His kitchen resembles a laboratory. Sodium alginate in one corner, xanthan gum in another. Digital scales, pipettes and dehydrators kept close to the main prep station, and infusion siphon placed closely to all the other paraphernalia, including spherification moulds and an alcohol burner. In the middle of it all stands Manish Sharma, co-founder of the newly launched restaurant called Molecule, in Gurgaon that he’s launched with Varun Puri and Vivek Bhargava. He doesn’t know how to use any of it, but he sure knows how to motivate his chefs to create gorgeous plates out of some of these complex-looking apparatus.
Even though according to the God of molecular gastronomy, British celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal, the cuisine is dead, Sharma strongly believes otherwise. According to him, it’s picking up in India, especially Delhi, and that’s exactly the reason why he introduced a concept restaurant that represents this scientific method of cooking. “Molecular gastronomy blends physics and chemistry to transform the tastes and textures of food, borrowing tools from a science lab and ingredients from the food industry. As it seeks to investigate and explain the chemical reasons behind the transformation of ingredients, as well as the social, artistic and technical components of culinary and gastronomy phenomena, it requires a good balance of left and right brain thinking,” says the restaurateur.
Lending his opinions outside of the kitchen space too, Sharma had a huge say in décor matters. The art installations, masks and artifacts prove to be attractive features. And so does the air bar.
With close to 80 per cent of the menu comprising progressive world cuisine, the chefs have been trained specially to focus on every little aspect of preparing and platting. The Air Bread, a modern technique of baking a bread stuffed with four kinds of cheese, sauces and achari chicken or paneer tikka with green chilly caviars, has been a hit at the restaurant. “The puchka shots come in five different colours and flavours of water that’ve been put in test tubes, served with syringes filled with imli and mint chutney, accompanied with smokey hues. Veg Biryani Arancini is a fusion dish with Indian and Italian influences. Served with eggplant salan creme, with pink pepper corn and raita sphere, it’s appealing to many guests,” says Sharma. Similarly, the Dragon Smoke Popcorn is presented with a choice of three flavours in liquid nitrogen. The rasmalai is completed with liquid nitrogen and nitrogen oxide, which again makes it an unusual affair. “One must try Oak Moss Vapour, Liquid Pea Sphere and Pisco Marshmallow Cocktails, in addition to a plethora of other options. One thing is for sure, you’ll not step out disappointed,” says Sharma.