What I've Learnt: Manish Mehrotra

WHEN I STARTED COOKING, I WAS NOT EXPOSED TO TOO MANY THINGS. But over the years you travel, eat in different places, see different places and come in contact with new ingredients every day. And when I got to know about new ingredients, my flavour palate expanded.

INDIAN FOOD IS NOW COMING OUT OF THE DARK AGES. In the last 10-15 years, we’ve come out of that fused, restaurant-style Mughlai and Northwest frontier kind of food. Indian food is now becoming cooler. A lot of new chefs are cooking exciting Indian food with different regional recipes.

I’M EXHAUSTED OF SEEING NAMES LIKE Paneer Anarkali or Chicken Akbari or Mutton Shahjahani. People are still using them when it’s time for them to go.

IN MY KITCHEN, INVENTION BEGINS OUTSIDE OF IT. Say, you are walking on the street and see something or taste something and from that point of time, the concept takes birth in the mind. You work on it in your mind and then put it on paper, do trials in the kitchen and perfect it for the guest.

FAILURE ISN’T REALLY FAILURE. In the kitchen, sometimes you burn things, sometimes people don’t like something that you make. But remember that they’re all very momentary things and they only motivate you to do it differently.

MY TANDOORIYA CAN DO THOUSAND PERCENT BETTER than what I will on a tandoor. Teamwork and execution matter. I may conceptualise the dish, do the recipe and train the team, but they are the ones who execute it day in and day out.

YOU HAVE TO BALANCE PASSION AND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. My daughter and I enjoy food and talk about it. Whenever she comes for holidays, we go out and eat. Whenever I go to her city, we go out and eat. That’s my family time kind of a thing.

I TELL ALL YOUNGER CHEFS that in the first five years of their career, they need to stay focussed. Don’t get distracted. Just focus and work. And after five years, the industry will pay you.

I STILL FEEL NERVOUS when a dish is going out of the kitchen or when I’m putting a new dish on the menu. I get really curious.

PUBLIC SUCCESS, AWARDS AND ACCOLADES IS ALL VERY GOOD. But to me, success is when I meet a guest who’s eaten my food and is happy because of that.

I HAVE MANY, MANY PERSONAL HEROES. It would be really difficult to name just one.

I WORKED FOR INDIAN ACCENT FOR 24 YEARS and I thought that I needed a break. That was the
only reason.

I WANTED NISABA TO BE SOULFUL INDIAN FOOD IN A LUXURIOUS ENVIRONMENT. Nothing too gimmicky, nothing too intimidating, just my kind of Indian food for everyone. You don’t need an occasion to come here, but just the reason that you wanted to eat good food.

MOST DAYS I GO BACK HOME AND COOK MAGGI FOR MYSELF. People might think I eat the best kind of food, but like most chefs, I don’t eat what the guests get because our timings are odd.

COOKING HAS TAUGHT ME that simple things can make something really great. And sometimes, that is the difficult thing. So, whether it’s a dish, whether it’s your life, whether it’s work, just simplify it.