Chef Manish Mehrotra on Indian Accent consistently featuring on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list: ‘All these recognitions put pressure on you’

You are one of the most well-known and established names in the Indian (and global) food scene. How would you describe your journey?

My journey started almost 28 years ago as a management trainee at a hotel where I did small tasks. I started with the basics, learned pan-Asian food before shifting to Indian, and finally on to the kind of food I like to cook. But since I’d never trained in a professional Indian kitchen, I had no past preconceived opinion of how certain things are supposed to be done. So, I think I broke all the rules and at Indian Accent we did Indian food — which I wanted to do. And, here we are after 27 years.

When exactly, and how, did your love affair with food and cooking begin?

If you ask a hundred chefs, 99 of them will say that they were inspired by their grandmother or that they used to cook with their mother. Nothing of that sort happened to me. Going to a hotel management school was a career decision, and when I reached one, I realised that cooking was the one thing I wanted to do. The kitchen is one of the most innovative spaces in hotels.

Today, your restaurant — Indian Accent — consistently features on Asia’s Best Restaurants List. What goes behind building such a successful venture, and inside the kitchen?

The first and the most important thing is backing. Rohit Khattar (founder chairman of Old World Hospitality) believed in us. He was always there to support us when it came to taking any risks, whenever we wanted to. Second has been my team of chefs. I believe in training your staff and not hiding anything from anyone. The more you train your staff, the more they become confident, and in turn, you do. Because at the end of the day, while you are making the menu and the recipes, it’s your team who’s executing it for you. So they are a very important part, and for that, the training is very, very important.

Finally, you make food for people who come to your restaurant to eat and when they feel happy about eating our food, you are successful. So whatever your likes and dislikes, always keep in mind that you’re cooking for someone else who’s coming to your place to enjoy their evening.

But this recognition must come with a lot of pressure and increased expectations. How do you keep up with the same?

Definitely! All these recognitions and prizes put pressure on you because whoever walks inside the restaurant comes with big expectations. You not only have to meet those expectations every time but sometimes even exceed them. The more awards you get, the more expectations go up. You have to keep innovating new things so that every time somebody comes, you can exceed this expectation.

You might have been asked this a million times, but we would like you to tell us the story behind Indian Accent — from its conceptualisation to its menu.

We did the first Indian Accent trials in London — a city where the cuisines of the world are very well represented. I felt that Indian cuisine also needs to move beyond just a few tandoori dishes and curries and become global. That is how Indian Accent came about. We did our experiments and tried new things — and that brought us here!

You have given street and traditional fare a contemporary twist. Were you ever skeptical of how it would be perceived?

One of the major influences on my menus is the street food of India because I think there are two different types of food. One is what people eat outside and the second is what they eat at home — and there is a clear distinction between the two. Very early on I realised that people will never eat at home what they eat outside, and they will never go out and order whatever they cook at home. We have a great tradition of street food across the country. No matter which city you are in – there are several specialties and delicious food on the streets. I took my inspiration from that because Indian street food is very well thought of; research has gone into it. I decided to elevate it — something I did at Indian Accent. I took one of my favourite things — chaat — and recreated it in different ways. For me, chaat is a perfect dish: the colour, texture, and flavours, are all there. So I take a lot of inspiration from the streets and that is represented in my menu.

You have recently launched Indian Accent in Mumbai. How much are the menus different or similar in the Indian outlets from the one in New York?

The New York restaurant’s menu is very different. It is more of local things — what you get there seasonally. Delhi’s menu is also quite different. Even the tasting menus in Delhi and Mumbai are completely different. But our signature dishes are served in all three restaurants. We created a new tasting menu for Mumbai which we’ll keep changing from time to time. One can come and order one or two dishes à la carte. But we emphasise the tasting menu because it can give you the complete experience of the Indian Accent.

Considering some of the signature dishes that are served, does it ever get challenging to source ingredients for the NY outlet?

No, it’s not a challenge at all. In fact, we get everything we want. When we started, we wanted salt from India, and we got it. We wanted a specific brand of butter for our dal, which also we got. So we manage to get most of the things you get in India.

As a chef, you must prepare many dishes from numerous cuisines. But which dish are you most proud of, and what does comfort food mean to you?

There are so many dishes; it’s very difficult to pinpoint one. But there are some dishes that I am proud of like Daulat ki Chaat, Doda Barfi, and Pork Ribs. However, comfort food for me is dal-chawal.

How would you describe the Indian food (and drinks) scene on a global scale?

It is changing. Now, Indian food is getting more respect and recognition. People outside India are also understanding real Indian food, beyond the curry-and-naan. It is becoming more popular and getting more respect, and all of us chefs are working towards that one goal — to make Indian food more popular.

If you had to prepare a dish using wine, what would you prepare?

Wine goes very well with my food. Recently, I tried the Campo Viejo Blanco wine which, I think, works very well with my food. At the moment, I am a bit biased towards white wine because of the weather, and that it will go very well with one of the South Indian dishes that we do — John Dory with coconut.

There are many myths about which wine to pair with what food, which wine can be cooked, the ideal way to have wine, etc — can you demystify some of them for us?

Wine is a very personal drink. But one thing that I would like to tell all wine drinkers is that – don’t get intimidated by wines. There was a time when people used to get intimidated by Indian food because of the many hours of marination and some overnight cooking processes. Wine goes very well with our food, it goes very well with spices. There are hints and notes of spices in wines, too.

Lastly, how essential is it for a chef to reinvent themselves and their preparations to stay relevant in the evolving culinary scene?

Cooking is one process where you keep on learning and innovating, because if you don’t, you will not be able to move forward. So, you have to innovate, learn, and create again and again.

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