The World, An Oyster Soup

or those who harbour the dream to, when all is finally said and done, open a cafe, that castle in the air’s got a lot closer to becoming grounded in reality. If you should happen to be in Chennai, for instance, the foodies will recommend that you give the old hotspots a miss and head over to Sandy’s Chocolate Laboratory for an unusual spread. In Delhi, you might be directed to the sprightly new Elma’s Tea Room and Bakery for a quaint evening, and later perhaps, a stopover next door at The Living Room’s innovative ‘Aerobics disco night’ to round off the day. Certainly a departure from the regular fare one is used to sampling while dining out—with one striking commonality: all these joints are run by young food entrepreneurs. And the good news is that this is a steadily growing breed, with young chefs and restaurateurs astute in livening up the eating out experience.

Ankit Mohan Sethi and Neha Majithia, both 26, are part of this pack. The duo set up My Kind of Street Cafe in Delhi’s conservative Lajpat Nagar a few months ago amidst a lane full of chhola bhaturawallahs. Their diner sets itself apart right at the doorstep, with a bright yellow door leading into cheerful interiors, and a quirky ‘do-it-yourself’ menu. “This is our first cafe and we wanted to know the nuts and bolts of how to set one up from scratch. So we sourced everything ourselves. Plus, we wanted to create a personal atmosphere, we know most of our customers by name,” says Majithia. It’s a kind of personalisation common to those in the young generation who venture into the dining business: for them, making a fast buck is secondary to sharing their love for food with others. In a sense, many of them point out, setting up an eatery can now be likened to making a painting: it is a creative process, not a cut-and-dried business anymore. Down in Chennai, 26-year-old Sandesh Reddy’s Sandy’s Chocolate Lab grew out of a childhood passion for baking, while his Andhra-style fine dining Maya reflects the culture of his background. “My restaurants are spaces to express myself. At Sandy’s, the desserts are a reflection of what I like to eat; at Maya, it is strictly my interpretation of Andhra food. I do not claim it to be authentic,” he says.

Bountiful Varun Tuli, 29, owns the New Delhi-based Yum Yum Tree diner. (Photograph by Jitender Gupta)

nd, of course, meeting the young enthusiasts halfway is the liberated Indian foodie: who would not miss an episode of Masterchef Australia; who tweets about checking out a new cafe in India that looked just like the one he dined at in Paris; who is quite willing to be surprised at the table. The menu that lists offbeat fare to the tune of white chocolate-infused lasagne, California roll ‘sushi’, or ravioli with slow-cooked bathua is an instant winner. “Nobody had expected that it’d be the young clientele that would be calling the shots, that they will set the agenda. But 50 per cent of my clientele is young,” says popular Delhi diner Yum Yum Tree’s owner Varun Tuli, 29, who is quickly making a name in the catering circuit as well, under his brand Food Inc. Being ‘gimmicky’ does not work, he says, you must put out a special, if experimental, dish that will give people something to talk about. Well-packaged buffets like his Sunday brunch, Dimsum lunches, and Sushi and beer evenings give him an edge. His mantra: focus on a few specialties rather than going in for an exhaustive menu. On another plane, giving curious diners an exclusive experience is what inspired Mumbai-based trio Azeem Zainulbhai (29), Nachiket Shetye (30) and Mangal Dalal (28), to bring Restaurant Week—a global event where high-end restaurants offer a fixed menu at relatively affordable prices—to India. “It isn’t a full-time business since we have day jobs, but we do it for the love of food. The idea is to connect people to restaurants and to showcase a certain type of dining experience,” they say. The concept has taken off rather well: Restaurant Week India now takes place twice a year, with a new city being added to the list each time.

The idea of being involved with food, on the other hand, has attained a sort of ‘cool’ quotient. “Being a chef is now seen as an alternative occupation, a departure from the usual MBA or a law degree,” says food consultant and veteran restaurateur Marut Sikka. “As for young people setting up restaurants, it’s a welcome addition to the industry, though I’d wonder about their sustainability model.” Yet for this new generation, with a burgeoning eating out culture, the risk of investing their savings and a bit of borrowed money into that dream eatery seems worth it. And this breed of restaurateurs, who have already tasted success, is grounded, self-assured and careful about not getting ahead of itself. “Till I get the model just right by standardising Yum Yum Tree, I will not wildly expand,” remarks Tuli. What works for them is a keen sense of what is missing in the foodscape, and not falling into the more-of-the-same-thing trap. After all, a large share of their clientele are also people like them, both in age and mindset. Say Sethi and Majithia, “Our idea is to look out for what a street in Delhi may require and fill that gap—one might need a bakery, the other a cafe.” At Sandy’s, Reddy is in talks to open outlets in the US, where, according to him, there is more ground to experiment. “In Chennai, people are not all that willing to spend a lot of money on experimenting with eating out. Yet, people here have a sweet tooth, so our desserts do really well, even if they are expensive,” he says. He has no secrets, Reddy says swiftly, explaining how chocolate is just another ingredient in his kitchen, like salt and pepper, and certainly not an attention-grabbing tactic. In Mumbai, what Arpana Gvalani thought the city lacked was a ‘healthy’ junk food joint. So she opened, with a partner, Gostana, a small but successful burger joint, where you can gorge, guilt-free, on junk food. “People want fast food, and it does not have to be unhealthy. We use oil-free mayonnaise, multi-grain bread, and healthy stuffing. Yet, it has to taste good too,” she says.

For proof of how India’s dining culture is changing, head on over to Delhi’s Hauz Khas Village, a charming urban ghetto that till some time ago was a hub for designer boutiques, but is quickly turning into a cultural hotspot. Of late, a slew of restaurants have opened here, all started by young foodies who are looking to create a casual, offbeat space for fellow foodies. For instance, Gautam Aurora, 34, set up The Living Room a few years ago, a restaurant-cum-lounge styled like a quirky multi-level living room. With his wife Smita, he recently opened another place next door, Elma’s Tea Room, Cakes and Bakery that transports you to another era. “Hauz Khas Village is an experimental ground for me. I am not technically a businessman, but having grown up in the UK, and travelled world over, I wanted to bring to this place everything I have ever experienced. In the pipeline is a deli in the same area, plus a small cinema and a restaurant attached to it,” he says.

Aspiring entrepreneurs might take a leaf out of the book of Riyaaz Amlani, who at 36, already has 31 restaurants to his name, including the Mocha cafe chain. “I’ve always questioned conventional dining,” he says. “Chefs are taken more seriously today, and I’m trying to create a platform for young chefs as well.” Chef Manu Chandra at the Olive restaurant chain is a good example. At 31, Chandra is executive chef at three Olive outlets, jet-setting between them constantly; his latest passion is “to use as many indigenous ingredients as possible”. Like him, there are many young chefs carving out a niche for themselves, a few even attaining celebrityhood. Do you sniff anything interesting simmering just around the corner?

From the lab Courtesy: Sandesh Reddy, 26. (Photograph by R.A. Chandroo)

Molten Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

(Makes 4 large or 6 small ramekins)

• 4 eggs (2 yolks and 2 whole eggs)
• 250 gms dark chocolate (the best quality you can find with a minimum of 55 per cent cocoa content)
• 200 gms of unsalted butter
• 5 gms of salt
• 40 gms of flour
• 125 gms of sugar
• Extra butter, flour to dust ramekins

Method:

• Melt the butter and chocolate together. Add the sugar and mix till it is partially dissolved. Add the eggs into this mixture, stir well.
• Sift flour and salt into the mixture and fold it in. Grease and dust ramekins and pour the chocolate mixture into it, cool and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat an oven to 220ºC. Bake the mixture for 7 minutes or till a crust begins to form and the centre is still wobbly to the touch. Cool and run a knife around the edge to demould. You can serve it with custard, clotted cream or ice cream.