It's difficult to be in the same room with gastronomic mavericks Chef Gordon Ramsay, Herbert Berger, and Chef Mark Hix and not imbibe some part of their culinary magic. Chef Ashay Dhopatkar brought a sprinkling of their culinary enchantment back home after working under them at various restaurants. Gathering every conceivable learning he could from them, he introduced Arq Mithai, which he launched with Chef Neha Lakhani. It involves the creative amalgamation of the traditional mithai-making techniques with a new-age flavour profile.
“The Malterine Marmalade has sweet and citric flavours of tangerine and malta orange folded into Gurbandi Almond Paste. The Besan Truffle is a beautiful sweet, with dark Belgian chocolate truffle encased in a classic grandma style besan laddoo made with pure Gir cow ghee,” says Dhopatkar, lists two examples for their East-meets-West desserts.
A few of their specials stretch to Cashew Raspy, slow-kneaded Goan cashew and khoya with homemade Raspberry Coulis. In Caramel Pedha, the ‘Mathura Ka Pedha’ has been filled with caramel and the gooey dulce de leche confection from Latin America. Parfi blends pure Peshawari pistachios and homemade khoya made with sustainable granulated sugar. Hazel is homemade khoya enrobed in rich Belgian chocolate and rolled in hazelnut Paillete Feuilletine, a French confectionary item.
“We wanted to put Indian traditions and a collective French nuance in a high-end artisanal product,” says Lakhani, who studied at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa to learn French pastry skills and use these for her business back home. As for Dhopatkar, who graduated from the Institute of Hotel Management, Goa, before moving to the UK for a post-graduation in Hospitality Administration, he studied European Cooking at the Hammersmith & West London College of Culinary Arts.
Though many in India have a sweet tooth, Arq Mithai launched at a time when consciousness regarding health has become a matter of public discourse. Sugar has come under the scanner far too many times in the recent past, as the health debate sores about its detrimentality. “I understand the concern, but Arq Mithai is comparatively less sweet than market standards. We have balanced out sugar with citric flavours of fruits and acid content of chocolates. In fact, we only use ghee keeping the health debate in mind. We’ve also incorporated lots of seeds, nolen gur and nuts to up the nutritional value,” explains Dhopatkar, biting into his favourite Nani’s Garden Seed Cress, a mithai made of real tender coconut water, cress seed and fresh gaggery.