About a decade ago, a renowned hotel refused Indian Accent’s Manish Mehrotra entry into its kitchen although he had been booked for cooking at an event there. “It was not so much about malice as it was about following the tradition of protecting your kitchen secrets, be it of technique or the ratio of spices, like it was among royal khansamas in the old days,” says the chef, who has benchmarked his kind of progressive cuisine for the global palate. However, now tradition has made way for celebration of individual talent as chefs bond over pop-ups and kitchen collaborations, learning from and sharing with each other. The result of this camaraderie is zesting up all the familiar dishes as we know them. Recently Thai chef Thitid ‘Ton’ Tassanakajohn invited ten chefs from across the world, including chef Varun Totlani from Mumbai’s Masque, to cook a celebratory meal to mark a decade of his maiden restaurant, Le Du. On home soil, we saw Daniel Humm of the New York-based three-Michelin star restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, cooking a meal at Masque last September. Earlier in April, Sri Lankan chef Rishi Naleendra of the Singapore-based restaurant Kotuwa did a pop-up at The Bombay Canteen. Nagaland-based chef Salangyanger Jamir stirred a few ladles with chef Niyati Rao of Ekaa to create some authentic flavours over four days. “People are definitely more open than they were when I started out in the industry,” says chef and restaurateur Rubert Blease of San Francisco’s Lord Stanley, which won a Michelin star five years in a row. “Two decades ago, a collaboration with Michelin chefs was unheard of. Now it’s happening every other week,” he says. Several factors, like an increasing awareness of food as a larger global culture statement and the projection of chefs as artistes, have meant that cuisine has now entered the realm of ideas and concepts. And if restaurateurs thought that exclusivity would protect their originality, new world chefs feel openness allows them to advertise their brand much better. As Mehrotra argues, “The Japanese chef, Nobu Matsuhisa, has written so many recipe books that his dishes are being replicated somewhere. But did that affect Nobu’s business? That’s because while the recipe book may prime your curiosities about the food, you cannot recreate the food experience that the restaurants offer.” Or the stories behind them. Agrees Sameer Seth, founder and CEO at Hunger Inc Hospitality, the parent company behind The Bombay Canteen, O Pedro and other food ventures. “We never held back our recipes. Our late chef cum founder, Floyd Cardoz, would say that if a guest asks you for a recipe, it means that they are enthralled by the dish. And, if you are generous enough to share it, they get to take a piece of what you do back home. They will remember you. You are creating a memory for them, which will stay forever,” he says. And memories, we all agree, have a lasting brand recall value than anything else. Collaborations have always happened very instinctively at The Bombay Canteen, which weaves storytelling smartly with its menu. “Once, we flew down our mothers to Mumbai to cook the favourites they made on our birthdays. Because we all belong to different parts of the country, we had a diversified spread of regional cuisine. That’s how we realised that the more people we invite into The Bombay Canteen, the more we learn and the more our guests get to experience,” adds Seth. Collaborative cookouts, agree most chefs and restaurateurs, are a win-win for everyone. For Chef Ton of Le Du, who spends a major part of the year doing pop-ups across the world, they give him an opportunity to make Thai cuisine a global choice. His relentless pursuit paid off when Le Du ranked at number one on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2023 and at number 15 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, 2023. Masque’s head chef Varun Totlani has found new converts through such collaborative showcases. “Also, chefs have stepped out from being a key player in the food industry to being a community on their own. As a head chef, you don’t get so many opportunities to step out, learn, hone your craft and pass it on to your teams. This way we can share and learn from each other. The shared experience also helps you understand how several cooking techniques and styles can come together,” he says. Masque has hosted over 20 chefs since its inception. Totlani admits to learning work ethic from American chef Matt Orlando, precision from chef Humm and a Zen-like calmness from chef Gresham. For a young chef like Niyati Rao, the force behind Ekaa, a one-and-a-half-year-old restaurant that serves cuisine inspired by seasons, people and cultures, collaborations open her work to a much larger stage, world and accepting audience. Many standalone restaurants, which cannot afford the scale of a five-star, have actually been catapulted into the big league because of food showcases. The five-star hotel chains also stand to benefit as they can market a closed-door, curated experiential with Michelin chefs for their guests and price them separately -- sometimes as high as Rs 35,000. Both the Taj and Marriott Bonvoy have already got the first mover advantage. “We bring in the chef for about two weeks to host special dinners at high-impact cities,” says Sachin Mylavarapu, senior area director of operations for South Asia at Marriott International Inc. Gauging the response to chef exchanges, Seth predicts that in the future these events may acquire the status of a music festival. “One doesn’t mind travelling to attend a music concert headlined by their favourite bands. Food is the new music,” he says. Served up on demand.
