Chef Manish Mehrotra’s Indian Accent (IA) has put India on the world gastronomy map. But to be fair it isn’t the only one. There are many places to eat around the country which feature on many international guides. These eateries are definitely representative of the diversity that is Indian food. But IA has achieved what no other has managed to so far—revisiting Indian food in a manner that manages to be Western and Indian at the same time.
Again, redactors will shout out a dozen names of Indian eateries from LA to Bangkok via London which have excelled at precisely this, but none of those places are in India. Which means they cater to a very different clientele. Indians visit them too but they aren’t the regular customers of those places so to speak. To serve an Indian audience every now and then with a brand of quirky and creative Indian food is very doable, but to run a full-service restaurant in India day after day and to keep it packed with local clients spanning a vast diaspora, which comes to be fed and not merely entertained, is truly a feat.
Even if a hundred other similar eateries grow on the scene, IA will remain special and unique as the first of its kind. Chef Manish Mehrotra is among the most humble beings I know. He lets his talent do all the talking preferring to stay somewhat behind the scenes. His trademark humility is reflected in Chef Shantanu Mehrotra who too takes skilled-yet-subtle to a whole new level of epicurean Zen. Between the two, they make a formidable team. While Shantanu ensures things are always shipshape at IA, it gives Manish the wings he needs to take off and soar, be it opening the next IA in another global city or concocting a new menu for the restaurant.
How does a place so highly rated—the highest rated Indian restaurant ever for that matter—manage to keep things fresh yet nostalgic at the same time? What is a good way to go for a restaurant that has won every possible award at least twice? Do they stick with the same menu and keep serving up the winning dishes day in day out, year after year (works for Din Tai Fung, Tim Ho Wan, and other places) or do they innovate constantly and put out a new bill of fare every season knowing well that they risk losing a significant chunk of their client?
When IA ditched its famous Foie Gras stuffed Galouti, it was the boldest move in haute F&B. Here was a winner of a dish, which had people lining up regularly, and yet it was dropped. Manish wanted to challenge himself instead of resting on his laurels. Recently, with much anticipation and curiosity, I went to try the new menu at IA. I won’t elaborate on all the dishes here—as always, some were more memorable than others—but suffice to say that IA has managed to reinvent itself and I very much like this update.
The cuisine remains quintessentially Indian and yet manages to merge eclectic flavours and textures, memories and curiosities so seamlessly that the experience is not just engaging but also enriching. Please be prepared to be regaled and leave the calorie counter at home. What is harder than building the finest restaurant that India has ever had? To keep it going at the same level consistently! Hats off to the IA team for making it such a pleasurable rediscovery every time.
The writer is a sommelier. mail@magandeepsingh.com