There is no cheese in this vegetarian menu. Avtaara, which recently opened in Mumbai, won the Michelin award in Dubai last year for a good cause. Now the world’s first and only vegetarian, Indian and one-Michelin-star restaurant, it finds imaginative ways to use local vegetables that people dislike, ignore or take for granted.
For example, bitter gourd is repurposed into tikkis with ghee-roasted spices. It is paired with creamy gelato made with mango sambar, served with dosa crisps for crunch. The simple turnip is presented in the form of galouti kebab with a creamy curry made of kidney beans and turnips – a dish that takes inspiration from Kashmir – accompanied by katalam, a flaky, Kashmiri bread.
Karuvelvilas (bitter gourd) Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Avatar comes from the house of Passion F&B, which includes Dubai-based establishments such as Tresind Studio, Carnival by Tresind, Tresind, Bistro Aamara and A Cappella. Chef Himanshu Saini and Chef Rahul Rana, along with Head Chef, Mumbai, Sanket Joshi, are keen to bring unique experiences to Indian customers. After all, the restaurant’s 14-course vegetarian degustation menu doesn’t include any of the regular suspects, including cheese and mushrooms. To take it a step further, it also doesn’t contain onion or garlic.
Do you want to know how this will unfold? so are we.
Interiors of Avtara, Mumbai Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The two-week-old restaurant, drenched in white, blue and sea green, is on the seventh floor of a building in Santa Cruz and although there are no views of the city, there is plenty to admire on your plate.
Our meal starts with a cold drink – pineapple rasam with curry leaves. The first course, named Naivedya, is inspired by sacred offerings to the deities and is encased in a plate with a peacock-themed design. Bon-bons filled with homemade butter, popping sugar and panchamrit (honey, vanilla, almond milk, rose water and orange peel) serve as amuse-bons.
Sandhita | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Alpahara (which means snacks in Sanskrit) is designed by Chef Omkar Valway of Avtara Dubai, who won the prestigious Michelin Young Chef award last year. “I tasked Omkar, who hails from Maharashtra, with the task of showcasing a dish inspired by his region and he came up with the snack,” Rahul told us. Crispy air fried bhindi is stuffed with chilli thecha and aloo vadi. Alu Wadi turns into a mini taco filled with taro leaves and roots. Sol Kadhi, served on the side, is topped with rose-shaped green apples and soaked in kokum.
The next course, called Jadon, focuses on root vegetables such as yam, beetroot, lotus stem, orange sweet potato, tapioca and purple sweet potato. Cut into thin slices and baked whole, they can be dipped in tangy pomegranate or creamy chickpea mash.
The courses showcase the diversity of India’s regional cuisines. For example, in a dish called Shikhalu, charred babycorns are served on a base of Rajasthan-inspired missi ghevar, while in Karuvelvilas, bitter gourds are cooked with artichokes. Broccolini and carrots are found in a marinade with buttery gravy at sandhita, and jackfruit-filled momos are drenched in fragrant and earthy sea buckthorn and lemongrass thukpa in a dish called panasa.
Panasa | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Before moving on to the main meal, we cleanse our palates with passion fruit, strawberry and spiced guava water. Rahul says the Mumbai restaurant serves two new signature courses, Shubhanjna and Vrihi, which take inspiration from the culinary traditions of Bihar and Maharashtra. Inspired by Bihar’s famous Litti Chokha, Rahul got creative with Drumstick Chokha and Sattu Kachori. Mumbai being his domain, Sanket shows off his culinary skills with the Kolhapur-inspired Vreehi, which combines tambada bhaat (red rice) with parsnip juice and black lemon pickle. It has the kind of nice-spicy and tangy taste that makes us go back again and again.
Ksheera (Kheer) Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Of the two sweets, ksheera (kheer) and madhuram (sweet), it is the latter that impresses. Created by pastry chef Kamlesh Singh, this is a classic of Uttarakhand’s Bal Mithai with milk chocolate fudge; Its sweetness is offset by sparkling homemade wine with a pungent anise-flavor. To be honest, this could have been the last course without the inclusion of parna, a chocolate-coated shell with betel leaf extract that is placed on an elaborate peacock feather-lined plate.
hair sweets Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
There’s a lot to appreciate at Avtaara, including the stunning plating – a takeaway from Chef Rahul’s pastry chef days – the use of seemingly boring vegetables in creative ways with unheard flavor combinations. Our suggestion – never look up your nose at a turnip. This may surprise you.
Meal for two costs ₹4,500 plus taxes 7th Floor, Krishna Curve Building, Opp Juhu Garden, Santa Cruz West, Mumbai 400054.
