Chef Alistair Lethorn has a busy week ahead of him. An Anglo Indian raised in Dimapur, Nagaland, the chef curates a pop-up celebrating North Eastern cuisine at a luxury hotel in Bhartiya City.
Naga specialities
On his menu are Naga staples like smoked pork in dry fermented bamboo shoots, portobello mushrooms in michinga chilli and galho with smoked pork (Naga khichri). Lethorn’s is one among a growing number of pop-ups and menus championing regional cuisines, hard to come by earlier in the city.
“Even 10 years ago, people did not know much about North Eastern culture or food. Now, people are curious and open to experimentation,” says the chef.
Kashmir, Awadh
It’s the same story at sister restaurants, Sarposh and Khanposh, run by Azmat Ali Mir in Indiranagar. At Sarposh, the proprietor, who hails from Kashmir, offers diners an experience of food from that state, and in Khanposh, visitors tuck into home-style Awadhi food, a far cry from what we know of the popular cuisine.
“When I first moved to Bengaluru, I visited some of the Kashmiri restaurants, but came away disappointed. It was nothing like the food back home. So I set up a cloud kitchen specialising in authentic Kashmiri cuisine and eventually opened a restaurant,” she says.
Khanposh goes beyond nalli nihari, galouti kebabs and kulchas, to offer specialties like lauki ke chilka ka kawab (kebab made with bottle gourd peel and lentils) and kali gajar halwa (halwa made with black carrots). “My husband is from Lucknow and this is what they eat at home,” Mir says.
While these unique cuisines have a huge fan following, not all of them are presented the way they are eaten in their own region. Lethorn feels the need to tweak certain recipes to make them more palatable for diners in Bengaluru. “Naga cuisine is heavy on fermentation and chilli heat. Not everyone can handle that,” he explains.
According to chef Gautam Krishnakutty, whose weekend menus are sold through his Instagram account, this new-found love for region-specific cuisines comes from an increased exposure to cultures through travelling, and a need for novelty.
North Thailand fare
Gautam, who focuses on the food of northern Thailand, has been a regular visitor to that country for 20 years. “Through my travels, I developed a keen interest in the culinary tradition of the Chiang Mai province. I was tired of the red, green and yellow curries, and wanted to show Bengalureans another side of Thai cuisine, which is not heavy on coconut milk,” he says. The more specific the menu, the more it piques the interest of people, he believes.
Comfort congee
For instance, Rhea Aaron who runs the cloud kitchen Klaa, presented a limited edition congee menu in December last year. Congee or kanji is quite common in Indian home kitchens, but Rhea elevated it to another level.
Traditionally made with nothing but rice, lentils and garlic, Rhea’s menu included both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. “It was pure comfort food and people loved it so much that I’m planning to do it again,” she says.
Specials from across Karnataka
The cuisine of far-flung states and countries aside, less known Karnataka dishes too find many takers. When the restaurant Oota Bengaluru opened in 2017, it was the culmination of two years of research into the food of the state. “We travelled the length and breadth of Karnataka, went into people’s homes, to community kitchens and hole-in-the-wall eateries to come up with recipes that are not so commonplace,” says chef Mandaar Sukhtankar, whose menu includes gems like dali tovve (Konkani style dal broth), shaiyya jhinga biryani (Bhatkali prawn biryani made with rice vermicelli) and baale huvina ambode (banana flower and Bengal gram patties).
“Everyone is in this race to be more innovative, but for some of us it is about returning to our roots, showing people a little of our culture, and letting them experience what we have experienced,” says Rhea, owner of a cloud kitchen.