BENGALURU: Wood fire, freshly-plucked vegetables and fruits, native meats and eggs, solar roof panels, a harvest-driven menu and culinary folktales shared around a chef’s table are hallmarks at Farmlore, which recently opened on the edge of Bengaluru city. Designed by Prateek Sabharwal of Creatomy, this idyllic 18-seater restaurant sits within a 37-acre farmland, lush with trees sprouting chickoo, mango, coconut, banana, brinjal, radish, carrot and leafy greens.
Beyond the imposing wooden entrance door, the contemporary and Instagram-friendly restaurant interiors blend seamlessly with the farm environment. Colourful artwork by Philippines artist Albert John Mallari takes centre stage, drawing inspiration from Karnataka’s produce and traditions, while fusing the state regions in a kaleidoscopic collage. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows visually bring the outdoors inside, olive green chairs match the foliage outside and striking white quartz stone table tops form a perfect backdrop to accentuate the food and tableware by Cutipol and Worktree.
It has taken a few years of patience, perseverance and food experimentation for Farmlore founder, Kaushik Raju, and co-founder and chef-patron, Johnson Ebenezer, to see their locavore philosophies spring to life, which melds modern techniques with forgotten traditions. Head chef Mythrayie Iyer and junior sous chef Avinnash Vishaal form the core group of four who ideate, research, forage, cook, ferment and serve a farm-dictated meal five days a week at lunch and dinner.
There is no fixed menu and there are no dish names. But, there are ingredients that the chefs creatively adapt to whip up a visual and flavourful feast which forms part of the five-course and 10-course dining ritual. It’ll include jackfruit, jamun, quail, gongura, Mangalore prawns, corn, coriander bolts, Bannur lamb, moringa, ragi, Hallikar cow milk, duck, Kollam rice, huli soppu, Malabar oysters, Giriraja eggs, Teja chillies, joni bella, Mandya butter, Coorg chocolate and sanikatta salt. The menu keeps changing around seasonality, and a few recipes are named and retained if they become crowd favourites.
The food cooks in wood-fired ovens and pits with the fire generated from pruned mango woods. This supports the sustainability quotient and adds rich character to all the recipes. Hydroponic tents house the daily produce using traditional farming methods, and solar panels supply the power source to reduce the carbon footprint. Waste management, energy conservation and eco-friendly practices add to the philosophy at Farmlore.
While the table arrangements in the restaurant exude an intimate setting, our favourite seats in the house are around The Pass, a chef’s table for six, from where you can see the kitchen team up close as they unfold locavore tales around each delicious dish.
Getting there
Farmlore, Survey No.67, Sathanur Village, Bagalur Post, Bengaluru
Open Wednesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner
Rs 3000 for a five-course tasting menu available for weekday lunch & Rs 5000 for a ten-course tasting menu
By reservations only
www.farmlore.in
Aslam Gafoor
(The author is a Bengaluru-based hospitality professional, food lover and travel enthusiast)