In Chennai, where I stayed for half a month last month and made several startling discoveries as a result, what astounded me the most was the popularity of Korean food. In a city that we had always imagined to be ultra conservative, more given to Sarvanna Bhavans and Woodlands rather than non-vegetarian gastronomic pleasures, the tables seemed to have completely turned. Not only were the various Madurai, Military and Chettinad places doing brisk business with their spicy meat curries, but international cuisines too seemed to have made a serious dent in the eating habits of the locals. Cappucino was the rage ? not filter coffee. There was homemade hummus to be had in steel katoris at a lazy, al fresco caf? on Chamien?s Road, which is the new intellectual, arty hangout these days. There were Japanese and Thai restaurants going full even on week nights but above all, a bland cuisine like Korean seemed to have found a huge number of takers.
Chennai, of course, has a huge expat populace thanks to the industry there. (In fact, chairman of TVS motors Venu Srinivasan, based out of Chennai, is the honourary counsel general of Korea.) And so it should really be no surprise that you can come across such authentic Korean fare in this city. But even without expat communities that have no doubt helped propel middle-class India?s experimentation with diverse foods, it is a fact that Asian cuisines?the more elusive, the better?are now catching on in all our metros like never before. From Vietnamese (that has been discovered by fashionable society) to Burmese, Japanese, Nonya, even Cambodian, not to mention Thai, everything is in brisk demand.
If you notice, I haven?t mentioned Chinese here. And that?s a deliberate omission. India?s love affair with Chinese food (or at least Punjabi-Chinese or curry leaves-Chinese, down south) has been amply evident in the past few decades. And while the manchurian, sweet corn soup and spring rolls?entirely of indigenous extraction?may now constitute comfort food for us akin to our dal chawal, it is really the rising popularity of the rest of Asian cuisines that is a trend to watch out for.
Thai food began to gain real popularity, especially outside the five star format, only by the mid 1990s. And even then the ?fishy? smell of oyster sauce and so on were not taken kindly to by many. On the other hand, thickened coconut-based curries, pad thai noodles, satays and lightly stir-fried vegetables slowly gained acceptance and Indian-Chinese restaurants were forced to admit a smattering of Indianised Thai into their ranks. The next decade, in turn, saw the beginnings of the sushi revolution. Japanese came into focus and while it may be the more accessible Americanised Japanese food which is in demand even today, we at least got over the raw fish mindset. And yes thanks to economic liberalisation, we also got exposed to the likes of Korean.
As we are poised on the cusp of another new decade, it is my contention that all the wonderful cuisines of the lands between the two big civilisations of India and China will now curry favour in the growing Indian F&B market. Vietnamese food, for long a favourite in America and Europe, seems to be certainly coming into its own in the country in cities as disparate as Goa, Bangalore and Gurgaon. However, as we learn to differentiate between the finer nuances of regional south-east Asian cuisines, we are all set to discover the delicious offerings of Burmese, Cambodian, Malay or indeed Nonya cuisines.
At Asia Seven, a brand by Amit Burman owned Lite Bite Foods, there is a smattering of diverse Asian cuisines on the menu. It?s not a new restaurant, but as corporate chef Bakshish Dean, who has recently joined the group after a long stint at The Park New Delhi, showcases his new menu to me, I am completely blown away. In place of the usual favourites that we all go for when sampling from a predominantly Chinese/ Thai pan-Asian menu, Dean has unearthed fresher flavours. There is a tom yum cola brought to the table?Coke dressed up with lemon grass and all the other herbs that go into a tom yum soup. There are different kinds of satays?a Thai one, flavoured with lemon grass and a Malaysian one, with kafir lime leaf, served alongside a peanut sauce?to let us appreciate regional differences. And there is a whole range of dim sums, including a soup dumpling filled with chicken jelly before steaming, so that when you pop one in your mouth, the liquid oozes out. There is also a Cambodian lamb curry, with its distinctive use of cumin, coriander and cloves which tastes and smells legitimately different from a Thai curry, as well as a Malaysian fish head curry, which all the Bengalis should enjoy. Each flavour is distinct.
But even amongst these disparate cuisines competing for our mindspace, what I am very hopeful will succeed, is Nonya. This is the food of the Peranakans, of mixed Chinese and Malay parentage, who inhabited Malacca and Singapore and came into social prominence during the British colonisation. Their food, with its rich and diverse combinations of herbs and spices, borrowing from Chinese, Malay and even Indian influences, is truly a m?lange that you cannot resist, as Dean?s menu promises. It helps, of course, that the curry trail began in India and thus the flavours are familiar to a large majority in India even while they are ?exotic?. It is time we discovered the Asian diversity.
?The writer is a food critic