Restaurants

Cooking up food for thought

Rahul Akerkar Executive Chef and Partner Indigo Mumbai

Restaurateuring for Rahul Akerkar, executive chef and partner, Indigo Mumbai wasn't about glamourous décor and celebrity clientele. It was, and is, about food; typical of his pervasive approach towards hospitality which is to stick to what it's all truly about

To suggest that Rahul Akerkar, executive chef and partner, Indigo Mumbai introduced Mumbai to international standalone fine dining is to divert the man himself from the only subject he would prefer to dwell on - food. And its testament stands quite literally in a posh Mumbai arts district as Indigo Restaurant. Akerkar recalls, "When I was running Under The Over, my first project in India, chefs weren't brands, let alone turning standalone restaurateurs. I was a dedicated chef but I would interact with guests and take their opinion of the food. My approach to the whole business was different. While one doesn't have to be a chef to be a restaurateur, they have to see fine dining as a culture rather than just about making money."

The game plan

With it's 150-wine list it became the first Indian restaurant to win the Wine Spectator award. "The secret isn't groundbreaking; it is simply about bringing international restaurateuring home," Akerkar says. That Indigo has become a lifestyle icon, Akerkar is comfortable with, but food will always be central. "This is a restaurant and events are a side attraction which is fine. I believe that people go to a restaurant to eat and come back to eat," he asserts. His most telling revelation is that the Indian palate loves flavour not spice.

On the horizon

With his current restaurant growing at 20 per cent and his second venture, Indigo Deli doing just as well, he isn't slowing down. A void of a hotel management degree and a history of violent stuttering didn't deter Akerkar from becoming India's inarguably first and most extroverted standalone chef restaurateur.

Akerkar believes…

He believes that hotels present a huge opportunity for standalone restaurateurs and vice versa. Standalone restaurants suffer from certain constraints particularly in the area of finance where hotels with their deep pockets can step in while the restaurateur can concentrate on making the F&B unit a profitable one. He observes, "It will always be about the food. Hotels should ensure that the organisation they outsource their restaurant or bar to should be professional and match up to the requisite standard. But beyond that, they would be better off concentrating on their room business while feeling assured that their F&B units are being turned around."