Consider Mexican and Indian cuisines. Both are loved by the masses and both are winners in many aspects among the world’s most popular cuisines. Both cuisines awaken the senses in the most amazing ways with their bold and wholesome flavors. They are convivial and a joy to eat. Either street food or home-cooking, they both fill the soul with satisfaction, making both cuisines rank as pinnacles of comfort food. But is it possible to translate such crowd-pleasing cuisines into a high cuisine experience? In other words, can comfort food be translated into fine dining?
Back in September, while attending the Anantara World Gourmet Festival in Bangkok, I really wished I could attend a four-hands dinner featuring two chefs representing these two cuisines: one from India, Deepanker Khosla of Haoma in Bangkok, and the other from Mexico, Paco Méndez of Come in Barcelona. Unfortunately, I had to attend another dinner, but luckily, I could experience Haoma while I was still in Bangkok, and within a month, I was in Barcelona visiting Come. They were both incredibly exciting experiences; both restaurants hold one Michelin star and several other awards; they deserve all their accolades. In the end, I was happy to taste both chefs’ cuisines in their own restaurants separately, instead of the four-hands dinner. However, if the opportunity arises again, that would be my next goal.
The reason I desperately wanted to experience the two chefs’ four-hands dinner back at Anantara was not about comparing the two amazing cuisines of Mexico and India or seeing how they would contrast or complement each other. Not at all, though that would be another exciting aspect to scrutinize. What interested me was more basic. It was about to see in one go, how these crowd-pleasing, heart-winning cuisines could be adapted into a fine dining experience. I was curious because this is also an issue for Türkiye, and I often have this dilemma popping into my mind, the thought of adapting Turkish cuisine to fine dining. Now that I had the opportunity to experience the tasting menus of both chefs in their own restaurants, I think I have a clue or a better understanding. First, both were eye-opening and palate-awakening experiences, executed with perfection, filled with surprises at each bite, all bites conveying the chef’s passion to the diner.
Two deeply sensory cuisines
When we look at cuisines like Mexican or Indian, we notice that they contain deeply sensory elements that are also essential to fine dining. Then there is the playful nature of handheld tacos or samosas and dosas eaten out of hand. Fine dining also embraces playfulness. Both cuisines have bold elements. Mexican cuisine has these smoky, spicy, earthy flavors that come from smoked chipotles and fiery salsas. Indian cuisine offers layered culinary experiences. Vibrant in color, rich in aromas, with varied textures and even temperatures contrasting each other. These are also key rich spices in the most aromatic way, caressingly warming. Both cuisines have an earthy heat that comes through the spices in very different ways.
Neither cuisine shies away from intensity. To offset the intensity of spices, there is always a balancing element. Bright acidity in Mexican cuisine, such as the use of lime, tomatillos or pickles, creates the contrast. Indian cuisine has intense contrasts like cooling yogurt on hot curries. Both cuisines have distinctive flavor profiles, such as cilantro, but they are used in very different ways. When a chef can compress all these elements into small bites or spoonful tastes or small plates, then success easily comes along. Yes, I have my answer now. Cuisines that are regarded more as popular comfort food or famed for their street food fare can indeed be translated into fine dining. There is only one crucial element needed: The scrutinizing, analyzing eye of the chef, and the talent and the capacity of technique encapsulating all the elements into dainty morsels.
Inspirational for Turkish cuisine
These two chefs can be inspirational for Turkish chefs who aim to carry elements of Turkish cuisine to a fine dining experience. So far, the closest that achieved this goal is Atilla Heilbronn of Narımor Urla. Studied and experienced in the hospitality sector in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, he took a bold step to come to Türkiye, in a way, in search of his ancestral roots. He has the same attention to detail, he can analyze the various elements of Turkish cuisine with a foreigner’s eye, but also with the perspective of an insider, and above all with the outlook of a fine dining chef. He is relatively little known; his place is tiny, tucked away in the backstreets of Urla in a transformed breakfast room of a small family-owned hotel, accommodating at most 16 seats. He has a long way to go, with minimal funds, but he has the capacity.
Thanks to chefs Deepanker Khosla of Haoma in Bangkok and Paco Méndez of Come in Barcelona, I now have an answer to my question. I’ll definitely be writing about their tasting menus in separate articles, but I wanted to express my gratitude to both in one single piece, as they both gave me the answer I hoped to anticipate back in Anantara Bangkok Hotel. Popular cuisines, mostly regarded as everyday comfort food or casual street food, can be translated into an exciting, memorable fine dining experience. It is all about carrying the complexity of a cuisine to a different level by analyzing the tastes, aromas and textures correctly. The complexity must be reflected by the balance of flavors, the contrasts of taste and textures, and the talent lies in the overall sensation encapsulated in a single bite. When a chef has the sense to analyze the complexity of flavors and the talent to deconstruct and recreate a dish, then the result can be a bite-sized gem that can resonate with an explosion of a whole cuisine.
