Chef Megha Kohli tells Vaishali Dar how the past two decades of her culinary journey have shaped a deep respect for tradition, a curiosity to connect cultures, and a passion for flavour.
Pendulo, the new restaurant, offers Indian and Mexican cuisine in a 12-course collaborative tasting menu. How have you married the two, in terms of ingredients, cooking techniques or flavour profiles?
At Pendulo, the idea was never to create gimmicky fusion, but to let the food naturally converse with each other. Both Indian and Mexican cuisines are layered, complex, and deeply rooted in traditions, and that made the marriage surprisingly intuitive. You’ll see parallels everywhere: chutneys and salsas, masalas and moles, pickles and escabeches. We worked with techniques common to both cultures, slow braises, cooking on coal, fermenting, smoking, stone-grinding and allowed ingredients to cross borders while staying true to their essence. The result is a tasting menu that swings, like a pendulum, between Indian and Mexican notes, sometimes bold and fiery, sometimes subtle and soulful.
At a time when regional food and authentic recipes are becoming popular, how adventurous is this new venture?
I think it’s adventurous, but it’s also deeply respectful. Pendulo doesn’t compete with regional Indian cuisine—it celebrates it by placing it in dialogue with another culture that shares its soul. For instance, we bring a tellicherry mutton curry together with traditional birria-style taco, or pair Marashtrian thecha masala with Poblano peppers. You find nostalgia in the Indian dishes, but are surprised by how comfortably these sit next to their Mexican counterparts. To me, that’s the true adventure—not abandoning authenticity, but letting it expand and travel.
In over two decades of diverse experience in the F&B industry, you have headed establishments like Olive Beach, Lavaash by Saby, Mezze Mambo (Middle-Eastern), and Koca (global cuisine). Where do the ideas come from?
My ideas usually come from geography and memory. If there’s a spice, a technique, or a landscape that two cultures share, that becomes my starting point. I’ve always been drawn to cuisines that have depth and storytelling built in whether it was the Armenian influence on Kolkata Bengali food at Lavaash, the flavours of the ancient Silk route at Mezze Mambo, or the Mexi-Indian food at Pendulo. I tell the story of flavours and history through my food. It’s about creating a conversation across borders, finding common threads, and presenting them in ways that surprise but also comfort. Pendulo is the natural next step in that journey.
Your debut cookbook, India in a Bowl, adapts the classic Indian thali into wholesome one-bowl meals. Is there another book in the offing?
India in a Bowl was about reimagining comfort food for modern life, while still honouring the thali’s diversity. The response has been so heartening that I can’t wait to begin writing my next book! I am in conversation with Roli Books about my next book but it’s too early to share what it’s about.
What’s one dish that you feel best represents you as a chef and why?
For me, it has to be the Habanero Mango Pasanda from Pendulo’s menu. It reflects everything I value as a chef—a deep respect for tradition, a curiosity to connect cultures, and a passion for flavour that tells a story. Baby lamb is marinated in yoghurt and molato chili, smoked and charred in the tandoor, a technique I love and return to again and again because of the depth it gives to food. We pair it with bone marrow salsa for indulgence, fresh mango for sweetness, and fiery habanero for that unmistakable Mexican punch. And of course, it’s served with an Amritsari style kulcha but filled with avocado because I can’t imagine my cooking without bread. For me, breads are a canvas, a way of bringing comfort and completeness to a dish. The tandoor and bread together form a language I speak fluently, and this dish allows me to marry that language with a cross-cultural spirit. It’s rooted yet adventurous, indulgent yet playful and that duality mirrors who I am as a chef. It reflects my love for bold, layered flavours, my obsession with technique, and my joy in storytelling through food. It’s unexpected, comforting, and a little daring qualities that mirror how I like to cook and create.
