Pune Inc: from canteen boy to master chef, how food wiz behind Flow is making people rethink European and Indian cuisine

“To this day, the thing that gives me great pleasure is when something comes out of my kitchen and my guest has the first bite of it. The expression tells me whether he likes that dish. That satisfaction of serving a good meal is fuel for me.”

The food business would also give Ganorkar an understanding of accounts, raw material sourcing and customer preferences.

Ganorkar went on to master culinary arts, securing the first grade in Maharashtra at the Minimum Competency Vocational Courses (MCVC), getting absorbed by leading hotels – until, last year, he opened his own place that would bring together his experiences, learnings and ideas into a cutting-edge concept menu.

Restaurants experimenting with cuisines lean heavily on a chef’s expertise to make business sense – and Flow has successfully achieved operational break-even. It will be taking things another notch in December to celebrate its first anniversary.

Under an atmospheric amoeba-shaped ceiling light, customers at Flow are served cocktails such as Pista Pop Off, an unusual experiment of pista and brandy that is topping its charts. The food menu, likewise, is a modern combination of Indian and European cuisines, flavours from both lands amalgamated to make good sense.

Nalli Nihari with saffron risotto, which is slow-cooked lamb shank Nalli Nihari with a classic Italian Saffron Risotto, or Polenta Tikki Chaat, a street-style chaat that is elevated with polenta, an Italian maize flour that brings an extra crunch to the tikki, or blue cheese naan – some of the highlights of Flow’s menu are both familiar and not.

“We take a technique or ingredient of Indian cuisine and combine it with a European cooking method, or take a European food ingredient and cook it our way keeping in mind that, at the end of the day, we want to give a simple, soulful but memorable experience to the guest,” says Ganorkar.

Flow has two other investors besides Ganorkar: Nivedita Atre, the Founder and Owner of the FC Road’s quirky Cafe Kathaa, where one can find fusion cuisine and culture, and Varun Sathe, an automobile photographer and founder of The Photo Company Studio.

People open to experiments in food now

Pune has become experimental with eating out after Covid, with clients willing to pay for a sourdough pizza, hand-rolled pasta or the tasting menu at Aragma, which requires an advance booking.

“Now that people are opening up to experiments, we are more confident of trying something different. We don’t want to do the same food that has been served in the other 10,000 restaurants of Pune,” says Ganorkar.

“Our aim is to become a comfortable dining space, where we serve good cocktails and food. Our Turkish flatbread uses burrata and not mozzarella as every other cafe does. People know the difference between burrata, buffalo mozzarella and regular mozzarella. People have travelled. Social media has become active and one knows about quality ingredients and their benefits. Catering to this was the business model,” adds Ganorkar.

The sense of calm extends to the business growth. The restaurant is not only full on weekends and special occasions, but also consistently becoming packed on weekdays, with numbers consistently increasing on a day-to-day basis.

“When a business is creating its own identity, it takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight. The slow and steady build of that identity will ensure that it will be here for a longer time,” he says.