I never thought I would eat karela aka bitter gourd—the most dreaded vegetable, in my opinion—as one of the courses in a degustation menu. But if karela is not for you, Avatara in Mumbai, Santacruz naturally offers more than bitter gourd in its 14-course vegetarian tasting menu.
After gaining the esteemed accolade of being the world’s first and only Indian vegetarian restaurant to get one Michelin star, Dubai’s Avatara opened its doors to Mumbai this week. Derived from the Sanskrit word of incarnation, Avatara showcases a journey into the world of Indian cuisine, with a modern avatar of techniques, philosophy, and Indian food deep-rooted in our culture.
Avatara hails from Passion F&B, the same family as Tresind. Chef Himanshu Saini and Chef Rahul Rana are the forces behind Avatara. Their tasting menu, priced at ₹4,500++, aims to shatter the perceptions and misconceptions surrounding the limitations of vegetarian cuisine, and highlight the endless possibilities it has to offer.
Photo: Avatara Mumbai
This 65-seater restaurant is located in Santacruz, and its location could work in its favour keeping in mind the pockets of vegetarian communities in and around the area. The interiors wear white and blue hues, and the wave-shaped motifs on the wall are an ode to the river Ganga. Besides the main dining room, the space also offers a wine cellar, a private dining room, and almost a large display where the diners can see the chefs in action. Acting as a service station, the long countertop gives an interactive experience to the diner where they can watch the action unfold.
Progressively vegetarian
As a vegetarian, I am used to eating paneer or mushroom as my meat substitute. However, when I found out that the Avatara menu does not have either of these, I was intrigued.
What added more to my excitement was the fact that they also refrain from using onion and garlic in their food. “It is a reincarnation of the soulful Indian vegetarian food,” says Chef Rana. “The challenge we took up when we opened Avatara,” says Chef Rana, “was that if you are a vegetarian and you go to any Indian restaurant, the first thing you see on the menu will be 10-15 dishes of paneer. So with this place, we wanted to introduce those vegetables to the people which they don’t want to eat. So, we eliminate paneer and mushroom,” he explains. “We also avoid onions and garlic because it is too overpowering.” He clarifies that this move was not to cater to the Jain community but to avoid overpowering a dish. Stating an example, he says, “If I added onion and garlic to karela, you will get the bitterness but also get more flavour of onion and garlic.”
Chef Rana also added that Avatara Mumbai will have Maharashtrian-inspired dishes as well because Head Chef Sanket Joshi fuses his Maharashtrian roots in this menu.
(from left to right) Chef Rahul Rana, Sandhita: Achari brccolini, panchphoran carrot, candied walnuts. Photos: Avatara
A veggie fiesta
The names of all dishes in this menu were in Sanskrit and Chef Rana adds how they have chosen vegetables that most people might not eat but have a nutritious value.
I started the meal with Naivedhya, also known as a holy offering which was a take on makhan malai with popping mishri and panchamitra. Served in a flamboyant tiny box, as if it were a peacock and its train of feathers, it indeed resembled as if it was a prasad offered to God. The popping mishri left a lingering sweetness in the mouth.
The second course was the snacks course called Alpahara and it was probably one of the courses I enjoyed. A crisp okra imported from Dubai, stuffed with chili thecha, alu vadi, and a bowl of chilled sol kadi with green apple pieces. An ode to the Maharashtrian cuisine, and as a Mumbaikar through and through, I thoroughly enjoyed the crip okra (who wouldn’t?) with a not-so-spicy thecha and a chilled sol kadi to gulp everything down.
(from left to right) Naivedhya: Makhan malai, popping mishri, and panchamitra, Karuvelvilas: Ghee roast karela, mango sambhar gelato, and dosai crisp. Photos: Avatara
The next course, Jadon, was all about root vegetables with six types of chips—lotus root, purple sweet potato, yam, orange sweet potato, cassava, and beetroot. Sprinkled with an in-house masala, these chips were served with a chana mash with pesto dip and a pomegranate chutney. You can’t go wrong with chips, even though they are not potatoes. However, what elevated these chips were the two dips. I wouldn’t mind taking a bottle of that beautiful pink pomegranate chutney bottled up to take home.
The course with the bitter gourd (karela) Karuvelvilas, was disguised in a way that if the diner hadn’t been told about this inherently bitter vegetable, it might be tough to guess. Sandwiched between a thin red and white dosai crisp was mango sambhar gelato with curry leaf oil in its centre. Under the dainty crisp, hidden below was a mango gelato, and finally a ghee roast karela.
Just when I would think that a particular course is probably the most beautiful looking food on a plate—almost like the art of a plate—each course topped the previous one. The Shikhalu had grilled baby corn on top of a missi ghevar and was paired with corn and tomato shorba. Warm, comforting, and a good start to slowly introducing the diner to more veggies.
From the achari broccolini, carrots, candied walnuts course, jackfruit momo with sea buckthorn thukpa and a black rice crisp, a drumstick chokha, sattu kachori, and a potato mustard curry; the menu aimed to cover most regions of India and feature vegetables one would not eat otherwise regularly. While some of the flavours were familiar, the dishes also had a sense of modernity to them but did not steep towards the fusion spectrum of the scale.
Hailing from Kashmir was Rajma gogji (shalgum), with apple chutney and a Kashmiri bread called katlam. While Turnip was the hero here, Chef Rana showcases his experience as a pastry chef with the flaky katlam that has just the right kind of crispy texture.
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Another Maharashtrian-inspired dish on the menu at Avatara Mumbai was the Tambda bhaat with a parsnip rassa and black lime pickle. Inspired by Kolhapuri cuisine, this dish had a subtle spice kick you feel only after you finish eating. To cut down on the spice level, Chef Joshi also added a bit of Pomelo to balance with its sweetness.
Sweet ending
The Ksira was a coconut kheer, with aamras in an appam. A savoury crunchy appam, which is meant to be had in one bite bursts into a coconut mango sweet kheer. The presentation of this dish is what caught my eye. “He is chacha,” I was told. The second dessert was a bal mithai, with a chocolate rosette and a buransh ras. Uttarakhand’s bal mithai stuffed inside a chocolate rosette and was served with a non-alcoholic wine made out of the buransh flower. The slightly tangy wine helped cut through the otherwise sweet bal mithai. A bite into this mithai and I was literally taken on a trip down nostalgia lane. It reminded me of the pedas I had, but not any pedas. They were the ones given as prasad at the Ganpati mandir near my house.
(from left to right) Ksira: Coconut keer, appam, and aamras, Grinjanah: Rajma gigji, amaranath katlam, and apple chutney. Photos: Nidhi Lodaya
The 14-course degustation menu came with a chocolate paan which was a quintessential “Bambaiya paan” with sweet gulkand, and other sweet ingredients such as tutti-fruity, and mouth fresheners for a complete meal experience.
