What is the most popular food in India today? Is it Indian, Chinese, Asian or Continental Cuisine? According
to recent survey, it’s not the Indian food Restaurants but Indian Fast Food
Outlets are way ahead of any other kind of food. Most certainly at present
the Kings of Indian Restaurant Industry are restaurants like Haldiram’s ,
Bikanervala , Sagar Ratna and all similar Fast food outlets that have come up all
over India. They serve food to more people in one day than any other Indian
restaurants do in one full month or may be even more.
Do you know that Haldiram’s outlets in NCR and Nagpur in 2023, had a turnover
of Rs.12800Cr as compared to McDonald’s India Rs2500 Cr., Domino’s Pizza India
Rs5000 Cr. You can visualize the size of Indian Fast Food market.
In
the recent past, the Indian fast food has gained popularity across the length
and breadth of the country and has increased their market share at a steady
rate of nearly 12-15% each year. Surprisingly, second in line are the International
Fast-Food chains, where the brands like McDonald, Burger King, KFC, Domino’s et
al. have maintained their growth rate of 5-7% pan India during last two
decades. Third in line is Multi Cuisine Casual dining outlets, followed
by the Asian Cuisine and at the bottom we have proper Indian food
restaurants. But the question is that, why is it that our own national food - which
is riding high in the food market worldwide - is so low in demand in India.
In this blog we will try to explore the reasons of continuous decline in
demand for Authentic Indian Food all over India.
Early
part of my professional life was spent working for our family-owned Indian
Restaurant business in Beirut, Cypress and London, for years we were rated as one
of the best Indian Restaurants abroad, we had, at any time, over four to five Indian
Chefs working for us. Sirena was responsible
for creating famous “Chicken Tikka Masala”, which
today the Gora’s (English Men) call it their invention (Blog: My Uncle’s
Moustache- dated March 2011) I have
seen Indian food from very close quarters. I have savored and even prepared
popular Indian food. I have also had the opportunity to work with Indian food
critics and celebrities all my life. Unfortunately, the present condition of
Indian cuisine in India is alarmingly bad. Being a pioneer of authentic Indian
food abroad, I am totally disappointed with the present state of Indian cuisine
which is being dished out by the restaurants and celebrity chefs in the
name of fusion cuisine including its presentation. Suddenly the Indian food in
totality has only one flavor i.e. Chilies- be it Red Chilies, Kashmiri or Deghi
Mirch or Black Pepper. Almost every food item in the menu has lost its unique
flavor, because it is camouflaged by the Red chili powder. The Question is, why
all of a sudden, the profile of Indian food has changed from being flavorful to
spicy and overloaded with spices and chilies. The best of the chefs on YouTube can
be seen preparing Indian food using tons of Coriander powder, Cumin powder, Turmeric
etc. and twice the amount of red chili and Kashmiri chili powder, including
black pepper. This is not what we ate through the years gone by!! What has happened
to our amazingly flavored curries? The fine taste and flavors those spices had,
has been replaced by chilies. This is not our original Indian cuisine. I just
cannot figure out why we have destroyed our own excellence.
In
seventies, when I returned from my stint abroad, there were some very good
restaurants in almost every star class Hotels serving Indian food and majority
of standalone restaurants like Moti Mahal in
Daryagunj New Delhi, were serving excellent Indian food. In those days
most of the restaurants were serviced only by experienced chefs and cooks, and Indian
food was mostly prepared fresh for the day with authentic recipes with full
bodied flavors and just the right texture. Any food item when prepared for more
than one day, it was made with extra fat, so that, when refrigerated, it could
be frozen solid and stored, in the that state. But no food items were used more
than 24hrs. In New Delhi - North India, we had many free standing restaurants
like Kwality, Gaylord, Moti Mahal, Nizam’s and
Embassy. Similarly, even in the best of Hotels we had some outstanding
Indian restaurants e.g. The Ashok Hotel, Akbar, The
Oberoi Intercontinental Hotel. All the Indian restaurants in those days served
much better quality of food in terms of taste and flavor and surprisingly
enough it was prepared by uneducated but trained cooks who had years of experience. Today, these so called Celebrity
Chefs, who are available dime a dozen, most of them are producing
substandard food - immersed in tons of chilies and spices - that is
devoid of both taste and flavors. The sad part is that even the legendary
restaurants like Moti Mahal in haste to expand quickly, have sacrificed the
taste and flavor. Each restaurant has different taste, presentation and in some
cases different, recipes as well, but only thing common among them is the excessive
involvement of red chilies. Today the family of creators of Butter Chicken and
Tandoori Chicken are not able to produce same quality and taste. Same is the
story with all the famous Indian Restaurants.
Seventies saw the entry of qualified
and trained staff in the hotels industry and in very few up market restaurants.
As Hospitality professional we were all upbeat about the up gradation of Indian
food and fortunately we had some very good and collage educated Indian Chefs’
like Manjit Gill, Madhur Jaffery, Manish Mehrotra taking
over from experienced chefs like Imtiaz, Kundan
Singh and many other outstanding and trained chefs but their contribution
was very little to improve the Indian Food and take it to the next level in
terms of flavor and taste. Today chefs are excessively dependent on chili based
or fusion food. Indian traditional Food is not a fashion, but a need of common
man. As always good Indian food must be flavorful, good in appearance, with specific
taste- not over powering the main ingredient, you will be surprised that in Halwai
style Fast Food Restaurants, we are selling more paneer based simple dishes in a
day, than what proper restaurants, in two weeks.
I
also have a major issue with Chefs being called Celebrity Chefs, just because
they made few mediocre videos for some TV channel. Today when we call Vikas Khanna an Inspirational Chef it is
because he has created his own uniquely amazing recipes by his dedication and very
long experience and hard work in the basics of Indian food along with
International Cuisine. Similarly, Chef Ranveer Brar
- who has meticulously researched the Indian cuisine, including the
street food sold in many cities – still regards the food cooked by his
grandmother as the best; no wonder thousands of home makers all over India find
his preparations simple and amazing. Fact remains that the food prepared by
experienced cooks will always be much better, in terms of taste, appearance and
flavor, as compared to the qualified Chefs. The fact remains that even today the
best Tandoori Cooks bring with them a wealth of experience and the same logic
goes for the Curry Cooks. It is also true, that on an average, Indian
food available in good Indian restaurants continues to deteriorate and remains
a cause of major concern for Food Pundits’.
One
of the main culprits of this decline in the food standard is the mushrooming social
media and TV channels, who have defined their very own food standards
regardless of the world around. They are busy glorifying street food, regardless
of the quality of food or ingredients used. There are many famous and excellent
street food venues, but at the same time we have double the numbers of
unhygienic, poor quality foods joints, which are being hyped out of proportion.
I guess this is ok, but my concern is, when these substandard products are
endorsed by so called Celebrity Chefs as ‘Heritage Food’. When I was a young
man of 17years, I was told by one of the finest traditional cook that
difference between our food (Indian) and the other is that we use methods and
spices to convert basic food impart an assorted or layered experiences without
killing the flavors and the essence, where the key ingredient is always a hero.
For example; Chicken Makhani, Chicken do Piazza,
Chicken Dhansak; In mutton - Rogan Josh,
lamb Korma, Bhuna Gosht - all the dishes were with different flavor but
never compromised on the taste of the core ingredient. And today the very same
dishes have a common strong and overpowering aroma of masalas pushing the
flavor of the core ingredient into back ground and intensifying the effect of chili
and pungent masalas to rule the palate.
Going
back in time during 1974-75, when I returned to India after managing one of the
best Indian food chains for over ten years, I was really impressed with the
quality of Indian Restaurants in Delhi e.g. Moti Mahal in Daryagunj, Karim’s in
old Delhi, Kwality , Gaylord, Volga and many more, who were serving excellent
Indian Food. Although, in those days there were very few 5 Star Hotels in Delhi,
but each one had an amazing Indian Restaurant serving high quality food. Among
them, the number one was Sheesh Mahal in Akbar Hotel followed by Peacock in
Hotel Ashok, and Kandahar in Oberoi Intercontinental.
By 1975, in Delhi, all were rated as outstanding Indian Restaurants. After
that, it became essential to have one ‘All Day Dining’ and one ‘Indian
Restaurant’ in every Hotel, all over India. Unfortunately this practice
doesn’t exist anymore, because opening of Indian Restaurant is no more a viable
proposition anymore and you know why!
Today,
if you go around looking for a good Indian Restaurant in Delhi and NCR, with
consistent quality, you can actually count them on your fingers, but just in
case you find one, there will be no guarantee of quality and /or consistency. The
question is why? Ironically enough, today we have superior raw materials, fresh
flavorful spices and highly qualified Celebrity Chefs all around – but what has
gone wrong?
One
basic example, of it all, is the Naan - a type of bread famous worldwide. All
my life I was used to have a Naan served crisp and bubbly on top but soft and
delicious in the core, it was a pleasure to have it with curries and Kababs.
Today you can’t find a good Naan even in the superstar restaurants. What has
gone wrong? Nobody knows’. The best quality of Maida for Naan with high gluten
is available in the market, and yet the basic product quality has gone down in
the drain. Today if we can’t make a simple Naan properly, you can imagine the
condition of food being served.
To
me the Indian food ranks among the most popular in the world alongside French,
Mexican and Chinese. But sadly enough there has been no positive evolution of
recipes, preparation style and presentation, what to mention the taste and
flavors which stand compromised. We are still serving the food in big bowls of
floating protein in curry sauce, served on white table cloth. While all the other
international food has improved, not just in their presentation, but also in
taste and created convenience in consumption. With our cuisine we are either
busy creating fusion or busy ruining the original taste by overloading them with
species-primarily with overdose of chilies, tomatoes or cream.
Today
we keep looking for genuine Indian food with very little hope. Recently a
nephew of mine who lives in Middle East came to visit us, he is a
well-established restaurateur there, and is also responsible for opening the famous
ASHA’S Restaurants all over the world. When
he asked where can he get good original Indian food, after long thinking, I
could only recommend three restaurants in whole NCR- Comorin
in Gurgaon, Kwality and Embassy Restaurant
in CP where he can get truly authentic North Indian food.
Yet another cause of embarrassment
is the hosting of Master Chef India, where quality of the production itself is
an apology to Indian food industry. However, with joining of two stalwarts like
Chef Ranveer Singh Brar and Chef Vikas Khanna, there has been some
improvement in the show, but the level of production values and presentation
still remains, a cause of concern, when compared to those of Australia, Canada
and England, on the contrary MSI America remains mediocre show, which is
simply designed to look majestic and nothing more.
Most
of the Master Chefs crowned in last seven/eight years, are already a history in
our Industry. My view is that instead of blindly replicating the international
format, we must develop our own original format and stick to the food we
produce and specialize, instead of testing or developing them on the lines of
international cuisine. There is a need to do lots of research, test and
authenticate every dish for its desired level of excellence – There should be
no hesitation in involving the traditional Master Chefs who have devoted years
to perfecting Indian food.
My
last observation is regarding, the new trend of Celebrity Chefs starting their
own restaurants and without exception failing miserably. Why? We try to replicate
the European or American Trends. In those countries, the Chefs operate and run
their own restaurants as working Chefs, guiding and supervising each dish. Back
home in India, being a Chef becomes a Managerial position, they don’t work
themselves except in emergency, leaving the business to Junior Chefs/cooks which
results in compromised taste and business. If they genuinely want to succeed
they need to work and produce the food they believe in themselves. Playing charade
with Indian cuisine will only result in what we are going through.
All that said - I still believe that even though we have excellent class of Indian Chefs, duly qualified and experienced, it is essential that they practice authentic, timeless legacy of Indian flavors , freshness and restore the glory of great Indian taste of Royals …!
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