chefs dish out delicious Japanese food that is rare in the city. Masala Library and Ellipses reinterpret classical dishes with contemporary techniques and beautiful presentation.
The commonality between all these restaurants is that they aim to provide a luxurious experience that cannot be replicated and where luxury could be the chance to experience an unfamiliar cuisine, a unique ingredient or a dish that requires cooking skills that are difficult to master.
My first 3 Michelin starred meal was at The Waterside Inn, a classical French restaurant that has been around since 1972. Situated in the village of Bray, close to London, the restaurant is housed in a cottage that was once a pub overlooking the Thames. Almost ceremonial, the meal is precluded by an aperitif at its terrace, flawless food only bettered by outstanding service. I was dining alone and the service staff kept me entertained when required, otherwise discreetly going about their jobs. It was all about the feeling, rather than the food.
The basic expectation from a fine dining restaurant is consistently delicious food made with the freshest ingredients. The world’s best restaurants, however, go beyond and stimulate the intellect as much as the palate. In Delhi, a restaurant called Indian Accent does contemporary Indian food, modernising Indian dishes by presenting it differently or using ingredients that elevate the food. For example, using lamb chops from New Zealand in a mutton dish to elevate it. It tries to invoke nostalgia with small touches — such as kulfi served in a mini pressure cooker or a steam iron as well as Phantom cigarettes that one remembers from childhood. It is the emotional connect that makes the restaurant so good.
Two restaurants that have made an impact in the culinary world in the last decade are El Bulli in Spain and Noma in Copenhagen. El Bulli, adjudged the world’s best restaurant for four years, shut down after 25 years. It was open to customers only six months a year while the remaining was spent on research. The chef there looked at cuisine through scientific eyes. He used industrial processes that companies use to manufacture food. It deeply inspired the rest of the world.
The current trend, since 2010, has been “foraging”. When the chef of Noma failed to apply French techniques to Danish food, he started exploring and thinking. He began foraging, the act of going into nature and picking things which most people would not consider edible. He tried to express the country through the available ingredients, first checking to see if it was edible and then using them in the dishes. He used edible flowers and now there are a lot of restaurants that use edible flowers. He used all the ingredients he could find in Denmark and Noma has been voted the world’s best restaurant.
It was amazing the first time I went there. The first course, for example, was right there on the table — a vase with a bunch of flowers and a few branches made from edible mould flour.It’s the plain presentation; the entire philosophy being to connect with nature.
Fine dining itself is becoming less stuck up. It is becoming less formal and pretentious. In restaurants such as The Table in Mumbai, you can walk in in shorts. This loss of formality is probably something that is going to stay. So, in this weird phase we have casual bistros and also casual fine dining restaurants.
The third trend that I have been noticing globally is using the Internet as a guide. Michelin, the traditional arbiter of restaurants, has lost its position to the Worlds 50 Best from The Restaurant magazine, a UK trade magazine. The magazine gets 900 of the world’s most prominent food writers, chefs and restaurateurs to vote on what they consider the best restaurant in the world. When Noma was put as No. 1, it got so many calls that the website crashed and from being a restaurant that went empty some days, it came to have 2,000 people on the waitlist.
The biggest flaw of the list, however, is that it depends on who travels where. If one travels to London, one will experience a restaurant there and probably vote for that. This is why India does not have a single restaurant in the World’s 50 Best list.
We are ten years behind any other global city because we have poor infrastructure and the least support. At most restaurants, for instance, almost 20 per cent of the bill goes to the government.
My colleague Nachiket and I have been working together since 2010. We decided to start an event called Restaurant Week, a concept borrowed from New York. Restaurant Week has been happening around the world since 1992. It happens in Singapore, South Africa… Here we try to make fine dining more accessible. We merge more than 20 restaurants in each city — Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore — and offer a three-course meal at a set price that is lower than what you normally pay. You know how much you are paying and will see the menu upfront. It’s like an icebreaker, like speed dating.
We have another event, Chef’s Table Week, which focuses on chefs’ tasting menus and the idea is to have the chef decide which dishes he thinks are best rather than giving the customer the burden of ordering.
It is a very exciting time for people like us who are trying to do things in the culinary industry. It is also tough because the industry is very young. We are still five-ten years behind.
So, the only message that I can leave is: try to appreciate the experience behind these meals, try to give it a chance, try something new — whether it is a new ingredient or a new cuisine. Try the new place and see how that goes.
Q & A session
Q: Do you think a standalone fine dining restaurant is a challenge in India as far as infrastructure is concerned?
A (Mangal): Infrastructure is an issue. Basic things such as a locker room for the staff to change, a delivery area method where all deliveries come in are things that have to be created in a standalone restaurant. In that sense, hotels have an advantage.
A hotel, by virtue of a duty-free licence, can buy a wine bottle at `500 while a standalone restaurant buys it for `900-1000.
A (Nachiket):: I would disagree in this regard for the simple reason that there are a lot of fine dining restaurants that are uppity and you would only go to for occasions.
In cities such as Bangalore and Mumbai, people are also moving out of five star hotels and going out to good restaurants. Yes, I agree that you get more service and help at five star hotels, but the youth is not comfortable with hotels.
I would not think of going to Wasabi or Masala Library in shorts because it will not be accepted. An important aspect for standalone restaurants is social network. In a hotel, in-house guests eventually end up eating in one of the restaurants.
In a fine dine restaurant or standalone, on the other hand, people will come in only if the level of service and interaction is like that of a hotel.