How Indian chefs are riffing on traditional flavours to serve sustainable, healthy dishes to a new generation of worldly diners
- In recent years, well-informed young Indians have started to move away from fast food in favour of fare prepared sustainably and with locally sourced ingredients
- Chefs from New Delhi to Goa are responding by taking diners back to their roots, and serving new spins on dishes enjoyed in regional communities for generations
Nestled in a mango grove on a 37-acre farm, Farmlore is the latest addition to the thriving food scene of Bangalore, India’s tech hub in the south of the country.
The 18-seat restaurant opened in 2021 and offers a 10-course seasonal farm-to-table menu curated by three chefs who have worked at Michelin-recommended restaurants: Johnson Ebenezer, the former executive chef of Nadodi, in Kuala Lumpur; Mythrayie Iyer, who worked at Noma, in Copenhagen; and Avinnash Vishaal, formerly of Frantzen, in Stockholm.
Farmlore does not peg itself to any particular cuisine; the food is made with indigenous produce and respect for the traditions of South India, but with a contemporary twist.
Dishes might include Bannur lamb – known for its fatty texture – rubbed with salt, wrapped in banana leaves and smoked for two days; or comfort foods like ambali – a meal of buttermilk, ragi porridge and lime pickle, and mappillai samba and horse gram khichdi – a rice and lentil dish – topped with peppery duck.
Even the restaurant’s desserts make use of local ingredients like curry leaf, jaggery and cow colostrum.
