In an exclusive conversation with Nachiket Shetye and Mangal Dalal,founders of cellar door hospitality.Together they present Citi Dine Fest, a 10-day multi-city culinary event platform featuring curated dining experiences at a fraction of a la carte rates at 30 of India’s finest informal dining restaurants across Delhi and Mumbai.
NACHIKET SHETYE
The Chef of 36 Oak & Barley, an all-day restaurant and bar in Mumbai, Nachiket Shetye tries to disprove the stereotype of the large, angry chef. He previously owned and ran a Pan-Asian restaurant East, and has worked for illustrious restaurants in New York such as Nobu, Per Se and Penang. Nachiket received his Associate Degree in Culinary arts from the Culinary Institute of America in 2004.
MANGAL DALAL
Formerly a food writer for a national newspaper, Mangal Dalal barely scraped through his culinary degree at Le Cordon Bleu, Paris. He recently completed internships in the kitchens of Le Cirque in New Delhi and Noma in Copenhagen, rated the World’s Best Restaurant in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Prior to this, he was managing his family’s agricultural commodity export business though his base is that of a computer engineer: he studied Computing at Imperial College, London and worked for a mobile software firm, Symbian, for two years thereafter.
1. What drives you to be in the food and beverage industry?
Food has always been a passion from a young age, my father was a restaurateur and he introduced me to the world of food. The industry is constantly changing, evolving and unexplored; which is exciting for Mangal and me and we want to innovate in this space.
2. Where do you draw you inspiration from?
Major portion of our ideas come from multiple brain storming session that we have on a regular basis. Both of us are constantly reading and researching about what is happening in relation to food and event around the world. Plus we always have our ears to the ground; which gives us an insight into what is happening – restauranteurs like AD Singh, Riyaaz Amlani, Rahul Akherkar, Zorawar Kalra are constantly coming up with unique products which also inspire us to keep innovating.
3. What’s your regular comfort meal?
A nice bowl of homemade yellow daal, nothing beats that. Also Japanese Zaru Soba.
4.If you were to open a new restaurant, what style of food would you pick and where would you want it to be located?
I have run restaurants in the past, my dad ran a Chinese restaurant and I ran a pan Asian restaurant for 5 years. My next project / restaurant will definitely be a food lab, where we have a menu that evolves every day and serves about 25 guests a night. This will always be located in aamchi Mumbai
5.What or who are your influences?
I am highly influenced by chefs, the chef that inculcated my love in food is Yan Can Cook (Martin Yan), but people like Nobu, David Chang, Grant Achatz and Dan Barber. Japanese food and culture is also a great source of inspiration.
6.What are your new upcoming projects?
Our next project is an updated version of our existing property called Chefs Table Week, we will be revamping the same and taking it to more cities. We are also working on pop up restaurants with international chefs and a project called Stokd.
7.Mention one project which is very close to your heart?
All our projects are important and close to my heart. The projects purely put focus on dining and chefs which is always exciting.
8.Tell us more about the Citi Dine fest?
Citi presents DineFest is a new culinary event property that showcases the finest culinary experiences at informal dining restaurants in India held across Delhi and Mumbai. We offer you the opportunity to dine at each city’s finest informal dining restaurants at a fraction of the price it would normally cost, through three-course prix fixe menus. This allows participating restaurants to showcase their food by selecting dishes representative of their philosophy and diners get to experience restaurants they may have hesitated from trying. More importantly, however, it is a celebration of some of the best restaurants our country has to offer and a time for us to be proud of our culinary scene.
9.In the midst of such a hectic schedule how do you manage to relax yourself?
It is a constant battle and our wives are not very happy about it, but we love what we do and that continuously drives us
10.Which chef’s food would you go back for tasting again and again?
I recently had a fantastic meal cooked by Chef Gresham Fernandes and can keep going back for more, but in our last edition of Food with Benefits some of the dishes cooked by Chef Pooja Dhingra, Chef Alex Sanchez, Chef Irfan Pabaney, Chef Viraf Patel, Chef Kshama Prabhu still make my mouth water just thinking about them. But the food cooked by Chef Manish Mehrotra from Indian Accent is a must when I visit Delhi.
