EATING IN
THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT RESTAURANTS IN THE city are upping their game in terms of technique, technology, plating, sourcing the best and freshest produce as well as interior décor. But there is another interesting trend that food lovers are being treated to thanks to folks like The Danda Project, husband wife duo Neha Sumitran and Vahishta Mistry, as well as Chef Sarita Perreira—that of bringing the restaurant experience home in the form of catered private dinners, secret suppers, community meals. In a sense, these are becoming the anti-restaurant, often bringing together food-minded strangers who are open to experimentation, allowing the chef far greater leeway than in a traditional restaurant kitchen. Perreira, who runs LoveFools, a gourmet ‘dinner lab’ she launched last October in Bandra, seldom reveals the menu to her eager diners. Speaking to India Today Mumbai, she reveals her interests, inspirations and her reverence for the Catalan technique.
Q. In what way is the dinner lab more exciting?
A. Each of my 8-course Saturday community dinners are based on a particular theme. They are not cuisine-based but are influenced by flavour profiles. So I create flavour journeys on the basis of how citrus interacts with various ingredients, or what smoking does not just to meats and seafood but to vegetables and liquids too. Here, diners allow me to steer them. I hosted a lot of private dinners before I set up LoveFools and in the process came down to 8 from 22 courses. Q. Who has been the biggest influence on your cooking style?
A. Catalan Chef Nando Jubany, who I had the chance of working with at his restaurant in Barcelona, taught me the fundamental techniques. He’s the Rene Redzepi of Catalonia. He taught me how to retain the colour of vegetables, how to best use meats. I believe that flavours go far deeper than cuisine and enjoy breaking down traditional ways of cooking and reconstructing. When I’m approaching a dish, I try to retain the flavours that come from a certain cultural and historical context. For me, half the story is produce and the other half is intuition. For instance, I used to use sous vide a lot when I first returned and my husband hated it. I found a way to retain the tenderness of meat through sous vide but bring out the flavours by barbequing it too. Q. How do you keep up with food trends? Using over-ripe fruit and fermentation is currently trending. I’ve been trying to work with these and might put it together as a meal sometime soon. ‘Trial Tuesdays’ help me test my creations on those who have enjoyed Saturday dinners. My next meal is based on smoke and how it reacts with flavours in the most classic sense.
Q. Is produce a challenge for you?
A. Beef is a big problem. You have to learn to make the most of what you have. The butcher knows best so I asked him what is the tastiest cut. He showed me the fibres in leg piece and told me that the shoulder is tastier because it has less fibres. At 124-A, Dr BR Ambedkar Rd, Pali Hill Meal For One Rs 3,000 Details thelovefools.com