Vikas Khanna with Rakhi Purnima at Kewpie’s. Picture: Arnab Mondal

In between shooting a portion of Twist of Taste at Kewpie’s, Michelin star chef Vikas Khanna chatted with Rakhi Purnima Dasgupta, the owner of the Bengali dine den. t2 listened in...

Vikas Khanna: Rakhi Purnima Dasgupta. The middle name reminds me of Purnima, the restaurant I almost recreated in Gordon Ramsay’s show Kitchen Nightmares!

I remember a producer from Ramsay’s show called me one early morning. I used to work in a very small restaurant, Tandoor Palace, near Wall Street at that time. Only the Wall Street guys would come, Indians only. I used to sell meat for $4-$6 and uttapam and dosa. Gordon Ramsay was doing this episode and said he wanted the best Indian chef in New York. Now this producer used to come to my restaurant. She went and spoke highly of me to Ramsay, who then came and met me. I cooked a lot for him and had all the food ready in 20 minutes. They loved it and I was taken on board to revive an almost-dying restaurant, called the Dillons. And I changed it to Purnima. So Purnima was my big connection between nowhere to somewhere important.

Rakhi Purnima Dasgupta: Oh wow! I had been to your restaurant (Junoon in New York). You weren’t there. The first thing I noticed was the brown-and-beige interiors...

Vikas: Everybody said you should use a lot of colour, as India is all about colours. But I said, let’s go against the road. We took a lot of clay from India and photographed it in wet and dry form. It’s a tribute to the soil of India. What better colour than that of clay?

Rakhi: Your menu card is black and embossed. Very impressive! There were a couple of dishes, which I found interesting. I had the Star Anise Sea Scallops with cracked white peppercorn and cinnamon on top. And Adraki Bater (ginger quail). I realised that you take something and then you deconstruct it. And then recreate it. Was that your philosophy in creating the menu?

Vikas: In America, you will find something called template menus. Americans feel that we do the same menus in almost all restaurants. Samosa, kachori, papri chaat, chicken tikka, seekh kebab, tandoori chicken.... So if they want to eat that food, they can eat them at the next-door restaurant and pay maybe $3. At Junoon, I will be charging $12 to $18 per appetiser. People should feel the effort and energy our guys have put into researching and putting the food on the table.

I don’t have Saag Paneer on the menu, or Chicken Tikka Masala. I don’t have Paneer Makhni or things that Americans would usually ask for. I am not going to serve you the same Punjabi food which has been served by a thousand other people. How will America discover new dishes and have new favourites? Now, even Americans come and say, just let Vikas say what to eat. That means faith. I took a risk. Because you deconstruct something and try to make it more interesting, it is a risk.

Rakhi: I enjoyed the duck, cooked in Tellicherry peppercorn sauce...

Vikas: When I went to Kerala, I was shocked by how much duck they ate! I thought, why are we not experimenting with that?

Rakhi: We also eat duck in Bengal. We used to eat duck eggs and duck meat. Not chicken. Chicken came into the Bengali kitchen much later. The duck at Junoon was interesting, with the curry leaves and the tamarind.

Vikas: Yes, that sauce was inspired by a duck stew I had in a place called Kottayam, where the lady made duck in a stew of kaali mirch, curry leaves, a little bit of coconut and cocum. When I went back I thought I would do that.... There was a big poll once about who the hottest chef in New York was. I won the poll and people started saying how I made Indian food so sexy. I was on every television channel and suddenly I find Gordon Ramsay wants me to cook that duck, Martha Stewart wants me to cook that duck. I was like, really?!

Rakhi: So, when and where did you learn to cook?

Vikas: I was born just a few minutes away from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. I was born with certain disabilities, so I couldn’t play. I used to go to the temple with my grandmother, cut vegetables and roll rotis. I was in love with it. I loved that I was gifted to make a perfect round roti at the age of seven! There I became an equal to all other kids. At 17, I started Lawrence Gardens banquet service. For it, we needed Rs 10,000 at least. We took up a challenge of selling sweaters to a school. So I learnt how to knit and made 540 sweaters on my summer holiday. In 1990, on December 2, we opened Lawrence Gardens in the back of my house. One tandoor, 24 chairs, 24 plates. I used to make Bhature Chhole, Fried Paneer and Spring Roll, which I learnt later.

Rakhi: What was your inspiration?

Vikas: When you get a Michelin star, you have to dedicate your star to something. So I said this star is dedicated to those thousands of kitchens and all those women in them, who without any hesitation and regrets, shared their recipes with me. Because of that I got the Michelin star. They are the biggest inspiration.

Rakhi: What is your formal training?

Vikas: I graduated from Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration, Manipal. I don’t know how my father organised that. They realised that if I didn’t go, I would die. They tried to take me off cooking so many times. Kids would not stop making fun of me. But I couldn’t stop it.

Rakhi: My brother was like that. It’s unfortunate that he is no more. He was in one of the first batches at Institute of Hotel Management, Taratala, in 1968.

Vikas: In 1968?!

Rakhi: Yes, my father was very angry because he was not going to be an accountant or an engineer. He said he wanted to be a cook. My family freaked out. However, this is his legacy... that today we are sitting here.... You had been closest to your grandmother?

Vikas: My grandmother supported me the most. She told my family, ‘He is born for this.’ And then everybody said, ‘Arre bhookha mar jayega. Koi shaadi nahin karega.’ Shaadi abhi tak nahin hui. That’s a different story.... Now people brand this profession as sexy. Food is so interesting, so beautiful.

Rakhi: But it’s very hard work. Very few people know that, actually. They think it’s glamorous.

Vikas: You will get these kids who want to train under you because if they get trained in a Michelin-starred restaurant, it’s easy for them to go and say, ‘Listen, I have worked with a Michelin-starred chef and I want to do a TV show now.’ They come to me not to cook, but to be famous! It’s very painful.... Becoming famous was just a stroke of luck for me. The food has to be the real thing.

Rakhi: What are you planning next?

Vikas: We are doing Season 4 of Twist of Taste. It’s called A Sweet Life. After this I have a small book coming up. Next year is very crucial. I am experimenting with my life. I am launching a book priced around Rs 8 lakh.

Rakhi: Why? Does it have gold leaf?

Vikas: It is 12 years of my life. It has every festival and its food from India. I don’t want to price it low.... I have shot all the photographs in the book.

Rakhi: I won’t be able to afford it! Will you do a paperback for us?

Vikas: During Diwali, I will launch it in a bit toned down version because I want it to reach more people. We will sell that for Rs 6,000.

Rakhi: There is no Bengali dish on your menu at Junoon...

Vikas: In America, it is still a bit difficult to serve Bengali food. I tried to serve some Bengali recipes like Daab Chingri in my restaurant. But it was difficult to sell. Somebody has to really go out and promote it. Now there is at least an awareness about kasundi. There is an overlap between Bengali and Bangladeshi cuisine. People may disagree. The other day I was telling someone that bas yahin pata lage mere bachcho ko. Paanch phoron pata lag jaye. The start will be from this!