Amid learning to love dosa in 2018 and enjoying a home-cooked Kashmiri meal in 2023, Daniel Humm, Chef and owner of New York based restaurant Eleven Madison Park (EMP), discovered a definite affection for India. “It (India) is a tremendously extraordinary place,” he says. EMP made impressions by becoming the foremost plant forward big league fine dine to bag 3 Michelin stars feted by The World’s 50 Best ( since 2012) and the James Beard Foundation; and Humm has had enough honours to his name for one to lose count. Masque, the iconic experiential restaurant in Mumbai, renowned for its plant-forward cooking, rediscovers this plant haven over a culinary project termed, A Nod to Nature’s Best where Chef Daniel Humm’s 10-course, plant-based menu was a part of this collaboration recently. Here, Daniel dished out his stimulation and spoke about why the biosphere needs to be sustainable.
How it all began
Daniel Humm and his EMP team along with Aditi Dugar, director and founder of Masque and Varun Totlani, head chef of Masque began their India trip on August 23 from New Delhi in search of home-grown food and sourcing indigenous ingredients including fiddlehead ferns, kaphal, chestnuts, wild herbs, hisalu, rhododendron and stone fruit. In Kashmir, Daniel’s expedition also led him through the primeval kandurs (bakeries) and around the resident markets to observe the ethnic produce that Kashmir has to offer. Daniel finally arrived in Mumbai on August 27 to lay out the coveted teamwork dinner with Masque on September 1 and 2. Speaking about the 10-course, plant forward menu, Varun says the idea was to vitrine what both Masque and EMP formerly do, but in a unified way, and also to revel Indian produce. “The food was clearly Daniel’s panache of cooking, which is enthused by Swiss, French and American. The reason we opted a plant-based menu for this collaboration is because we wanted to acme what he does, but also in our own way with an Indian bend,” shares Varun.
The proof is in the pudding
The black truffle tart that the meal starts is a clear testimony to that. Next up is the tomato tea, which had tremendous flavour with the gondhoraj lime and a bit of chilli oil adding fattiness. At the same time, the consommé was brought out, the server dropped off dosa with marigold and tomato chutney and a plate of raw cherry tomatoes and drumsticks. Served simply with a bit of seasoning and lemon oil dressing; clever way to showcase the cuisine philosophy.
In the next course, Daniel shows off his produce is by mincing it in the form of a tartare, in this case with carrot which was paired with many ingredients. While we were surprised by how good a carrot could be, this was mostly about the quality of the carrot and spot-on seasoning which lifted everything up without being overly dressed. A more substantial course featured a Ladi Pav with Podi and cashew butter with a curry leaf chutney. Perhaps, this was a touch simple but the cooking was precise and it is hard to debate with the warm, calming flavours of the dish and its top-class ingredients.
Next up was our favourite, Tonburi, made from Japanese summer-cypress seeds, arrives inside an avocado. The seeds, dark and round and shiny, have been seasoned with kelp. Tastes delicious, and we may add that its zest brings up profound, somewhat involuntary overtones with the sea. Our taste buds accept it in place of the fishy salinity of caviar. If there was any one dish that most aligned with the expectation we had about what Daniel Humm could do with vegetables, it was this course which completely challenged what we thought could be adept with something as unassuming as an Avocado. The most modest dish of the evening was Jamun, Sweet Potato, Amaranth. Our transcripts for this dish really said, “looks very messy, tastes remarkable” and that is all you truly need to know. The jamun perfectly counterbalanced the earthy sweet potato while Amaranth was an inspired choice to go. The hardy king trumpet mushroom paired with a ginger and lemongrass sauce in a way that you typically associate with a nice fish dish was a clever idea for the main course. The key to this course was the cooking of the mushroom, oozing with umami and having a light flaky texture.
The sorbet was cactus and karonda. While the concept of this dish was good, we found the karonda infusion a tad too strong and the cactus not quite as inspiring as you need when essentially just serving as a sorbet. Still, this did provide a nice transition to the rice part of the meal which was delicious with some fiddlehead ferns, miso ambemohar and hemp.
The first sweet dish aka Rose Ratambe and Almond simple dish done perfectly and one of the purest forms of ice cream a kitchen can produce. For dessert, a mango kulfi with tutti frutti may seem overly simple for a star chef but if you ignore your preconception about fine dine desserts and focus on just taste, this was great. Incredible technique all around with the mango (flawless) and the kulfi pairing strikingly with the tutti frutti, simple and delightful. The last course was a pineapple kahwa. This was solely focused on being a pleasure to drink, unconcerned with culinary fads and cold instead of hot as you may predict.
Summing up
Modern Indian homeware brand Ikai Asai carried their contemporary visual to this menu, with crockery handmade specially for the occasion. Their usage of opulent, tradition materials and practises with contemporary designs offers an exceptional individuality to the association. All in all, it’s no mean feat to serve up a 10-course, plant-based menu that ties each of the team’s tactics to food, culinary and cuisine, where all from plate to harvest ally in shade.
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