Vikas Khanna on redefining Indian cuisine abroad and staying authentic
Somebody once told Vikas Khanna that Indian chefs are everywhere except in their own restaurants. He chose to be the exception. Nearly 27 years into his career, the Michelin-starred chef is in his kitchen every day, still chasing a dish the world has never seen. Ahead of Deepavali, Vikas speaks to Indulge about authenticity, consistency and why Indian food abroad is still taking baby steps.
You have been running Bungalow in New York for over two years now. How has the perception of Indian food among global customers changed beyond the typical butter chicken?
I feel it’s a baby step. Italians can say the same thing: they’re not only about pizza and pasta, they are more than that. Thai people can say we are more than pad Thai and green and red curries, right? Every cuisine, which travels abroad, has a perception that is generally smaller than what the cuisine is. It’s a baby step. We learn how to write the alphabet, then the words and the stories. I feel it is very important to not rush it.
I’ve been cooking for almost 26–27 years now, every day. I’m still somebody who hasn’t been overwhelmed by television and reality shows, and who doesn’t leave the kitchens. There’s no absence. I figured out that our commitment has to be to what should appeal to the guests. It’s not just consistency of the food, the service and the values, but also innovation. We are a restaurant, which can create a dish every week and put it out, a dish the world has never seen before. You are connecting not just with Indians but with the Western world. At least every day, we are trying to expand that.
Is there any traditional Indian dish, ingredient or technique that you feel the rest of the world still hasn’t fully discovered?
I’ve been doing restaurant cooking all my life, and it becomes something like bulk cooking, where sometimes we miss out on the delicate techniques that exist back home. But I’m seeing that there is more curiosity about Indian food. There are more Indian restaurants opening in New York City, which is amazing. For a restaurant like Bungalow to consistently have 10,000 people on the waiting list is amazing. You can see how much curiosity there is about trying Indian food now.
A lot of local ingredients are also going global these days...
We had an entire dish of gongura recently, when we were celebrating Telangana. And everybody was surprised, because they did not know it was a part of Indian food. More recently, we served a dish with a chilli pickle from Jharkhand, which people went crazy for.
For international diners, these might be completely unfamiliar flavours. How do you ensure they enjoy something that is so local and familiar to us?
Our goal is to try to expand the standard, the idea of India, every day. You’ll be surprised that when you do things with confidence, even someone who would never order anything new at an Indian restaurant — Indians especially — will go ahead and try it. Our most popular dish is pineapple curry. Would our parents walk into an Indian restaurant and order that? No, because it’s pineapple curry. But we have such an innovation driven approach and every day we try to get something new.
How challenging is it to keep up with that?
I think I’m the last one to be satisfied. That’s the biggest motivation, I believe: that all day long you’re thinking about just one thing and how you can take it further, so that I can represent the entire country under one roof.
What is that one ingredient for you that you cannot cook without?
I’m very obsessed with ghee.
Do you believe that today food is not just about its appearance, but rather the whole experience it offers customers?
It’s always been like that. It’s always been the bigger story of food. Now, with cameras and all this technology, where you can post things, everybody can tell their part of the story. I feel that this has made the experience more experiential. When people are booking a table at Bungalow, every morning, the family gets on different computers at 11 o’clock to see who is going to grab a reservation, right? The experience begins right there. And then comes the 20 days of waiting. During those 20 days, they prepare themselves for the visit to the restaurant. Then comes the actual visit and dressing up.
I think we have tried to create something that has never been done before. It’s almost like going on a summer holiday to your grandma’s house. That kind of homecoming is not meant to be superficial. I have been very conscious of not presenting myself as bigger than anything. We have to show ourselves as we are, our most authentic selves. Today, I think the world is also moving towards that. There are so many apps, and so much AI can be used to create perfect videos, but we still relate to something that is authentic.
Has the meaning of success changed for you over the years?
Success is different for me now. It is so sacred to me that it doesn’t require the Western world to give you a validation certificate saying that, yes, you can eat at Bungalow. This is a kind of success where everybody feels successful.
Having an online presence is almost mandatory now, but your Instagram stands out for being authentic rather than trendy. Was that a deliberate decision?
It was done consciously. It is very important that I don’t fall into a category called a fad, which we associate with instant viewership. I don’t even do tabletop cooking. At a restaurant, what you project also has to attract people to come in and fill it up. Many times, we see that when something is too trendy, the restaurants don’t get filled up because people don’t feel that sense of authenticity.
For us, it is also about the connection with people. I feel that, thanks to Instagram, I can proudly say that we launched the world’s biggest Indian restaurant without a PR company because we were speaking directly to the audience. Every day, you are speaking to the audience.
Speaking of authenticity, you have been appointed as the judge for the Instagram Rings this year, which saw two of two Indian creators making the list - Bhavitha Mandava and Muhammed Riswan. What does it mean for you?
A big honour. Instagram is a cultural revolution. It gives us the chance to speak our minds and have an identity. It has transformed lives across the world, and I’m honoured to be participating in something so prestigious. Even at Bungalow, we operate entirely through Instagram. I just feel that this is an interconnected community that has been built around the world.