Molten Magic

A simple dish with roots in the Swiss culture of community eating,a traditional fondue (French for ‘melted’) is made of a cheese-based sauce and served with bits of breads and meat that are dipped in using long-stemmed forks. The molten cheese makes the dish ideal for winters,though a chocolate variant is just as popular. However,in Mumbai,where one cannot quite make sense of the various seasons,fondues are relished throughout the year and restaurants like The Society,Out of the Blue in Bandra and Hyatt Regency’s Italian restaurant Stax serve a variety all year round. And Khar’s Cafe Mangii,which has an ongoing fondue festival currently,too,has decided to accomodate it in it’s chiefly Italian menu.

Fondues may be gaining ground now but Abhijeet Shembekar,the manager of Out of the Blue,Bandra,says that until a few years ago,most Indians didn’t have the palate for the cheese-based main course dish and ordered it as a starter instead. “But exposure to a variety of cheeses through Italian cuisine and international travel has helped sensitise the Indian palate to fondues,” he explains.

At Stax,their tomato fondue is still served as an accompaniment to other dishes. Keeping it authentically Italian,chef Alessio Banchero prepares it by adding diced tomatoes to olive oil and letting it simmer till the flavours have seeped into the oil. “But since Indians may not be particularly open to plainly dipping their bread into the mixture for main course and especially in Mumbai where the weather is rather sultry,we serve it along with other maincourse dishes,like crusted chicken breast.

The shift in the palate may be certain but it has been gradual,and as happens with most new cuisines,many restaurants have had to Indianise the fondue. Out of the Blue has at least half-a-dozen flavours of which most have been localised by adding ingredients like pepper or tomato to the cheese in order to neutralise the bitterness of the cheese. The Society,upon feedback from their guests who found the brie cheese too strong-flavoured,swiched to processed cheddar.

Chef Krishna Khetle of Café Mangii points out that it’s the simplicity of the traditional fondue that lends it to experimentation and hence the increasing popularity. “So I have created options by adding pine nuts and chicken strips or jalapeno,peppers and white wine to the cheese or may be mixing different cheese,like Gorgonzola,cheddar and brie,” he says.

Out of the Blue’s Desi Fondue — a Mughalai makhni-like gravy served with bits of steamed vegetables,breads or chunks of grilled cottage cheese — is the most popular of the lot. “Guests across age groups instantly take a liking to it,” explains chef Sheelchand Rajput who says he invented it by mistake one day.

The Society has introduced their DIY variety where semi-cooked or steamed pieces of meat and seafood are served alongside a boiling but covered pot of oil and a variety of of sauces like tandoori,Indian curry and Thousand Island. The guest is supposed to dip the accompaniment in the oil till mildly fried and then top it up with the sauce of their choice.

However,dessert fondues still remain a rather unexperimented area. “But most restaurants will do it on demand. You can add hazelnut,a dash of cognac or nuts. And fondues are one continental dish that is originally Jain,” Shembekar laughs.