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Indian Gin

Undoubtedly, it’s the golden hour for innovations in Indian spirits. And amongst them, the blue-eyed child are the new Indian gins. With a thick Indian accent, unprecedented brio, nostalgia-suffused storytelling, and endless trials of flavours, they’ve stirred up a storm, one that the country and its tipplers hadn’t seen before. It’s so engraved now that if your Instagram profile doesn’t have a picture of an Indian gin, you’ll easily be called a social outcast. So, what’ve these homegrown gins done, in only a couple of years, that’s arrested everyone’s attention? We enquire.

British gins were the first to catalogue their botanicals on the bottle, tell their stories, and mesmerise the global population with the idea. Neither were their botanicals local, nor were they the epitomes of storytelling. Yet, consequently it became the norm. “For the longest time, western gins were taking our story, our botanicals, and reselling them to us. Now, after decades, there’s increasing curiosity in knowing about Indian botanicals and stories”, notes Anand Virmani, creator of Hapusa & Greater Than. And so should it be. After all, we were on the Spice Route for a reason. Karina Aggarwal of Terai further explains, “There’s been a global cultural shift. Everyone’s interested in knowing what they’re consuming, its source, how they’ve been cultivated, traded, etc. And with Indians travelling extensively now, their understanding of ingredients has grown drastically. There’s a sense of pride in supporting homegrown produce and how many you’ve tried”. 

EFFORT LESSLY INDIAN

Indian households, mythology, ceremonies, and rituals have for long revolved around botanicals, florals, and citruses. Be it the morning prayers around the Tulsi plant, or nimbu-mirchi hanging on trucks & lorries, or betel leaves, nutmeg, rice, sugar on puja thalis, scents and flavours have forever been the thread holding our daily lives. Put all these emotions & essences in a bottle, and it’ll be hauntingly intriguing. Accepting them will come naturally. In what’s traditionally been a dark spirit market, no one has consciously allowed such an expression that these new Indian Gins have. And it makes complete sense why we’d effortlessly get allured by them, and not position them as snobbish, but somewhat our companion. Forget not, ease and convenience is what’s driving the world now anyway.

EASY ACCEPTABILITY

Anand recalls from his earlier stint, at Hendricks gin’s launch, people enquired what whiskies were being poured at the bar. Now, a decade on, people enquire about the gins on offer. Aman Thadani, creator of Pumori, calles dark spirits a tricky proposition. “Whiskies & rums have their histories, templates, ageing, cask finishes, terminologies, etc. All this makes them pretty technical. Gin on the other hand is a free and simpler playing field”. Aditya Aggarwal, founder of Samsara, adds “Gins are easier to talk about. They create a nostalgic recall, and forego the technical gyaan one has to invest in before picking a dram”. Vidur Gupta, co-founder of Stranger & Sons, echoes the thought. “Unlike years of encyclopaedic information crunching in wine studies, gins are easy. And their mixability & versatility makes it further playful.” Karina adds, “it’s also the image of dark spirits in India, a quirky whisky bottle can also be questionable, let alone how to drink it, or the glass of your choice. With gins, there are no such moulds.”

PLAY OF BOTANICALS + IDEAS

However, the spice box of the world has so much to offer, it could be easy to overdo. Even the thought of constructing a gin in India can be daunting. Greater Than was the first craft gin in the country in 2017. Anand recalls, “we had a clean slate and could do whatever. It was equally exciting and confusing. We started with 120-130 single ingredients, then started putting them together, and the final recipe had only 10-12 ingredients”. Vidur says “we have a problem of plenty in India. There’s an endless list of botanicals we know of and even bigger one of those we don’t”. However, “No single ingredient is going to trigger someone into liking a gin. It does become a differentiating factor though, one that enriches their experience”, Anand adds. 

In such a vast expanse of ingredients, then how does one construct a gin? “Your gin distills down from your concept. We wanted to make a gin that’s bold, stands out in the crowd, is inherently Indian, and resonates with London as much as it does with Delhi. And to achieve that, our homework was to taste over 300 gins!!”, Vidur reminisces. Karina opines “though it’s a combination of various things, foremost are your personal preferences and knowing the palate of your audience. What reigns eventually is that it must be a product of provenance”. And the expression expands beyond just what’s inside the bottle. Aman puts it aptly, “put gin in a bottle versus a story, and you’ll see the difference. Before one picks a bottle, if you could tell them its inspiration and journey, the experience will grow manifolds”. Karina adds “from the label design to the bottle style, the gin needs to stand out, and have its own personality & identity. Consumers are also asking their tipples to be different, and it’s imperative that new gins do that.”

GINCREDIBLE INDIA

From these plethora of emerging ideas, one that shines is that of celebrating India. Our creators are proudly coining and nearly-boasting inscriptions like ‘India Dry’, ‘India Spirited’, ‘Himalayan Dry’ on their labels. But what are these terms and what do they signify? Like London Dry Gin, is there one that defines Indian gins? It’s simply too early to say. There’s no one India, in its geographic spread, cultural diversity, culinary spreads, languages, and attractions, there’re mere interpretations. And thats the most exciting feature in these new gins. They’ve celebrated India for Indians, that too at a time when our politics and a pandemic have divided us like never before. There’s a dire need for something that binds us together and makes us fall in love with our India again, and Indian gins are playing their part. 

Creators have very carefully and distinctly picked various features of India and put them in their bottles, on their labels, and in their stories. Haupsa, sanskrit for juniper, celebrates foraging local juniper from the snow-clad Himalayan mountains. A whiff of its gin teleports you to a rustic land with moist wood, petrichor, forest-floor, and fills you with a sense of adventure. Terai descends to the fertile & plush lowlands and has an imposing Indian accent through its fennel, tulsi, citrus, and floral hues, kindling a comforting assurance of botanicals you instantly resonate with. Stranger & Sons celebrates the Indian ghats and its agricultural diversity by putting a complex mix of spices, citruses, and aromatic botanicals in the hue. It teases you before it arrests you like a cruel mistress and doesn’t let you go. Samsara picked its botanical and aromatics reminiscing the scents at an Indian ceremony and the gin exhibits that in its floral liveliness, captivating secret citruses, and a regal khus note. And for once think, what do Himalayas, plush lowlands, the ghats, and Indian ceremonies have in common – nothing. And what’s India without either of them – nothing. And thats the play that Indian gins have mastered – there’s a union even in their diversity.

EMPOWERING THE CONSUMER

Finally, at a time of home drinking culture, where conversations around a refined drink have become the norm, gins are providing a reason to celebrate. Aditya exclaims “there’s a lot to resonate for everyone from a single sniff and sip of a gin”. Karina agrees and adds, “there’s a level of familiarity Indian gins offer, be it in the botanicals, or in their names, or designs”. Gin & Tonics have become the new norm. Vidur isn’t surprised, “we are a hot & social country, drinking chilled tall drinks makes sense”. Anand is on the same page and says “we’re in a country where whiskies are our almost national drink, but why? Drinking ideas from the EU don’t make sense in India”. Aman opines “consumers have elevated their game and for them a gin’s not a gin, a tonic’s not a tonic anymore, it’s much more”. 

Karina takes it a step ahead and claims “you can’t do anything wrong with gins, add any cordial, flavours, syrups, tonics, sodas, garnishes, throw them in any glass and it’s acceptable. Do that to a single malt whisky and you’ll get stares from every corner of the room. Unlike with some other spirits, here the consumer decides how they appreciate it. And you might be the only one who has that concoction in that pincode, which is so empowering”. And even for a humble G&T, Aditya says “there’s such sincerity in the process – cutting the fruits, getting the ice, picking garnishes, apt glassware, which elevates the aesthetics of the drink and the drinking ritual.” Sounds pretty civilised, eh!! 

India was always celebrated for its precise craftsmanship, and botanical offerings. With over a dozen gins on the shelves already, and many getting dressed to be unveiled, all in a span of 4 years, the gin revolution has been announced. There’s such promise in the category that one can’t help but anticipate more exciting introductions. If you haven’t befriended and added Indian gins to your repertoire, do it promptly. This wave isn’t calming down. 

 

First published in Sommelier India The Wine Magazine

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Articles Conversations Events + Affairs Personalities TippleTalk Trade Wines

Summer In A Glass

Yay!! Summers here. It’s time to host endless brunches (or drunches!!), poolside parties, and balmy evening rooftop soirees. And while at them what fits well is something that makes you move the least, and pours the most. Something you don’t have to put together endless inventive ingredients for, stir, shake, and muddle, into a library of fancy glasswares to fix a decent quaffer. And think of the repeats, lord mercy!! It’s the time to simply pop open a bottle, share it with your tribe, and laze sans the effort. Kiss your dark spirits and complex cocktails away, and traverse to your wine cellars, its time for them to make you look effortlessly suave, and lift the mood.

For a true oenophile every wine is a perfect summer wine, but when the mercury drops, you need a vino that’s served cooler than your AC blasts. They must be served chilled, have refreshing high acidity, preferably have no or very little tannins, and must be light enough to simply float on your palate and quench your thirst. Any wine that ticks these four simple boxes deserves sitting in your cups.

So, simply stay away from heavy reds, boozy fortified wines, and the sticky ones, the later especially. These wines pack a devilish kiss and have immense persuasiveness to turn you into a sloth or a zombie in a single serve. Summers are the time for light, citrus, and aromatic whites, roses and bubblies. If you’re trying to fit in a red, pour it in a glass, tilt it over a page of a Murakami novel, and see if you can read a page through it. If it works, chill it, and put it up. If that’s what you fancy, say hello to Pinot Noir and Beaujolais.

WHAT WORKS AND WHY

Dry, crisp, citrus, aromatic whites are a no-brainer. A gentle sniff should transport you to the farmlands and orchards, and the juicy citrus burst should put dew drops in the scenes with their refreshing lemon-lime play. Sauvignon Blancs and Rieslings are the perfect varietals for the season. And if you’re looking for something much simpler pick up a Pinot Grigio, Chenin Blanc, or a Viognier and watch them elevate your drinking rituals.

Roses do exactly the same, along with a generous serving of panache, elegance, and personality. These pink and salmon-hued drops are an absolute delight and keep either side of the drinkers satiated. Roses have a bust of crisp citrus, a rounder mouthfeel than their white counterparts, and a husky play of tannins to keep your tongue running over your teeth, reminiscing about the last sip and gently moving you towards another.

My perpetual go-to are the bubblies. They are a no-fuss, crowd pleaser and are the easiest to manoeuvre through with a tableful of delectable dishes. Forget not, they are served the most chilled amongst all winestyles, and there’s a ceremonial celebration each time the cork pops!! Add a few spoonfuls of fresh fruits, puree of peaches or apricots, and top it up with a sparkling wine and they make the perfect spritzer. A word of advice, whichever wine you may settle with, drink their youngest freshest avatar. The pompous, late-maturing, hefty wines are for the winters, summers are for accentuating the youth.

India’s been making some really worthy wines alongside those you’ve backpacked their ways on to our shelves. Here’s a pick of our favourite wines that’ll be crowding the community tables this season:

Jacob’s Creek Sparkling Brut, AUSTRALIA

Aussies have championed the art of making bubblies, and Jacob’s Creek is an unmistakable synonym. The play of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir brings a respectable charm and balance while maintaining a crisp mouthfeel, a citrus backbone, complimenting the mouse from bottle fermentation. An evergreen aperitif, a bankable serve, amazing with canapes, and biriyanis.

Brancott Estate Sauvignon Blanc, NEW ZEALAND

Think of a cool, crunchy leafy salad, with arugula leaves, pears, bell peppers, shards of piquant goats cheese, and a vinaigrette dressing. Sauvignon Blanc is the perfect marriage for that. Ethereal, crisp, gripping with hauntingly aromatic notes of lime, green veggies, gooseberries, and a playful lift of white florals. Chill it to the bone and hand over a glass to even a novice and see they eyebrows lift up with absolute amazement.

Campo Viejo Rioja Blanco, SPAIN

Viura meets Chardonnay meets Espana, what’s to go wrong in that trio? Viura is a rather introverted varietal that’s meant for those who like there wines to be subtle, not in-your-face, but pack a punch in the right places. It’s crispness is unparalleled to any other varietal making it a deserving partner for seafoods and baked dishes.

Jacob’s Creek Classic Chardonnay, AUSTRALIA

Its love-affair with Indian palate makes it the easiest contender to be on the list. Limey citrus with some white fruits, a play of creamy texture, with an earthy back, it’s a timeless charmer. It’s effortless to like and even easier to polish off a bottle of before anyone even notices. Stews, baked meats, and creamy preparations and this beauty, an utter delight.

Brancott Estate Pinot Noir, NEW ZEALAND

Think of a summery red and Pinot with jump out of your brain even before the end of the sentence. And if it’s from NZ, it’s a jackpot. NZ Pinots are smooth, light, and fragrant with ample dosage of red berries, rhubarb, rose petals, sweet cherries, and can quickly develop some complexity too. Any tomato-based gravy dish, mezze, simple mediterranean preparation, of a salmon dish, put a Pinot next to it and see people fall in love with their marriage.

York Vineyards Cuvee Brut Rose, INDIA

York’s winemaking style fills the trio of sensuality, aromatics, and a flirtatious slither of complexity in every bottle. A commendable rose bubbly that has never failed to impress from its first vintage. It’s minerally, controlled on the lees, and packs ample hues of florals, red fruits, and a cherry bite at the back.

Vallonne Vineyards Chenin Blanc, INDIA

Probably the most bankable Chenin Blanc you’ve not heard of or tasted thus far. It’s brimming with varietal flavours of green fruits, acacia flowers, an leafy bite, and a lemony acidity, making it a perfect open-relish-repeat proposition.

Grover Zampa Art Collection Riesling, INDIA 

The new kid on the block is the perfect balance of citrus, tropical fruit ripeness, flavour sweetness, and honeyed notes. It’s the harmony in its elements that makes it an easy sipper, but it’s not just that. Crack open one and find it for yourself.

Reveilo Wines Grillo, INDIA 

Amongst the most under-rated whites in the country that you only need to try once to befriend. Juicy citrus, white stone-fruits plushness, a hint of candied back, and ample character makes Grillo an amazing pick. An incomparable personality on the list, thank us later.

Sula Vineyards The Source Grenache Rose, INDIA

Amongst the most respectful roses out there right now, The Source rose is for those who understand their wines well. The play of red fruit flavours, a cherry twang, flirtatious tannin profile, and a mineral grip makes it a playful yet an astute rose. A definite bankable proposition.

Fratelli Vineyards MS Sangiovese Rose, INDIA

A pleasing aromatic nose, burst of lively flavours, bright fruity citrus, a clever grip on the palate, and  a candied finish, the thought of this salmon-hued rose alone puts a smile on one’s face. Relishing it is an even better joy.

First published in India Today Spice magazine in May 2021

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Articles Cocktails Conversations Events + Affairs Spirits TippleTalk Trade

Scotch Love

When Scota, the Egyptian wife of the Spanish Celtic King Milesius, invaded the island in 1699BC from Ireland, who’d have even in passing thought of the power this meagre colony would possess in the modern era. They used their advanced knowledge of chemistry to concoct beverages using native ingredients primarily to restore health and what started as a medicinal endeavour developed into producing a spirit called aqua vitae or aptly ‘the water of life’. Local farmers of these fertile lands took up distillation as a secondary occupation, converting their excess grain into whisky, seeking some extra income. The fortunes it yielded for these poor farmers were rather handsome and attractive, as also providing an alternative to their commoner local tipples and therein emerged an industry, and a drink, that have never looked back since then.

Surviving endless wars, dodging the bane of the Prohibition period and the heavy taxations that ensued, managing to usurp Cognac’s dominance in Europe and more recently, that of vodka in the US, Scottish whiskies have had a journey like no other spirit. They belong rightfully to a world of royalty, grandeur, and celebration even if they are somewhere a matter of snobbery for us Indians.

Swirling in a small-cupped stemware, a bright golden liquid with a regal sheen, gently settles in the bowl leaving lazily trails of descending tears, a burst of aromas kindle a silent excitement, providing a soul-stirring emotion – that’s the enigma of a Scotch.  Some say that a minute sniff of a dram can evoke a vivid image of the environs where the whisky originated. Whisky expert, Dave Broom, describes the landscape as a place where you can read the rocky poetry of the Earth’s birth. With an abundance of clean springwater making its way to the distilleries, healthy grains glistening in the gentle sunlight, and a familial passion seeped down generations of distillers – the stage is indeed set for this unctuous drink to be born.

In the early years (circa 15th century) , every house had a miniature pot-still distillation apparatus that produced the house’s supply of aqua vitae. While the men worked in the farms to produce the grains, it were the ladies of the house that produced the spirit and used it intelligently when someone took ill. As the knowledge of this art grew, farmers turned towards the profession of distillation indefinitely. The agricultural scene in the Highlands was much more developed than in the Lowlands and so was the overall quality of produce and lifestyle. With distillation being introduced, Highland focused on smaller batch production, and lavishly double-distilled their spirits, taking them to a higher alcoholic strength, as they yielded lesser but richer (read: pricier) returns. Lowland distillers took the easy route of rushing through the process, producing a foul and weak spirit in contrast. By the end of the 18th century, these two styles were well-established, and Highland was the preferred one. Lowland fell so far behind that today it only features three operational distilleries. Towards the western frontier was the jungle of distilleries that mushroomed so close to each other that they not only shared the dividing walls but the neighbours could actually smell each other’s spirits from their own cellars. This was the land on either sides of the River Spey, unimaginatively  called, Speyside! Just falling short of the mainland  on the eastern edge was the Island of Islay. It was banned from using coal to roast the grain for malting and the wood was mostly too moist to burn easily with a reassuring crackle. Thus, they were left with only one option: to utilise the natural resource of ‘peat’, which was compressed vegetation that had died over millions of years ago to become a semi-carbonised fuel. It burns freely releasing mammoth fumes, imparting to the grains, and consequently to the whiskies, their key character of smokiness and pungency.

To simplify the matters for the untraveled, particular regions make a particular style of whisky. Or so goes the common adage. And it is true to some extent, for a label can often help a buyer decipher just what kind of a whisky he is in for. Various stories can be narrated attempting to explain as to why the landscape is divided in to Highland, Lowland, Speyside, and the Island of Islay and further be used to generalise their respective whisky styles, and while there does exist a sort of a taste template for each region, exceptions do exist, and that’s what makes it exciting.  Approaching them from a distance, Highland scotch are marked for their sweet, fruity, and citric appeal, Lowlands are light and gentle, Speysides may be appreciated for their floral and fragrant character, and Islay malts are identified by their smoky masculinity.  However, the key to how a scotch may taste rests upon four pillars – water it uses (after all a whisky is more water than alcohol), raw material (generally malted barley, its grade, and blend), distillation finesse (speed, quality, and size), and finally, the art of blending. 

That last one, blending, is the key to every whisky, or rather every spirit  we leisurely swig. It is also the one thing mired in much controversy in the Scotch world for it launches a debate about which is better – blended or single malts –  and has kept the two schools’ tempers raging. In geekspeak, a single malt whisky is made from a single grain, in this case malted barley, while blended whisky uses a blend of grains and cereals as its base. While single malts are the crown jewel of the distiller’s art, a master blender takes pride in meticulously crafting the blended whisky every year and making it taste just the same as its first batch even after decade. In the passing of the tradition from one generation to the next, the art has remained unaltered, but some have graduated to become the epitome of their regions. In the Highland, sweetness of Dalwhinnie, tight fruity and slightly tart charm of Glenmorangie and Ardmore, and the heaviness of Dalmore have established themselves as style icons of their respective profiles . Speyside has a web of distilleries producing a range of styles to satisfy every whisky type of connoisseur. While Glenfiddich and Glenlivet bear the flag of the fragrant, floral, light-bodied, easy-sipping whiskies, Glenfarclas, Balvenie, Macallan, and Cragganmore fill the richer, fruitier style cabinet in the collection. One travels to Islay looking for what all other whiskies fail to deliver, the love-it-or-leave-it ‘liquid cigar’ alikeness. While Ardberg, Caol Ila, Lagavulin, and Laphroaig are the bad boys of the region, producing the mouth-coating fumé style, Jura, Bruichladdich, and Bunnahabhain are the alter-ego, unpeated styles of whiskies. Bowmore and Talisker aim to please both the sides and do a fair job of it. Returning to the mainland to the least populated whisky area, Lowland is the home of Glenkinchie and Auchentoshan, which are generally considered light and gentle.  

It’s often said in connoisseur circles, “A drink makes you travel without requiring you to leave your armchair.” Scotch, after wine of course, does a handsome job of keeping that spirit alive. It is a produce of nature, crafted with the art of the distiller, nurtured in the hands of a wise blender, all combined and softened with the patience of the breathing barrels, till finally it is bottled and makes it journey to you, reaching your discerning palate only so to take you back to where it all began. It’s an experience worth the pause it evokes. No matter where it comes from, you’ll be happy to go there. 

 

First published in Times of India Luxpresso in Feb, 2014

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Blog TippleTalk

#TippleTalk – COVID-19 pandemic: Future of Fine Dining

From chefs and sommeliers to mixologists and servers, a large part of the fine dining experience is the human element. Remove that and what is left behind is barely a reflection of its grander stately version.

A few months ago, as I was enjoying my course of pasta before the mains were scheduled to arrive, the maître-d’hôte came along and generously drizzled my plate with truffles and parmesan cheese. Today, if the same were to happen, I’d give a silent shudder if the person wasn’t wearing rubber gloves. And even then, I’d most likely ask them to simply leave it at the table and let me do the garnishing myself. So much has changed in so little a period of time. The pandemic, in that sense, has set us back and moved us forward a 100 years simultaneously!

Noma, four-time world’s best restaurant, reopened as a burger and wine bar

In Europe, restaurants have started opening. Gone are the days of cosy bars where elbows rubbed. The term ‘can’t touch him/her with a barge pole’ is the norm for setting up social spaces today. Places have gone all-out inventive in trying to find ways to keep people feeling safe and secluded without losing too many covers. Acrylic enclosures, sliding dividers, smaller table settings, all this is being done to create a sense of letting people be isolated in a crowded space.

The paradox of it all makes home delivery sound like a much more convenient option. Just order your food home, call up your friends on Zoom (or Hangouts or MS Meeting, or whichever app you are all commonly using) and enjoy it as the next best way to socialise without the worries. Home delivery has truly been picking up and even the big five-stars are giving in to the demand. I still don’t feel that they have their pricing pegged right, but maybe over time, it will work itself out. And with WhatsApp allowing eight people on a video call, I think socialising over the net isn’t all that hard to do.

So that’s food and friends sorted, but what about the drinks? Well, with the home delivery of alcohol commencing, it makes the idea of staying in sound ever more lucrative. You can finally do it all from the comfort of an armchair.

The definition of fine dining is changing with pandemic hitting hospitality industry globally.

But what about fine dining, an experience which isn’t just about the food, drink and company, but also about the ambience and service? How will that fare going ahead? Will they, too, start delivering course-wise meals to home? But how is that fine dining if I am sitting at my own dining table? Also, who is serving me here and guiding me through the wine list, or preparing my aperitif of a peated whisky sour? From chefs to sommeliers, mixologists and servers, a large part of the fine dining experience is the human element.

Remove that and what is left behind is barely a reflection of its grander stately version. Bare-bones fine dining is an oxymoron and it just doesn’t work when we try to understand it out of context. Maybe the finer places could send the team home to cook and serve me, but where does that leave social distancing? And would I be able to afford that experience, considering how the drying up revenue streams means that my spending capacity already stands diminished compared to even a few weeks ago? If others feel the same, will there remain enough takers for the service to keep it afloat?

Hospitality sector is facing huge loses amid COVID – 19

Just before we went into lockdown, the team at Indian Accent shared the news with me that once again they were the top-rated Indian restaurant (climbing to number 13) in Asia’s 50 Best list. Alas, I never got around to sharing forth that information and, now, all I can do is sit and reminisce my last meal there. I certainly hope they (and others like them) will find novel ways to see themselves through these times.

In times today, when few eateries can live beyond their first year, my heart goes out to all those who have managed to stick around for longer, but are now faced with this very real scare of having to permanently shut doors. I don’t have any solutions to suggest, but let’s wait and watch how things pivot. The coronavirus may become a permanent bane for all of us, but if there’s one thing history has taught us it’s that there is no species more resilient than the homo sapiens.

Written by Magandeep SINGH
First published in Financial Express.

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Blog Conversations

Conversations with Indulge – Radhika Khandelwal

Chef Radhika started her career in Melbourne. After coming back to Delhi she started Ivy & Bean, where they (she and her partner) did Modern Australian food. But back in Melbourne the emphasis on local and seasonal produce really resonated with her and inspired her to open Fig & Maple. 

Here is her journey in her own words.
“I’m not going to say it has been easy. You meet all sorts of people and guests who will come with the weirdest requests. I’ve worked with a broken foot multiple times and then there are days you’re in the kitchen for 16 hours straight. It’s mad, it’s exhausting but at the end of the day, when you see people loving what you’ve created, you realise that’s it’s totally worth it.”

How to tell off a customer who orders a three-course meal 15 minutes before closing?

I’d respectfully tell them that the last orders have already been taken. If they insist or had to drive a long way to eat, I’d suggest some dishes that are available and can be prepared in a jiffy.

What is the one thing (tool, spice, ingredient) you could not live without?
Just one?

I can’t live without my knife, my Shun is very dear to me and please don’t make me pick just one ingredient. I really can’t!

What is your secret sauce?  / What behind-the-scenes secret can you tell us about your kitchen?

We have this little practice of naming a dish after the chef who comes up with it. Like we have a Tiger Chicken, it’s named after my Sous-Chef Sheru which literally means tiger!

What is your one guilty food pleasure that other chefs might frown upon?

There could be many but if I had to point one, I snack on lotus chips from my own kitchen 🤭 

If you could invite any three people, dead or alive, for dinner, who would they be and why?  

I’d invite Chef Dominique Crenn and myself. I don’t need a third person because I look upto her and I think I’d want to have a dinner with her all by myself to fangirl and to bounce off some ideas. 

What’s your favourite tipple at the end of a busy day?

Infused gin from my apothecary and tonic.

What is your advice to young professionals seeking a career in this field?

Work hard. There are no short cuts here and you can’t run away. If you work hard it shows, if you don’t and are being lazy, trust me that shows too. 

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Blog Conversations

Conversations with Indulge – Ravish Bhavnani

I did my bachelors in hospitality from Ihm Bhopal, moved to Melbourne in 2006, worked at a high end banquet for two years, moved on to do my first Ala Carte gig thereafter opened a cafe with chef Radhika Khandelwal in Melbourne in 2010. We ran that for 3 years before moving back to New Delhi in 2013 opened Ivy and bean in the same year in October and proceeded to open Fig & Maple with Chef Radhika Khandelwal in January 2017

Which is your favourite cuisine? Who does a good version of it, in India or elsewhere? 

My favourite cuisine would have to be Lankan and coastal Indian. There’s this really tiny place in Ahangama right on the main road run by a local family don’t remember its name but they did a fabulous fish thali

If you never became a chef, in what other ways would you have used your creativity?

If I wouldn’t have become a chef I might have become a pilot. I love planes and I love travelling.

Is there anything that diners should always order at your restaurant(s)?

The chefs waffle chicken with podi that chef Radhika put on the menu a couple of months back.

The saying goes ‘never trust a skinny chef’, what do you have to say about that? 

Hahahahha!! Maybe a very big reason I moved to the bar from the kitchen at Fig & Maple.

What’s your favourite tipple at the end of a busy day?

It would have to be a Boulevardier or a really, really cold lager.

What is your advice to young professionals seeking a career in this field?  

Keep your head down! Work hard. Most days you wouldn’t know what hit you but it’s all worth it in the end. Keep at it and never give up.

 

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Blog Conversations

Conversations with Indulge – Abhas Saxena

Abhas has been in the world of wines since over a decade and has served in various aspects of the wine industry but hotels/restaurants remain the major one. He is a Certified Sommelier from the Court of Master Sommeliers (among the first ones to have done it while working in India) and, more importantly, was the winner of the 10th Indian Sommelier Championship. Abhas has worked as the Chef Sommelier for a large hotel chain in India and has a deep understanding of the trade in the country. In his free time he is also an air-guitarist, rock and roll enthusiast, comics and cartoons buff, a lockdown chef (for now) and, the most daunting role of all, being BFF to hia still-not-a-year old daughter. 

How did you enter the world of wines and what inspired you?

I got into wines while I was pursuing my graduation. I never intended to go through with Hotel Management while growing up but when I joined a hotel school, I was quite certain that hotels was not my calling. Coming from Gujarat, I found the subject quite amusing and thought to myself that it could be a good option. I enjoyed the occasional tipples back in college so I figured might as well follow a career path where in I could ‘enjoy’ the job. All things led to me networking with the industry front-runners at the time. Eventually I got a break with Wine Society of India and then with Indulge. While working the ropes, I figured that working with wines was just not something I enjoyed but was rather a passion project for me. I eventually joined hotels (against my initial thought of never working in hotels) and started working with the Taj group. That was where my love affair with wines got as serious as it could. The more opportunities I got to learn, the more I understood about the subject, not just being about a beverage but a way of life wherein you get to study cultures/history/geography and so much more. That’s just how I figured that this was the rabbit hole I want to check the depth of.

Apart from wines what is the one thing you really want to introduce Indian guests to?

Having done some reading about the history of alcohol in India, it is amusing to know the kind of beverages we have made all along. They somehow have never become as popular or been considered discerning enough. I believe our homegrown local beverages like Mahua, Feni, Kesar Kasturi and many more if not straight up then maybe mixed in cocktails would be a refreshing change for connoisseurs. 

How has winning the Indian Sommelier Championship changed your life?

#Indsommchamp has been a fabulous experience for me. I got the chance to visit South Africa ,a country I had on my bucket list for a long time. But more than winning the competition I think the entire process of the competition where you see the industry coming together to celebrate the work we do and to supporting passions that people live is very rewarding. 

Given a chance to serve your favourite actor/ musician a wine, who would that be and what wine would it be?

This is a tough one. I would wanna’ have a wine encounter with Will Smith. I wonder if he would enjoy some late harvest wines from India...

What is the best thing about luxury hotels in India that can inspire the world?

Luxury hotels in India are unlike in other parts of the world. Our hotels are fairly people driven and are known for warmth over opulence (and we are known for our opulence extensively). I believe that Indian hospitality is the perfect mix of what money can buy and what it can’t. 

What is the most unique food and wine pairing you have seen/experienced?

The most unique pairing in my opinion is to match comfort food from various regional cuisines of India with not just wine. Like a Vada Pav with a Gruner Veltiner or Rajma Chawal with Rauchbier or Mysore Masala Dosa with a Champagne Cocktail. We don’t have it in our culture to enjoy food and alco-bev as a gastronomic experience. To perhaps promote that would be unique. 

What’s your favourite tipple at the end of a busy day?

I usually prefer to go with a lager or a half decent Scotch depending on weather and the company.

What qualities do you want a perfect manager to have?

A perfect manager first of all needs to be a people’s person (Both, for the team and the guests alike). Over and above that, I believe strongly that today anyone calling themselves a food and beverage professional must understand that a ‘professional’ of any field is considered to be better than the layman. So for a food and beverage professionals, they must be better than anyone in their know-how of their field. With the world travelling so often and internet giving access to information so easily it becomes difficult to be on top of the game. I guess this is where the game changer lies in becoming a better food and beverage professional and standing out in a crowd.

Apart from mastering wines, what other skills must a sommelier possess?

Sommellerie today is not just about wine but being a toastmaster/bon vivant/a story teller/jack of all trades. Just like kids today are going through courses that will give them jobs that don’t exist today, sommeliers are interacting with people from professions that they wouldnt have known to exist otherwise. To be able to connect with people from all walks of life, to be able to converse with people about their liking without being a master of the subject is what sommeliers today need to do. The skills required by a sommelier today are not just limited to them being beverage geeks or having outstanding taste buds but for a restaurant to use a sommelier well, the sommelier should to be able to sell. It’s just a matter of what to whom. 

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Blog TippleTalk

#TippleTalk – India and the Michelin

Recently, I was privy to a very finely curated meal by the German Sühring Twins who run Bangkok’s top table. The two had been flown down courtesy of Raaj ‘Sanguine’ Sanghvi and they set up camp at The Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi, from where they’d dole out a few very coveted meals (thank you German Tourism for the gracious invite). Definitely worth a trip to Bangkok for an encore. Sadly such experiences are few and far between because, in spite of all our rich cuisines and chefs, India is yet to go under the Michelin magnifying glass, while the rest of Asia gets dotted with stars-like constellations.

Sühring showcases the best of modern German fare inspired by childhood memories, family recipes.

But even before the Michelins, Routards and Zagats can attack our outlets, the chefs and servers have the toughest challenge to contend with the Indian consumer. Few species in the organic world act as entitled. Here are a few peeves that I hold no reservations against them.

Relativity of Time

Reservations merely indicate one’s intent to turn up with no bearing on what time they’ll actually arrive. But they will still stake claim to the best seats in the house with threats to call up the owners, landlord, and supreme overlord. Coming late means they ruin not just their experience but even for those scheduled to arrive after, who will then resort to their own set of threats. Till time travel can be invented. Indian restaurants will not find a way around this.

Bespoke Meals

It isn’t enough to be fed by coveted chefs and their teams, we have to sprinkle it with extras and exclusions so that by the end, any resemblance to the original menu is purely coincidental.

If ‘no onion and garlic’ to ‘chicken only’ weren’t bad enough obstacles to tackle, we now have a severe case of Americanitis in the forms of ‘no gluten’, ‘no carbs’, and nonsensical diets: even the Paleo man would have eaten better if they’d have invented fire. So chefs, park your imaginations and creativity at home and get ready to serve out meals no better than in a cafeteria.

Entitlement

This is, at best, a brown version of white privilege. At its worst, it includes people who are self-proclaimed foodies and bloggers, especially those with some online affiliation. They want special promotions, sharing portions, one into two and two into ‘parcel it for home’ notions, they want discounts, and photos of every plate put in front of them. This distracts not only other diners but even the chef who is now reduced to a personal Johnnie running errands for someone on an ego trip.

Discounts

Art of plating by Eleven Madison Park

An Indian diner will overeat to the point of being sick if it gets him/her a discount. Between the various apps that offer some form of lure or another (a free dish, a glass of wine, etc.), restaurants are left battling even higher food costs. As a result, they scale back the pork and lamb, leaving us the bland ubiquitous chicken as the only option. Same with exotic fish and seafood for all we have is the bottom-feeding catfish Basa as the staple, calling it the paneer of the sea world would be undue praise! Hard to make imagination fly with such.

Hence my point that earning Michelin stars might be tough but catering to the Indian clientele is even tougher. So, Indian restaurateurs, if you want to step away from the meaningless clutter of smug eateries and do something truly nouveau and worthwhile, apply for immigration, move to anywhere else in the world and do it there; you can earn your stars serving proper beef and other meats, wine will be cheap and aplenty. Even the average Indian diner, is more soberly behaved abroad. And then maybe we can request Raaj to fly you in for a special pop-up meal!
The writer is a sommelier.

This article originally appeared in The New Indian Express

mail@magandeepsingh.com

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Blog Conversations

Conversations With Indulge – Udit Maheshwari

We got to know and work with Udit in certain projects and it gave us an insight into how his mind works and just how infectious his love for all things gastronomic is. Needless to say a lot of wine bottles were uncorked in the nurturing of this relationship. So here are a few questions answered by Udit in his inimitable sincere and humble manner.

My journey in this industry has been a really unusual one. I studied law & worked here and there for a couple of years. Not being entirely happy with what I was doing, I decided to pursue the one thing that I loved – food. I pursued the Grande Diplome from Le Cordon Bleu in London where I was trained in the hot kitchen & patisserie.

I have been working with Café Lota & the Melting Pot Food Company for 6 years now & have recently set up a restaurant in Aerocity called Monsoon. Monsoon celebrates regional Indian food & produce along with some great wines & beers.

What inspired you to become a chef?

The obsession with food. I was obsessed with it even before I joined the industry. I even remember what I ate when I was 4 or 5 year old. Someone told me that you should only do something that you are really passionate about. That made me think that food was something that I was really obsessed with & should pursue a career in it.

What’s the ideology behind your recipes?

Firstly, it has to be delicious. Second, it has to be something out of the usual. Third, it has to be well balanced. If the primary flavour is sour, it has to be balanced with something sweet. There should be a range of flavours & textures in each dish.

The guiding path for my recipes is using obscure & long lost ingredients, cooking techniques etc.

What’s the most unique dish/ingredient you have tasted?

There was a green coloured, almost ‘barfi’ kind of sweet dish that I had eaten in Langkawi in Malaysia. It was a dessert made from potato!

This was sometime in 2009.

Chitterlings

I also had this dish in Paris. It’s called ‘Chitterling’. I confused it for a ‘chipolata’. Chitterling is basically a kind of sausage made with a pig’s intestine lining & stuffed with chopped up pig’s intestine. Even eating it with a whole lot of moutarde, it got the better of me.

Monkfish, rhubarb (had never seen or heard of it in India), rabbit, venison, foie gras.

Is there a dish/ingredient chef Udit hates?

Chef Udit’s has revived unexplored Indian ingredients in his recipes.

As far as ingredients are concerned, I absolutely hate methi dana. I cringe every time I bite on one. I also don’t like ‘Daal baati’. Even though I am a Marwari and it’s made at home quite often, there’s always something else that’s made for me because I just won’t eat it

Who is your role model?

I don’t have any role models as such. But Chef Manish Mehrotra is really cool! It is really admirable that someone who had never worked with Indian food has done such a great job of reinventing it.

Which is your dream restaurant or chef to work with?

Would love to work with Chef Thomas Zacharias at The Bombay Canteen

But also having seen David Chang’s shows and reading about Momofuku, I would give an arm & a leg to work with him & pick his brains about food.

How relevant is beverage knowledge for an aspiring chef?

In today’s market & scenario, its extremely important. Guests these days are increasingly looking for a holistic experience and beverages are a very important part of it.

Chefs often pay attention to only food and not much to beverages. Good beverage pairing is what will set great restaurants apart from the good.

What is your favourite tipple at the end of a busy day?

Whisky sour, in any form. For me, there can never be a bad one.

What is your advice to young professionals seeking employment in the kitchen space?

I see a lot of youngsters looking at only the romantic things in the industry. But, like everything, its not all romantic. There is a lot of hard work & grind that you have to do. Kitchen work is mostly very monotonous & repetitive. Do it only if you are really passionate. If you aren’t, you won’t last.

Twist to regional Indian authentic cuisine

One more thing that I would say is that avoid being gimmicky with your food. Foams, smoke, etc. will only get you this far. Customers can often see through the gimmicks. First ensure that your food is delicious, the gimmicks can come later. And please don’t modernise dishes just  for the sake of it. If the contemporised version of the dish isn’t better than the original, there’s no point in doing it.

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Blog TippleTalk

#TippleTalk – Wines: Value & Worth

Sometime back, a bottle of German wine sold for an astounding price of €12,000! It was high by all expectations, from previous auction prices to the winemaker’s expectations. And yet, somewhere in this world is a smug Chinese billionaire sitting pretty waiting for this bottle to turn up, one which he will possibly uncork for some very special occasion — or the very uncorking would deem it a special occasion — and go on to enjoy its €16 per ml of goodness’s worth in some rather exalting company.

Domaine de la Romanee Conti – One of the most expensive wine on the planet

Would he know the difference if I switched bottles on him and served him a lesser wine, one that say only costs €8/ml? It would still amount to a staggering €6000 for a bottle but would his joy be precisely halved? Would he know the difference? Would be able to detect? Would anyone?

All these questions are standard in the wine community. With demand far outstripping supply, wine is faster becoming what it traditionally fought to not be perceived as: a drink for the uber-rich who are willing to pay exorbitant sums for it, so much so that the joy of acquisition is manifold greater than perhaps the pleasure that any elixir could leave on ones’ lips. In other words, is any top wine worth the money one is expected to pay for it anymore?A certain wine eminent was notorious for starting his evenings by serving his guests a top estate wine in cheap stubby wine glasses and then following it up with a single-digit supermarket quaffer served in exquisite handmade mouth-blown crystalware. The invitees invariably veered towards the second wine, appreciating its fineness to no ends while deriding the lack of subtlety in the former. Imagine their chagrin when they were made to realise that what they had enjoyed cost a fraction of the one they had collectively written off. Was it really that the wine was not as good or did the glasses play one on our senses?

Does a wine become expensive because it is good or is it good because the price decrees so?

So who do we trust: our senses or what the label indicates, more appropriately, the price label? Does a wine become expensive because it is good or is it good because the price decrees so? And just how good really is good and beyond a certain point, can a wine ever justify the astronomical price it can command at auctions and the likes?

Clearly, beyond a certain point, the value of a wine does not equal its worth and vice versa. But exactly at what price does this happen that a wine stops being value-for-money? Is it a fixed amount or more based on one’s comfort purchase zone and anything that tends to tip into the not justifiable region? By such logic, the billionaire in the example above is justification enough for the five-digit bottle acquisition.

Here is the simple ‘Zen’ way to approach this conundrum: the enjoyment of a wine isn’t limited to one of our faculties. It’s a multi-sensory experience and in that, it lies largely in the subjective zone. Which means that there is no definite price or value that can be attributed to a wine. A bottle is worth not what you pay for it but the value it adds to your pleasure quotient. In such then, acquiring a pricey bottle simply for the bragging rights is justified too, as long as it pleases the pursuer. Sure it reeks of a ‘nouveau riche’ culture that is utterly shallow and yet deeply hollow but everybody has to have their first sip at some point before they can grow to like it.

And then, think about the winemaker: given the fixed parcel of nature that s/he is fortunate to work with, there is only that much wine s/he can produce. To preserve quality means to limit production  which means that the only way to deal with increasing costs and the general consequences of inflation is to inflate prices. And as more people are joining the wine appreciation club, there are more hands vying for those precious few bottles. The rising price is a clear sign of the increasing popularity of a wine that allows it to command such prices. In other words, if you made an average wine and pegged it at a high price, eventually people would see through it and you will be out of business. But till such point, if marketing is the only skill one has in their armoury, then there are many ways to achieve instant fame and ridiculously high evaluation, and before you know it, a whole new breed of aficionados will be running amok trying to acquire this latest qualifier for the most coveted and expensive wine in the world.

Instead of finding an equation to justify value and worth, simply look out for new wine regions.

So have I answered my own question, not really. Value and worth can never be equated and for the little moment in time when the two intersect, it becomes the best time to enjoy those wines. The most famous wine regions of the world sadly passed that point almost over a century ago and today it is for us to discover new areas that pack the same potential but at a more pocket-friendly price point. In other words, instead of finding an equation to justify value and worth, simply look out for new wine regions.

Happy hunting and cheers!