Return Of The Native

Americans don’t really like Indian food. So it’s a big deal when Indian chefs make it there. And Suvir Saran, one of them, is now back home.

Iam going to be blunt: I don’t think Americans like Indian food. Oh yes, there is a tiny elite that patronises top Indian restaurants but it is a very small proportion even among big-city Americans. (You can forget about the heartland and rural America.)

Which is not to say that there aren’t good or successful Indian restaurants in America. The most famous, of course, is Campton Place in San Francisco where chef

Srijith Gopinath has held on to two Michelin stars. Rajesh Bhardwaj’s Junoon in New York (where Vikas Khanna was the opening chef ) also has a Michelin star but I don’t think there are too many other Michelin-starred Indian restaurants in America.

There are some terrific ones, though: The Punjab Grill in Washington DC is one of the best Indian restaurants outside of the country; Indian Accent booms in New York though it is routinely ignored by foolish Michelin inspectors. And I am sure there are many wonderful places that I have not been to.

But, if you can count the top Indian restaurants in a country the size of America on your fingers, then it is clear that there is a problem.

This has been true for as long as I can remember. Way back in the 1970s, the Taj group opened a restaurant called Raga in New York City to withering press criticism (the Taj group, wrote New York magazine, is notorious for serving horrible food in beautiful surroundings) and steadily diminishing financial returns.

The places that prospered, on the whole, tended to be Bukharakwality rip-offs serving heavy

North Indian food to people who had no idea what Indians really eat at home. Very few restaurateurs attempted to reach the city’s big spenders (as Raga had tried to do) and the average Indian meal experience was seekh kebab and butter chicken at such places as Bombay Palace.

There were individual chefs who tried to make a difference.

Finally, India will get a taste of the chef who got our cuisine its first Michelin star in America

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about how Indian restaurants in America were to be run and created his own distinctive menu of delicious, light, homestyle Indian food. The success of Devi turned him into one of New York’s best known young chefs.

But his health has been a problem in recent years. At one stage, he kept falling and hurting his head, which led to serious concussions. His eyesight was badly affected and later, he had a small stroke. Doctors eventually told him that he suffered from a condition called Orthostatic Hypotension, which caused his blood pressure to fluctuate wildly, almost from minute to minute. That explained the sudden falls. It is under control now and he gives the credit to Dr. Roopa Salwaan of Max.

Now that he has recovered his health, Saran is back to what friends say is his old self. He has recruited a bright new team for his restaurants by going out and trying food at restaurants everywhere in India.

The first place to open (this month) will be The House of Celeste, in Gurgaon (around 32nd Milestone). This will be a causal restaurant, which will feature Saran’s twists on old favourites as well as some of his more ambitious dishes.

Early next year, there will be a bakery/café in Defence Colony. Then, there are also several projects planned. He and his partners might open a boutique hotel in Goa. There will probably be a large, fun restaurant there as well. He is looking for a space in New Delhi or South Delhi to open a medium-sized modern Indian restaurant, which will probably be his flagship operation in gastronomic terms. If nothing goes wrong, all of the new places should open within the next 12 months.

I asked him how he felt about coming back to India after having spent so long abroad. He loved it, he said. It was his health that drove him back into the bosom of his supportive family in Delhi but he says that he has rarely been happier.

“Even when I was legally blind (following the concussions) I cooked almost daily in Lado Sarai in a friend’s kitchen to keep my hands wet, if you will,” he says. He was able to overcome his illness and get back to work only because he was at home. “I owe a lot to India and my fellow Indians,” he adds with feeling. “Their spirit of living life king size kept me motivated.

Saran’s doctors have told him that his health has now improved enough for him to undertake the strenuous job of opening new restaurants. And so, finally, India will get a taste of the chef who got our cuisine its first Michelin star in America.

“One has to fight illness head on,” he concludes. “And then nothing can stop one.”

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