Haute Plate

Six months after the New York-based French five-star restaurant Le Cirque opened the doors of its Indian outpost at the Leela Palace Hotel in New Delhi,the Bollinger bubble is yet to burst. One of the most expensive restaurants in the country,food and beverage manager at the hotel,Rajesh Namby,says that December alone posted a turnover of Rs 1.42 crore from 1,600 covers many of which are repeats and this,when the 144-cover restaurant opens only for dinner.

So while theres nothing new about roadside eateries and the humblest of kitchens even in small-town India incorporating food culturally very far from what theyve ever known,albeit in bastardised ways,the fact that we are now able to recognise authenticity and demand it,is. So,if we are what we eat,what does this say about Indian diners? Have we finally grown up because our restaurants have? Or is the converse true?

Even as Le Cirque debuted in the capital last summer,Mumbai saw the opening of the Michelin-starred London-based Hakkasan. Again,it is perhaps the priciest Chinese restaurant in India. Riyaaz Amlani,with a clutch of outlets like Mocha and Smoke House Grill in Delhi,Stone Water Grill in Pune and Salt Water Grill in Mumbai,is giving the capital8217;s diners a whiff of molecular gastronomy at Smoke House Room. The modern Japanese Megu,also at the Leela,opened last week; next stop though a full year away: Mumbai.

High-end restaurants conform to international cuisine and décor standards largely because they belong to foreign chains. Despite the fact that they invariably cater to a niche segment of high rollers,they are,mostly,doing well. That said,with a burgeoning middle class that has an increasing spending power,these distinctions are slowly getting blurred.

What is clear,though,is the marked redefinition of the very nature of gourmet restaurants. Firstly,as much attention and money is spent on service as it is on the actual kitchen. So youll rarely find ignorant,or,for that matter,indifferent wait staff attending to your table. And though it has raised the bar for restaurants,it8217;s also their biggest challenge. Amlani admits that while his molecular kitchen has required young chefs to unlearn all the techniques theyve learnt before,the larger obstacle they faced was training the wait staff. The distance between the kitchen and the table is where you can slip between the cracks, he says. The staff at Smoke House Room has gone through afternoons of vigorous training and food tasting including the foie gras and Osetra caviar! so that they can explain to the diner exactly what theyre getting for the money theyre forking out.

Namby concurs wholeheartedly: We put together a 96-step quality assurance programme before opening Le Cirque,that has now become the blueprint for all our outlets.

The second big difference is that most stand-alone restaurants these days are no longer old-fashioned family enterprises or even ones run solely by hospitality and catering college professionals. Quite often they are owned or promoted by corporate houses,private equity players and venture capitalists. For instance,Amlanis Impressario Hospitality,which runs their brands,has raised Rs 48 crore from corporates and private equity players,while Hakkasan is owned by Mumbai businessman Kishor Bajaj,who also has the franchise for Italian designer brand Brioni in India.

Headed by entrepreneurs who are typically well-travelled and vocal about their demands,the outlets they create reflect the need of the upper-end restaurant patron. Typically,these owners or promoters are in their 30s or 40s,so theres a cheerful irreverence in their outlook and a willingness to push the envelope. In most cases,the staff too shares this youthful enthusiasm. At Le Cirque,most staffers are under 30. Amlani,36,who runs the Smoke House Room,likens its kitchen to a nursery for young chefs.

The other noticeable thing about many of these restaurants is that they are often chef-driven rather than cuisine-oriented. At Smoke House Room,helmed by chef Gresham Fernandes,the formula is simple: a willingness to invest not just money,but also belief in the chef. This restaurant has been conceived as a showcase for Greshams passion, says Amlani.

Amlani makes no bones about the fact that his inspiration has been pioneering molecular gastronomists like Ferran Adria and Heston Blumenthal: These chefs are considered heroes by their kitchen staff. They have a presence,not just because theyre great cooks,but because they inspire. The idea is to take that inspiration and make it your own.

If the investment and belief in the chef is huge,so too is the financial one. Setting up Smoke House Room,with its almost science lab-like kitchen and whimsical rhizodial interiors,cost Amlani three to four times more than a conventional restaurant. Décor and ambience have proven to be vital,so foreign interior design consultants have become the norm,eating up a large chunk of the budget. Hakkasan,for instance,used Gilles amp; Boussier who have designed their other outlets around the world; the DLF-owned Setz at Emporio mall in the capital is the brainchild of Super Potato from Japan. But owners are unfazed by what might seem like a recipe for financial disaster,because they see the demand doubling over the next three to five years.

This insouciant confidence is not misplaced,as industry figures bear out. The restaurant sector is growing by five to six per cent per annum,of which nearly a fourth is dominated by the organised sector,including fine dining outlets,both stand-alone and chains. According to a study by the National Restaurant Association of India,in 2010,the restaurant sector generated revenues to the tune of Rs 430 billion,and by 2015,this is expected to go up to Rs 625 billion.

If you find this hard to swallow,it8217;s hardly surprising,given that eating out is listed as Indias third-most popular leisure activity,despite a sluggish economy and spiralling inflation. Industry watchers maintain that unlike in the retail business,people tend to eat out more when times are rough,to take a break from the stresses of high-pressure lifestyles.

While diners may focus on taking a break,restaurateurs need to do more than break even. Though bottomlines and profit margins still count,equally important is the desire to delight customers with something new.

Regular patrons and intrepid home chefs are now more conversant with culinary terms like bain marie and sous vide,and hitherto obscure ingredients,partly due to the slew of international cookery-based shows like MasterChef and Top Chef,and partly,because travel has helped them identify whats authentic.

This has compelled restaurateurs to wake up and do their research well. With the easing of import rules,it is now possible for hotels and restaurants to procure various ingredients without cutting corners. So,imports not only ensure variety,but also go a long way in sustaining quality. Chef de cuisine,Mickey Bhoite,of Le Cirque,imports almost 40 per cent of the produce he uses,including garlic,and even tomatoes at times.

Ironically,this fixation with authenticity isnt new. Back in the mid-90s,the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi opened Longchamps with Michelin-starred chef Richard Neat at the helm. Neat was entrusted with the task of converting a notoriously Francophiliacally-challenged dining public to the joys of French cooking. This flirtation with Gallic cuisine was a short-lived affair as most Dilliwallas gave the Joel Roubochon-trained Neat a miss and preferred to spend their post-license-raj bucks at the more comforting familiarity of the House of Ming downstairs. Neat packed his knives and has since made his way to Costa Rica via Cannes and Marrakesh.

This Indian lack of conviction regarding subtle French flavours continues. To be fair,though,this is reflective of a larger global trend that has veered away from purist French cuisine its heyday was mostly in the 70s to a more Mediterranean mindset. So Le Cirque which in its hometown,New York,is essentially a French restaurant plates up predominantly Italian-inspired dishes here in India. Bhoite says,French food is difficult to adapt to localised palates. Italian cooking is more flexible,primarily because it is not gourmet cooking. Its robust and rustic. The difference is in the application of classic French cooking and plating techniques to traditional Italian fare.

While regional,ethnic and even fusion cuisines read Catalan,Italian,Japanese,Californian may have overtaken French cuisine,what has survived is this adoption of classical French cooking techniques and plating styles. So you have French-style Italian,or Chinese and,yes,even Indian food.

This may have inadvertently prompted old Delhi hands like AD Singh,with his Olive restaurants,and chef-owner Ritu Dalmia,who runs the 11-year-old Diva,to freshen things up. Until quite recently,Olive and Diva incidentally,both chef-driven together took care of stand-alone Italian fine dining in the capital. But in November last year,Singh introduced Greenhouse on the Ridge,within his Mehrauli premises in Delhi. Reminiscent of a Tuscan country kitchen,Greenhouse showcases British chef duo Alice Helme and Flora Hilleary Be,both graduates of well-known chef and cookbook author Darina Allens Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland.

With the focus on slow cooking and customised set menus,the food is cooked,carved and served personally by the chefs to a small captive audience. And if you like what you ate,there are even provisions for cooking lessons.

The two-storeyed Diva,too,has also undergone a facelift,the highlight being a huge walk-in temperature-controlled wine cellar. A trattoria-style café has also been introduced,where Dalmia,somewhat reluctantly,also serves gourmet pizzas baked in a wood-fired oven. The restaurants success has meant a spin-off cookbook and television career for Dalmia,whose latest book Travelling Diva has travelled beyond Italy,with easy-to-replicate-at-home recipes from around the world.

So where does this leave the old guard,led by the venerable Orient Express at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi? The restaurant turned 28 last Christmas,and unlike the other outlets at that hotel that have changed identities and cuisines,it has remained true to its original self. Chef DN Sharma,who heads the kitchen there,says the revenues are still healthy and old favourites like the camembert souffle or lobster bisque still rule.

In this almost mass hysteria for foreign flavours and the sprucing up of all sorts of cuisines,where does that leave desi khaana? Is the fine dining space confined largely to western food? Surprisingly not. Amaranta,the Indian coastal restaurant at the Oberoi in Gurgaon,is reeling in diners with its sophisticated rendition of classic seafood staples. The Manish Mehrotra-led Indian Accent,at the Manor Hotel in New Delhi,has adapted the western plating concept with such success that it continues to have as many raves as their recipes for curry. His foie gras stuffed galaotis and tamarind-glazed lamb shanks,oddly,didnt seem outré to Delhis hearty eaters. Meanwhile,Michelin-starred Indian chef,Vineet Bhatia,better known for his success in London,is now in charge of the Ziya restaurant at the Oberoi in Mumbai.

So if old favourites survive and new food adventures are crafted by talented young chefs,it bodes well for the industry and its patrons alike. Fine food,after all,is fine ingredients cooked with soul. Or,as Amlani puts it,Ultimately,there are only two types of food good food and bad food.