Using food and meat harvested in New Zealand, chef Shaw says his food is different because of the freshness of the vegetables and meat that are used. Though New Zealand cuisine started off being just the same as British food, over the last two decades a lot of fusion cuisine has sprung up there, which mixes Pacific styles and Maori products.

Shaw, himself owned a restaurant in downtown Wellington, which had a predominant Italian membership. So he tailored his food to cater to the Italian tastes. Some of the food he is making at the Machan is reminiscent of this Italian connection.

But Shaw sold the restaurant when he had a disastrous shot at running for parliament from WellingtonCentral. He started his career as a student leader in his university days and then moved on to become a trade unionist. He then moved into hotel industry and worked his way up to become the general manager of a medium sized hotel. Suddenly, he decided to start his own restaurant.

After his election stint, Shaw took up offer of being consultant chef for many gourmet shops and has once again returned to become a full-time politician.

A lot of Shaw's food has a Pacific touch. And the fact that the spices used tropical, it will not be new to the Indian palate. But the combinations are unusual. The Tomato and Peanut soup, for example, has a thick tomato base with peanut, chilli, ginger and coriander in it. It's true of the chicken soup also, which is accompanied by sweet potato (Kumara in Maori) spiced up with cinnamon, cardamom and star anise.

The Lamb Shanks in the main course has the famous New Zealand lamb cooked with dal and sweet potato after being marinated with aromatic vegetables and redwine. The flavour is different but familiar for the Indian palate due to the use of dal.

But what was really different was the grilled Kapiti camembert cheese (Kapiti is a Maori goat milk cheese) served with grilled mushrooms, red pepper and tomatoes.

The New Zealand selection of fruits like Kiwi and Passion Fruit also made delectable combinations for desserts, with the menu even offering freshly made ice cream with any of the New Zealand fruits.

Some New Zealand wine has also been brought in for the festival which have bouquets of lemon, peach, kiwi, passion fruit and gooseberry.

A bottle of wine costs between Rs 1,300 and Rs 2,100, while a meal for two will cost Rs 1,500 plus taxes.

--Vidya Deshpande