While anti-restaurants have always existed?sometimes even constituting super-chic dining like in the case of two French chefs running a packed, weekend-only ?restaurant? out of their Manhattan studio apartment, relying only on word-of-mouth publicity to draw in a select audience for whom they would personally cook and serve?there is no doubt that the global recession of the past two years has contributed significantly to their popularity the world over. Food trends often reflect macro economic and political realities of the day and while the world may have staved off another great depression, the big global trends of 2010 in the world of food continue to be those inspired by (relative) austerity as opposed to the in-your-face luxury dining of the years preceding 2008.
So while the earlier years may have celebrated the likes of a 23-carat gold foil-covered ice cream sundae (for $ 1,000 a piece, mind you), for the past two years or so, the accent has become much more on ?real food?, local produce and traditional dining ?the way our parents/grandparents ate?. In India, where the slowdown had less effect than in Europe or America, these may not quite be discernible trends yet. But a new beginning seems to be getting made with the anti-restaurants coming of age even in our midst. By definition, these are places where restaurateurs and chefs don?t waste money on expensive trappings, where the focus is on food and where the ambience often reflects the strong (and often maverick) personalities of the owners/organisers.
Last week, I went to check out a small Asian caf? in Greater Kailash, Delhi, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the two young men running it have decided to cast it decidedly in an anti-caf? mould. Fu, meaning good luck in Mandarin, positions itself as a ?better-than-Chinese? place. It most certainly is. While it does not offer you the usual?either Indian-Chinese or more authenticated but formal fare?what it certainly excels at are street-style specialities, Chinese, Malay and Thai. There is a huge dim sum menu with not just the dumplings that we are used to, but also the likes of the popular Malay curry puffs and murtabak, a street snack of curried mutton in egg-wrapped roti chanai. (The last can be traced back to the Mughlai paranthas of India that have all but vanished from our own street repertoires but have adapted themselves to other mixed-up tastes no doubt.)
There are no coffees of the kind that you expect at assembly-line cafes that routinely spring up. Only Asian teas?including a Thai iced tea full of condensed milk?rule. The d?cor is minimal and the ambience so casual that you wouldn?t mind landing up in shorts. While a liquor licence is awaited, the owners are seriously contemplating making this a bring-your-own-booze type of a place that has not existed in mainstream Indian restaurants till now. But above all, Fu, co-owned by Kula Naidu, a young Modern School passout with Malaysian roots, and Gaurav Rekhi, a investment banker from London-turned-restaurateur, is an anti-caf? because of the low publicity quotient. The owners are definitely media shy and would rather that word about them spread slowly, on the strength of good food alone.
An anti-restaurant or anti-caf? is a place where food necessarily does all the talking?not some costly ambience, or marketing gimmickry. It is also a space that is much more personalised and imbued with the character of its owners or chefs, as opposed to more formulaic restaurants. Gunpowder, also in Delhi, is another example of precisely such a place. Run by a former journalist who cooks and serves himself, this back-of-the beyond eatery in Hauz Khas Village serving south Indian food shook up well established players not just because of the home-style offerings, but also because of the no-fuss charm of an anti-restaurant that can be so refreshing: Ask for ice-cubes and these are taken out of the refrigerator in a tray and handed over; think of music and the owner will strum a few lines on the guitar himself and so on?
There can be many other instances of the anti-movement. Pop-up restaurants, that come up just for one evening, a week or a couple of months at best, at a ?secret? location communicated to just a few through SMSes, blogs or Facebook, are another example. And besides these there are also picnics, gourmet pot lucks and informal supper (or tea) clubs run by an enterprising few that promise to serve up fresher, home-style, personalised bites. At the Marina beach on Chennai, vans bearing freshly squeezed juice are known to arrive early in the morning and give beach-fiends some serious value for money. The people dispensing the juice are not really your average in-dire straits vendors. Instead, from what a successful lawyer there told me, they are rich farmhouse owners along the coast who have so much surplus that they don?t know how to handle it, except in this way. That, I think, is quite an anti-bar as well, though, of course, those running it wouldn?t call it so.
A unique ?anti-venture? that has been running very successfully in the US is something called ?Outstanding in the Field?, a company that hosts ?dining events? on beaches, farms and even vineyards in the US and abroad. Chefs and support staff travel in a van from coast to coast and cook up regionally grown ingredients that are served as ticketed outdoor meals on long tables at roughly $ 150-200 per person! Typical gatherings feed about 150 people and tickets for 2010 for OITF events in the US are all but sold out as their website will tell you. To make your reservations for 2011 spring, you can register now.
In India, this is a concept waiting to be discovered, but already some interesting experiments are underway. The expat community, along with its retinue of jazz singers, diplomats, artists et al, in the metros, is known to host ?underground? dinners serving local or country-specific fare accompanied by informal music performances, dances and so forth. Only those in the know obviously can attend at a modest fee (Rs 500 per person is the norm in Delhi). And these make for stimulating get-togethers not the least because they provide so many networking opportunities.
But now there is even more. Blogger Pamela Tims, who came to India seven years ago with her husband from the UK, hosts unofficial tea parties. She, along with a friend, cooks personally and the high teas are either at home or at a friend?s home or even at another restaurant premises. Registration is done through Tims? blog and these teas have really caught on in certain select circuits. Obviously, they are never advertised. But they are a treat nevertheless for the authentic, home-style cooking they involve. And that?s really the best part of this whole anti- movement.
Yes, you have to pay, but the food is not totally commercialised!
?The writer is a food critic