New dishes and old share space on the revamped table of Kebab Korner

Qureshi was brought on board two months ago and brought in ingredients such as morels, a type of wild mushroom, and water chestnuts (singhadas). While the former are served stuffed with paneer and spices, the latter are prepared as a curry with methi and green peas. “There are slight tweaks to dishes for novelty. For instance, our butter naan has kalonji in it. When it is cooked in the tandoor, the onion seed seeps into the yeast and and rises, lending the naan a strong flavour,” he says.

The menu has influences of old Delhi, Kashmir, Rajasthan and Hyderbad.

From the famous Qureshi family of Lucknow that has given India close to 300 chefs, the chef has worked in Austria, Korea, Thailand and the UK among others. “I grew up surrounded by flavours. The cooking style has been traditional, with masalas ground by hand and dishes slow-cooked,” he says.

Kebab Korner reveals Qureshi’s amalgamation of traditional and international influences. While the menu retains the essence of Old Delhi, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Rajasthan, there is also a new amuse bouche section, featuring stuffed baby kulchas, makkai roti tacos, rajma galauti and avocado kachumber papdi. The mutton rogan josh, and Amritsari chole are served in a martaban, a jar traditionally used to store pickles. The jalebi is now a cylindrical mound of deep-fried caviar-like pearls, served on a bed of rabri. “Over the years, visual appeal has become important in India,” he says.

While the restaurant is set for the new innings, Qureshi has retained his secret to sumptuous cooking — “Namak and mirchi —if these two are not in the right proportion, no amount of masalas or cashews can fix the dish,” he says.