Bikramjit Roy is one of India’s most famous chefs, with whom guests want to take selfies. I first met him when I was working in the Wasabi kitchen at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Delhi. I was having omakase (a Japanese expression that translates as ‘leave it to the chef’) and was served two dishes that were not on the menu and were inspired creations. I asked to see the chef and Vikram came out of the kitchen and admitted that both the dishes were a product of his own imagination.
One day, Gautam Anand, the top talent-spotter at ITC Hotels (his real job was to open new properties) came to have lunch at Wasabi’s, beat up Vikram’s food and took him away from the Taj.
ITC recognized Vikram’s talent and broke it with his own examples to give the largely unknown chef major breaks. Pan-Asian at Grand Chola in Chennai abandoned the old guidelines of the brand and became a chef-driven restaurant run by Vikram. When it became a big hit, ITC brought him to Delhi and created Mauryama Tian as a showcase for his talent.
When Tian became a commercial and critical success, Vikram’s future was assured. He left ITC to explore new fields. He started several new restaurants focusing on oriental cuisine. A few years ago, he finally turned his attention to the food of his native Calcutta and although the Tangra project in Delhi was a critical hit, it was too big and suffered from a poor choice of location.
The Tangra project was put on hold until a new, more suitable location was moved and Vikram disappeared from India.
I tracked him down in Singapore where Veer Kotak, his partner and collaborator (on the Tangra project and running the thriving Cloud Kitchen) lives. Kotak and his foodie wife Simran have almost unlimited faith in Vikram’s talent and are supportive supporters that most chefs can only dream of.
It was Veer Kotak’s idea to plan a new restaurant, run by Vikram, in an iconic Singapore location: the place that housed Burnt Ends before moving to the current, larger premises. It’s a great place but I thought, can Vikram cook in Singapore?
He said he wanted to cook Japanese-Indian food, which I gently told him, wasn’t such a good idea. Yes, a cuisine can be inspired by Japanese and Indian cuisine, but Singapore, which has some of the best Japanese restaurants outside of Japan and several top Indian restaurants (the ground-breaking Revolver and Thevar, which has two Michelin stars), has introduced me to new, adventurous cuisine. Didn’t strike as the ideal place to do it.
When I finally got to Ahara, as Vikram’s new restaurant was called, the chef (with some nudging from his partners) had finally settled on what he wanted to do: modern Indian cuisine that drew on his skills as a Japanese. An oriental chef without trying to be Indian-Japanese.
Vikram’s cuisine used Japanese ingredients (herbs, leaves, shrimps, seaweed, oysters etc.) and some dishes looked Japanese. But Vikram was clear: this was an unexpected Indian restaurant that incorporated all the skills and techniques he had picked up over his decades in restaurant kitchens.
An Indian from India (as opposed to an NRI) who experiences Vikram’s food will immediately see where he is coming from. It is distinctly Indian cuisine with Malwani gravies and North Indian flavors but Vikram has used his love for East Asian cuisine to create new and different dishes.
And since he is in Singapore, Vikram has been able to hone his skills in luxury materials. There are truffles on the menu and one of his more innovative ideas is to have a chaat festival for guests in the kitchen. What is unusual about it? Well, the fact is that he makes his chat with caviar.
Vikram is a talented and original chef. With Simran and Veer Kotak supporting supporters, he is all set to try to find success overseas that matches the huge reputation he has built in India.
Surprisingly, Vikram was not the only person who thought of combining Japanese and Indian cuisine. Chef Advait Anantwar of Dubai had a similar idea. Advait worked with Himanshu Saini at Tresinand before joining Mohalla Restaurant. Mohalla is part of Atelier House Hospitality, one of Dubai’s leading restaurant groups. 11 Woodfire may be its most famous restaurant: it has a Michelin star and was number 11 on the Middle East’s 50 Best Restaurants list. I didn’t eat very well there but I could be unlucky.
Panchali Mahendra, a former Oberoi manager and chairman of Atelier House Hospitality, told me that the group held Advaita in high regard and decided to make it their flagship Indian after he said he wanted to open a Japanese-Indian restaurant. enterprise.
They called it Inja (geddit?) and took over the old Indian accent space at the Manor Hotel in Delhi’s Friends Colony. Mahendra went to Delhi to start the restaurant and although it was only open to the public for three days, she was very satisfied with the response, she said.
Advaita’s food is more in-your-face Japanese than Vikram’s. While Vikram has tried to incorporate Japanese ingredients and techniques into his cuisine, Advaita has taken the opposite route. He has taken dishes that look Japanese and infused them with Indian flavors.
This is virgin territory so there are no objective standards to judge the dishes but I enjoyed the food. My favorite was panta bhaat (fermented rice) with torched scallops, uni, pickled cucumber, kombu oil etc. It ended up on the table and is a delight for Instagrammers. This might be the most Japanese and least Indian dish I’ve ever had. The udon noodles were delicious with Meghalaya spices. I loved both of his mustard-flavored dishes: small Bay of Bengal shrimp and fish cooked on rice with mustard gravy. Bengali influences were welcomed, perhaps unwittingly (the chef is a Maharashtrian from Nagpur), but Vikram would have been proud of both of those dishes and would have approved of the much longer menu.
Both restaurants are important to their chefs. Vikram is a star in India where his ninja-like charisma has won him many fans and his food is of high quality. This is his first attempt to take his Indian stardom abroad.
Atelier House Hospitality is a force to reckon with in Dubai and other countries. It hopes to make an impact in India with its first restaurant here. And Adwait has been brave enough to step out of his comfort zone and do something completely different.
Both restaurants have recently opened. I hope they both do well. So, best wishes to Inja and Bengali Ninja!
From HT Brunch, April 1, 2023
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