Lore, a new culinary Pop-Up series will debut in Bengaluru this evening. A concept by Johnson Ebenezer, chef patron and executive head chef, Lore and Mythrayie S Iyer, head chef, Lore, this pop-up will take diners through a seven-course sit-down dinner with stories that will be narrated between courses.
Johnson and Mythrayie tell us what to expect:
What exactly is the idea behind LORE? How did you come up with this concept?
Lore's mantra is to leverage the magical ability of food to tell stories, create new memories and rekindle old ones. At the same time, we give importance to quality produce and working directly with farmers and artisans. The name Lore has multiple meanings, LORE - As in Folklore, incidentally it’s the last four letters of BangaLORE, and also it’s the letters from our primary Pillar Locavore (a person whose diet consists only or principally of locally grown food). Bangalore has diners with discerning palates, we at Lore want to tell a story through food, hence that thought process paved the way to create Pop-ups.
What can diners expect at Lore's Pop Up at the Tijouri?
A combination of great produce with the freedom to express our creativity is a perfect balance to create magic for our diners. It will be a unique Seven-course Tasting menu which harnesses the local produce for a multi-sensory dining experience. The menu has also been paired with Wines which adds character and depth to the whole dining experience at Tijouri in Radisson Blu Atria.
What dishes will you be serving and could you give us a sneak-peek into the stories behind the dishes?
One of our star dishes would be the Ridge gourd glazed with aubergine soy and fermented pumpkin hot sauce. It oozes personality to give a robust smoky stuffing and the fermented pumpkin hot sauce has more stories to tell. Locavore is another dish. It is cooked with Farmlore Chikkus from Lore’s very own farm. It is an example of something simple which can very easily be turned into something extraordinary. The four bites are fun and thought-provoking.
How interactive will this dinner be? Any surprises that diners can expect?
It’s a multi-sensory dining experience, so the diners can expect each course to have a niche - a meal that involves theatrics. We do have a good amount of surprises, keeping an “eye for detail” on every aspect of dinning.
What do you want diners to take away from the experience?
Nostalgia and how the simplest of produce tastes so good with the use of some creative techniques and the rest is for the diners to introspect. We would want our diners to take away the whole dining experience as a memory by itself.
Rs 1,500 upwards. April 26, 7 pm. At Tijouri, Radisson Blu Atria, Palace Road