Defining Divide

While some Indian restaurants are open to experimentation, others stay true to tradition

- K. Sunil Thomas

In the busy lobby of ITC Maurya, Delhi, it is easy to bump into some well-known business honcho or a model-turned-film star (or two) and miss the direction to its most famous food outlet, Bukhara. For a place that was the first from India to enter the global list of best restaurants, the entrance, with its tiny signboard, is unobtrusive and easily missed. The decor is rustic, and not at all ‘en vogue’, with vintage 1980s-style brass work and stone walls. The focus, then, is very much on the food.

And, shocking as it may sound in the rapidly evolving Indian dine-out scene, it is a menu that has not changed for four decades. “We want to remain authentic, we want to remain simple, we want to retain the consistency of the original,” says executive chef J.P. Singh, who has headed Bukhara since the 1990s. It serves food from prePartition India’s North West Frontier Province, like tandoori naan, with its famous sikandri raan (slow-roasted marinated leg of lamb), and the iconic dal bukhara—whole black gram lentils (again slow-cooked) served with cream.

Bukhara’s success, say chefs, has been its attention to detail. Singh explains, “Each and every process is controlled strictly here—right from sourcing of the meats [through dedicated suppliers] to their weightage [the jumbo prawns are always 80g to 120g, while a lamb leg has to be 1.2kg to 1.5kg] to the entire meat marination being done in-house. Potatoes sourced are low in sugar, while the fat content in paneer is also carefully monitored.”