There’s precision to how Chef Ricardo Chaneton’s hands move when he is in the middle of plating. Or they way he nods enthusiastically as he talks about his hometown.
Born in Venezuela, trained in France, and now based in Hong Kong where his restaurant MONO has earned a Michelin star, Chaneton carries the soul of a craftsman.
When he walks into a room, it’s not to perform, but to invite. To share. “MONO is my story. It’s a very personal cuisine,” he says. “I want to bring to the table not just food, but culture, memory, origin.” His journey—from his mother’s kitchen in Caracas to stints at Mirazur in Menton and Mauro Colagreco’s side, to finally launching MONO in Hong Kong in 2019—is not just one of ambition, but of deep-rooted identity.
And now, for the first time, that identity is making its way to India.
This month, Chef Chaneton brings MONO to The Oberoi, Mumbai, for a highly anticipated three-day pop-up in collaboration with Elemental. On the surface, it’s Latin American fine dining arriving in one of India’s most luxury-driven cities. But look a little deeper and you’ll see: this is less about a menu and more of an intimate exchange of stories across continents.
From Caracas to the Côte d’Azur
Growing up in Venezuela, food was omnipresent. “In Venezuela, food is everything,” he says. “My mother would cook every day.” There’s something sacred in the way he speaks about ingredients—avocados, cacao, corn, cashews. Staples of Latin American culture, but often misunderstood or reduced to stereotypes on global plates.
So when he trained in Europe—first in Paris, then under the legendary Mauro Colagreco at Mirazur—he brought that culinary inheritance with him. And instead of moulding himself entirely to the French system, he took the rigour of that training and folded it back into his own roots.
And Hong Kong, not France, is where Chaneton finally found his voice.
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The MONO Philosophy
The name MONO, interestingly, has many meanings. It’s a nod to the Spanish word for ‘monkey’, an affectionate term in Venezuela. It also refers to ‘monochrome’, to singularity, to simplicity. But for Chanton, it’s the latter: a reflection of Chaneton’s desire to offer a single tasting menu—a mono-experience—in which every dish is interconnected, narratively and emotionally.
At MONO, he doesn’t play by the expected rules of Latin American cuisine. You won’t find clichés or token dishes. What you’ll find instead is deep technique, memory-forward flavour, and a philosophy that values elegance without erasure. Cassava bread, Colombian suero, corn espuma, cacao from Venezuela—each element is personal. Each tells a story.
Beyond accolades and pop-ups, what Chaneton is really building is something more lasting: a redefinition of what Latin American food can look and feel like in the luxury space. “For years, people thought Latin food was street food. Casual. Messy. Fun, but not fine dining,” he says. “I love street food. But we can also be elegant. We can be poetic. We can belong on a white tablecloth.”
“It’s not about showing everything Latin America has to offer. That’s impossible. It’s about showing you my Latin America,” he says.
His menu for the Mumbai pop-up reflects the same approach. Think: heirloom corn tamal with slow-cooked duck; a quenelle of cacao sorbet that takes you from the plantations of Venezuela to a Hong Kong kitchen at midnight. There’s a dish with suero costeño, a fermented Colombian dairy product that’s rarely seen outside Latin America. It’s elegant, deliberate. Like Chaneton himself.
Why India, Why Now
So what brings a Michelin-starred Latin chef from Hong Kong to Mumbai?
“There’s a deep respect for food in India,” he says. “The way people talk about spices, family recipes, memories—it reminds me of home.” He’s also curious about the parallels between Indian and Latin American cuisines. “We both come from rich culinary cultures, but we’ve been underrepresented globally. This is a chance to connect those dots.”
But this isn’t about fusion. “I’m not here to ‘Indianise’ MONO,” he clarifies. “I’m here to have a conversation. To show who I am. And to listen.”
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The pop-up at Vetro, The Oberoi’s signature Italian restaurant, is part of Elemental’s platform to bring globally significant chefs to India and foster meaningful cultural exchanges. For Chaneton, it’s more than a showcase—it’s a pilgrimage.
“I think we’re moving beyond the idea of restaurants being just about food,” he says. “People want truth. They want to know who you are, where your food comes from, why it matters.”
The Future Is Personal
In an industry obsessed with innovation, Chef Chaneton is quietly doubling down on emotion. “For a long time, Latin food was looked at as rustic, hearty, casual. And it is that. But it can also be refined, delicate, thought-provoking,” he says.
It’s that duality—of preserving while pushing forward—that defines MONO. The restaurant is a rare space where technique and tenderness co-exist. Where French finesse meets Venezuelan heart. Where luxury doesn’t mean detachment, but depth.
“I don’t want people to just eat and leave,” he says. “I want them to remember me, my story.”
And if the sold-out bookings in Mumbai are anything to go by, they will.