BENGALURU: Food and beverage industry in Bengaluru is going through an exciting phase. Acceptance of global cuisine is on an all-time high, chefs are pushing their creative and artistic boundaries with experiments like never before and there is a new trend evolving every day. The modern-day trends are whacky, fresh and keep the diners excited. One such trend is ‘role reversal’.
Restaurants are increasingly using salt, spices, chillies, herbs and alcohol in the desserts. On the other side, fruits, chocolates, wine and beer are being used in the savoury dishes. It is a complete role reversal here. Some glaring examples of city-based restaurants using this trend are Watson’s as they use Old Monk in their Kokum cheesecake and 1Q1 as they use dark Belgium chocolate in their Japanese Kare Rice and buttermilk sorbet in their deconstructed apple pie.
Chef Vikas Seth takes it to next level with his smoked salmon ice cream lolly at Embassy Blvd Club and jalapeno mango ice cream nachos at Sanchez. Prateek Thakker, a city-based food blogger, says, “With the increased exposure to global cuisines and acceptance of world food, it was just about time that people started experimenting with new ingredients. Palates have changed and the consumers are accepting to try unique foods and flavours. It is a great concept to bring savoury dishes with ingredients traditional to desserts and vice versa. It opens up avenues for a lot of new concepts.”
It is interesting to understand the need to break the traditional approach and get on with role reversal. Daniel Koshy, executive chef, JW Marriot Hotel Bengaluru, reasons it by saying that the chefs want a bigger canvas to play. He says, “This has led to breaking of the traditional approach to cooking and the use of new ingredients in the search of that exclusive dish which would be their star. It involves the process of analysing flavour, manipulating it through cooking techniques, understanding culinary ingredients and finally creating something, which is visually outstanding.”
Chef Ashley D’Souza, head of Culinary at Watson’s, says clientele today are aware of what is available in the rest of the world either through their travels or global shows such as MasterChef Australia which significantly influence such trends. Chef Gaurav Gidwani, director, F&B, Corum Hospitality, believes that the role reversal trend is here to stay. He adds, “Certain blends created with this role reversal have become legends such as the salted caramel and use of herbs in certain cocktails. With constant R&D and new offerings to guest, the acceptability will always be there. It is a beautiful way to awaken the culinary sense when there is a burst of different interesting flavours on your pallet.” However, it cannot be a forced amalgamation as it could be more of a miss than a hit then, says Gaurav.