Chef Subhasish Bandopadhyay rules the roost at the gazebo-like Chef Studio at KhanaSutra, the nouvelle Indian cuisine restaurant at Chrome Hotel, which is inspired by the Rajasthani jharokha style of seating Make-up: Abhijit Kayal Models: Oeindrila Biswas and Kushal Trivedi

Celebrity chef Hemant Oberoi knows how to pamper diners. So if you are a foodie for whom no expense is too great, who craves a rich ambience to match the gourmet cuisine on your plate, The Chef’s Studio at The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower in Mumbai could be your ultimate destination. In this eight-seater temple of fine dining, you can even watch your food as it’s photographed by cutting-edge cameras and beamed on giant plasma screens.

Oberoi, the 56-year-old star of the culinary world, who has served up multi-course meals to the likes of the Obamas, Bill Clinton, Prince Charles, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and even The Pope, has cranked up the heat at the dinner table by taking private dining to the next level.

So, he presides over the Chef’s Studio, a by-appointment-only space in the Heritage Wing of The Taj Mahal Palace, where he offers a nine-course menu for two to six people priced anywhere between Rs 75,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh. “It’s created for very exclusive guests who can appreciate the finest things in life,” says Oberoi, corporate chef, luxury division and the grand executive chef of The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower.

If you’re a connoisseur of fine dining, this could be for you. The Chef’s Table/Studio is the most exclusive space in an already upmarket restaurant where the chef who rules the roost will pull out all the stops for you.

Of course, the Chef’s Studio is at an arm’s length from run-of-the-mill diners. What’s more, throughout the meal the chef will be by your side, peppering every dish with his detailed instructions on how to eat it, and information on the ingredients.

At the F Grill n Lounge, guests are treated to some heavy duty culinary pampering by corporate chef Rakesh Talwar Pix: Jagan Negi

Indeed the action in the country’s top restaurants is getting hotter all the time as everyone gears to face mounting competition and insane levels of expectation. “The foodie is not the same anymore,” rues Vidur Parashar, co-owner of the just launched contemporary Pan Asian fine dining hotspot Circa 1193. “Experiences savoured on distant shores need to be replicated back home. And a well- travelled freewheeling diner is always game for experimentation,” he adds.

Next door to the Qutub Minar — it’s foundation is believed to have been laid in 1193 AD, hence the name — Circa 1193 has a Chef’s Table that can seat between four and six people. Mahogany toned plush loungers surround the sprawling Chef’s Table. Also, there’s a special pedestal for Achal Aggarwal, the chef who holds court here.

Here Aggarwal plies diners with champagne and canapés, holding forth on the difference between white and black truffles, shaving them on top of dishes with flair. The diners meanwhile negotiate their way through a quirky menu [read truffle scallops grilled with sweet miso, tuna tataki (Japanese style of fish/meat preparation), salad of pickled mushrooms, palm heart (the inner core of the palm tree that’s extremely expensive since the tree dies after the heart is harvested], artichokes and much more.

Chef Achal Aggarwal holds forth on the nuances of gourmet dining at Circa 1193 Pix : Jagan Negi

“The cuisine is a riff on contemporary Pan Asian but with generous French and Italian influences,” explains Aggarwal. You may find something as funky as an edamame gnocchi in which the Japanese and Italian schools of cooking are married while a pan seared foie gras with dark soy sauce is a cross between French and Asian cuisines.

Clearly, the chef is the maestro who conducts these dining extravaganzas. At San-qi, Four Seasons Hotel Mumbai’s Asian restaurant, chef Toshikazu Kato has something called the Omakase, a Japanese term which translates into ‘it’s up to you.’ The Omakase menu, is a special eight-course set meal that’s completely decided by the Japanese chef and features everything from the Robatayaki (dishes cooked on the Robata Grill) to desserts with authentic Japanese flavours like green tea crème brulee and red bean jam chocolate fondant.

“Ideally a menu decided by the chef which the omakase definitely is, needs to be booked in advance. I can accordingly throw in more specials and creative amuse bouches showcasing the entire spectrum of Japanese cuisine,” explains chef Kato.

Hemant Oberoi’s Studio at The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower conjures up a stylish ambience with Versace-designed Rosenthal dinnerware, Ercuis cutlery, Riedel wine goblets, the works

In addition to showcasing his specialities like Robatayaki miso cod, foie gras chawanmushi (a steamed Japanese dish), Takikomi Gohan Seasonal Steamed Rice, chef Kato will customise the meal, explain each dish as much as possible, and eventually encourage the diners to try something out of the box. “For a well-rounded experience, I try and put together an assortment that covers key techniques and tastes of Japanese cuisine,” points out Kato.

Move to Calcutta where KhanaSutra, the nouvelle Indian cuisine restaurant at Chrome Hotel Calcutta has gazebo-like enclosures inspired by the Rajasthani jharokha style of seating, where you have to book at least 48 hours in advance to watch chef Subhasish Bandopadhyay’s artistry.

Mixing crazy flavours and textures happens to be the chef’s forte and you can catch him in action serving a clutch of quirky items like garden greens with red chilli jam, steamed momos shaped like hearts and triangles and the North Indian speciality murg makhni where the chicken is served as roulades or European rolls of sliced meat.

Mandaar Sukhtankar, executive chef, The Park Hyderabad, says the Chef’s Table needs to be booked at least two days in advance to plan an elaborate culinary affair

Even the palate cleansers like sweet yoghurt and blackberry sorbets, though playing around with familiar flavours, are imaginative and aim to tease the taste buds. “Playing with ingredients is fun and incredibly exciting for a chef, especially when the setting is theatrical and you have the diner as an audience,” says the nouvelle cuisine chef.

KhanaSutra’s Chef’s Table has the Gueridon Service in which half-cooked dishes are carted to the table on a trolley and finished in front of the diner. Hemant Oberoi’s Studio, at the other end of the culinary spectrum, conjures up a stylish ambience with a special lien of Versace-designed Rosenthal dinnerware, Ercuis cutlery, long-stemmed Versace glasses, Riedel wine goblets and Limoges porcelain. “The studio also has a facility for video conferencing to share recipes and cooking methods,” adds Oberoi.

A chic ambience obviously is a given for the Chef’s Table. At the newly opened F Grill Lounge in the capital, you access the private seating area, a 25-cover pristine white space through a flight of stairs, where corporate chef Rakesh Talwar showcases his culinary repertoire by serving up avant-garde food presentations (read risotto with green tea and mushroom foam, cheese cake served in shot glasses and flavoured with lemon, grapes and berries). The private dining area on the first floor of the property has a panoramic view of the performance space on the ground floor which hosts live entertainment acts five days a week.

The private dining rooms are equally dramatic at Italia, the Park Group’s luxe Italian dining joints in Bangalore, New Delhi and Chennai. These are outfitted with floor length gilt-edged mirrors, a wine wall, contemporary light installations and plush leather upholstered seats in deep fawn tones. The private dining room is usually the venue for a concept called Table One, where the chef of any Italia outfit whips up a customised multi-course meal for a party of 10-12 people. This made-to-order meal could set you back by anything between Rs 1,500 and Rs 6,000 per person depending on the courses dished up.

Chef Toshikazu Kato of San-qi, the Asian restaurant at Four Seasons Hotel, serves an eight-course set meal starting with the Robatayaki to desserts like green tea crème brulee and red bean jam chocolate fondant Gajanan Dudhalkar

“For an elaborate culinary affair one needs to ideally book Table One at least two days in advance so that we can sit the patron down and bounce off ideas on his food preferences and quirks,” notes Mandaar Sukhtankar, executive chef, The Park Hyderabad, who oversees operations across all the Italia outfits.

As expected, the ingredients play a crucial role in this culinary drama. Chefs like Aggarwal of Circa 1193 offer diners delicacies such as Alaskan King Crabs, Blue Point Oysters, Hamachi, Hokkaido scallops and Kobe beef, while others like Sukhtankar of Italia play around with a profusion of salumi imported from northern Italy like guanciale, pancetta, mortadella and coppa. “There’s also a spectrum of cheeses that steals the show including pecorino and parmigiano reggiano,” states Sukhtankar. Aggarwal even has plans to incorporate the hop asparagus, one of the costliest vegetables of the world in his menu.

The only question after a meal like this will be: how do you top this experience.