Marriott Bonvoy brings the best of The Crossing to Mumbai, reinterpreting regional Indian recipes in surprising ways. We find out what’s in store…
Marriott International’s Masters of Marriott Bonvoy has hosted some legendary chefs in Mumbai, the likes of Massimo Bottura from Osteria Francescana in April this year, the Sühring Twins from Bangkok in August, and the recently concluded association with renowned Chef Manish Mehrotra of Indian Accent in early September. But they aren’t resting on their laurels. For just this weekend, Mumbai members of the loyalty programme will be privy to the Masters of Marriott Bonvoy X The Crossing Dubai pop-up.
The Crossing Dubai, a restaurant that has been making waves for its ‘neo-Indian cuisine’ since it opened earlier this year, has its co-founder Chef Ankur Chakraborty at the helm. The menu at The Crossing reminisces lost cuisines and ingredients to create a new narrative where traditional classics stand side by side with closely guarded or even forgotten Indian family recipes.
They respect mainstream ‘Indian’ cuisine but continue to showcase a more offbeat side with food from the Rajput kitchens, hidden gems from northeast India, and simple yet robust recipes from India’s massive coastline. In addition to traditional fare, they shine a spotlight on the foreign influences that have historically found their way into Indian cuisine from places as far as the Caribbean, Portugal, France, and Great Britain. Enjoying a meal at The Crossing is to take a nostalgic journey across India, crossing borders, while blurring the lines of culinary practices and influences. The Crossing team will be showcasing his elevated version of signature forgotten recipes of the Indian subcontinent at Saffron at the JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu.
Get set to indulge in a meal prepared using the finest ingredients and paired with fine wines. Expect signatures such as Bottle Masala Lamb Chop, Gunpowder Prawns Chaat, Kalimpong Dumpling, Ragi Khoozh, Gucchi Pulav, and Bean Thoran, amongst many others, calculated to delight both, vegetarians as well as those who enjoy poultry, meat, and seafood.
Khushnooma Kapadia, Senior Area Director of Marketing – South Asia, Marriott International, says, “With every chapter of Masters of Marriott Bonvoy, we further push the envelope in terms of bringing the most sought-after culinary experiences from across the globe. It brings us immense pleasure to have The Crossing team on board to recreate a range of fine-dining experiences that evoke a deep sense of appreciation for cross cultural cuisines that are both novel and sublime. The partnership between celebrated and innovative teams ensures that our guests and culinary aficionados will always have access to a variety of exclusive and memorable dining experiences.”
We spoke to Chef Ankur Chakraborty on the eve of the pop-up to glean some insights into his success story and food philosophy. Excerpts from the interview…
In just a few months, The Crossing has been hailed as one of the best Indian restaurants in Dubai. It’s not the first offering evolved sub-continental cuisine though so diners clearly like the execution as well as the concept. To what do you attribute these accolades?
I firmly believe in keeping things simple, the same applies to recipes and the most important piece in the restaurant business is consistency. We have a high-performance team, which is only focussed on driving consistency. Once the research phase is over, which is the most exciting phase in the journey, comes the part where the concept needs constant innovation, and I am confident in keeping that wheel moving.
How much time has gone into researching the various regional cuisines of India? Did you travel across the country, seeing the ingredients in markets, tasting the dishes, and absorbing how they’re made? How did you select the dishes that would make the transition to Dubai well and be accepted by varied global palates?
My father was with the Indian Railways and, as a family, we were always on the move around India, which gave me an early taste of the diversity. I did my culinary education in India and was fortunate to get an early start with a hotel chain as a kitchen management trainee and as part of my first restaurant project, in-depth research with regional Indian food made me fall in love and strengthened my belief in diversity.
Unfortunately, a lot of research material was not available at that time. I would take personal time outs every year to understand a certain region and a lot of conversations with food enthusiasts would follow. I would make handwritten notes and the more I learnt, the more I was amazed with the depth which seemed to me missing in the restaurant spaces. Even the most acclaimed Indian restaurants would play with very commercially safe dishes, which was annoying, along with the fact that fine dining was always seen from a very westernised lens filter, which I wanted to change.
I have been in Dubai for almost a decade, and it is the perfect melting point of the world. Palates are quite international as people find a neutral ground, and again the dishes we chose on the menu were meant to reflect the cuisines’ diversity. We made it a point to highlight the flavours without the unnecessary heat.
Just as India has been a ‘crossing’, so has Dubai. How would you describe the palate of the typical Dubai diner and how have you introduced unique Indian flavours to it?
You’ve correctly pointed out Dubai to be the cultural melting point of various nationalities with very evolved palates and a very aware palate. The proximity to the Indian subcontinent and Europe adds the benefits of getting all the produce in the world one can ask for. Introducing the lost flavours from the larger unexplored India was a difficult business call, however the results were encouraging from the guests.
Can you please share some anecdotes about how people of various nationalities have received regional Indian flavours? Was there surprise, delight, even shock, at the ingredients used? Are there any celebrity patrons who are now regulars at the restaurant and have fave dishes?
At the inception of every restaurant, we do a focus group feedback session. Regional Indian flavours were something new for the focus group and it was concerning as well as encouraging. We made it a mission to use GI-tagged ingredients from India. There were some sourcing issues at the beginning which we have now overcome. We have been using jackfruit, GI-tagged short-grain rice, Manipuri chak hao rice, homemade goda masala, Anglo Indian bottle masala etc, which do not find space in restaurant menus. These ingredients and flavours were never explored by many in India.
We were partners with IIFA last year and a lot of cinema stars dined with us who were blown away with the representation of Indian food like this. We have been doing some private dinners for some celebrities too. For the Mumbai meals, we proudly have tied up with Imagine meats, helmed by Genelia and Riteish Deshmukh, and we’ll be featuring a product from their vegan line in the vegetarian main dish.
Was it a challenge sourcing Indian regional ingredients for The Crossing?
Dubai is very close to India and most products for initial trials were flown in and hand carried. Now we have developed some vendors to bring produce for us. Although, to be honest, we still have a lot of friends and associates to hand carry things for us.
For your pop-up at the JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu, can you describe what your menu focuses on? How did you put it together and was it a challenge to interpret Indian regional cuisine for the evolved Indian diner of Marriott Bonvoy, who is already exposed to various regional cuisines in the country? What tweaks did you make?
The focus on the menu for Mumbai is to condense the entire idea of The Crossing into one tasting menu. We selected the dishes based on the season and ingredient availability for Mumbai and showcased a slightly different menu than we did in Bengaluru and Kolkata earlier. It has been a very tall challenge to be able to curate an Indian dining experience for an evolved palate in India, specially while coming from outside India. We have worked with Chef Himanshu Taneja (Director of Culinary for South Asia, Marriott International) to adapt some of the recipe tweaks like enhancing certain accents of the flavour notes and increasing a slight heat in the recipes.
Other Indian restaurants originating in Dubai have opened in India to great success. Is The Crossing going to be seen in India as a permanent restaurant at any point?
We at LemonButter look at the Indian market as the fastest growing sector and given the right partnership we will be open to the idea of having a presence here. The growth strategy right now is inclined westwards as we would like a stronger representation of Indian food like ours in international culinary capitals.
At a glance
What: The Crossing Dubai pop up in Mumbai | When: October 8 and 9, 2022 | Where: Saffron (lower lobby level), JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu | Timing: October 8, dinner seven pm onwards, and October 9, lunch from noon to 3.30 pm and dinner seven pm onwards | Price: Rs 6,500+ taxes (includes food and beverage) | Reserve: Call +91226693 3344 or +919004616506.
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