"Everyone will start calling it Kaliaa,” says Rahul Akerkar, shaking his head, when I check on the progress of his soon-to-open restaurant in Mumbai — perhaps the most anticipated opening of the year.
Qualia Hospitality is the name of his new company and of the restaurant that will open in Lower Parel in December, says Akerkar, who is running around to get it started.
Akerkar, 58, quit deGustibus Hospitality in 2015, the company that he had built from scratch when he started the iconic restuarant Indigo in 1999.
Unlike deGustibus, the name Qualia has philosophical undertones. It means individual instances of conscious experience.
Akerkar says, “Indigo was considered one of India’s first fine-dining, stand-alone restaurants, with service and food that was formal. People eat differently now. Qualia has an open-plan kitchen and will offer a very immersive, interactive and convivial dining experience.” Its cuisine, which can be loosely termed Mediterranean-influenced, is designed to be more accessible and comforting than Indigo, with brighter and lighter dishes in a fun dining space.
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What I have gathered from several conversations with Akerkar through the year is that Qualia’s spirit is going to be much like Indigo’s. Over a breakfast of Eggs Kejriwal at the Willingdon Sports Club earlier in the year, Akerkar spoke to me about his business past and how he built up one of India’s most loved restaurant brands before losing his entire business. At the core of his philosophy is the belief that, “If you pay attention to restaurateuring, business and numbers will take care of themselves.” By restaurateuring, he means not just cooking but the running of the entire restaurant as an experience.
“While running Indigo, I never looked at the numbers, yet we continued to do well,” he says, pointing to a spreadsheet on his laptop. As his eyes scan the graphs, he points out that in December 2007, “We were doing Rs 2 crore sales monthly.” This was eight years after Indigo opened. This is the kind of revenue that new restaurants even these days struggle to achieve. How that journey went downhill from there and how India’s first chef-restaurateur lost his brand and business is a story that is as poignant as it is well known.
As Akerkar’s new restaurant starts its first service year-end, there are lessons he is not likely to forget — just as diners hope there will be flavours that will be as unforgettable as the ones Indigo once rolled out.
Anthony Bourdain: The Chef Who Courted Controversy
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The culinary world - and others included - sunk into collective depression on Friday after news broke of Anthony Bourdain's death. The celebrity chef was in France working on an upcoming episode of his CNN series. His friend, French chef Eric Ripert, found him unresponsive in his hotel room on Friday morning.
The culinary world - and others included - sunk into collective depression on Friday after news broke of Anthony Bourdain's death. The celebrity chef was in France working on an upcoming episode of h..
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Bourdain, seen here in pic with Italian actor and director Asia Argento for the Women In The World Summit in New York earlier in April this year, had a chequered journey.
His walk of fame began in 2000 with the publication of “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.” Years of hard work in kitchens around Manhattan, and as executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles, finally paid off. The best-seller was hailed by critics for its witty, energetically written look behind-the-scenes of the restaurant industry. The book expanded on a 1999 New Yorker article that he had sent to The New Yorker about the underbelly of the restaurant world and its deceptions.
Bourdain, seen here in pic with Italian actor and director Asia Argento for the Women In The World Summit in New York earlier in April this year, had a chequered journey. His walk of fame began in 20..
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Bourdain followed up his literary success into a gig with Food Network hosting “A Cook’s Tour.” This happened to be his breakout moment with Bourdain’s signature programming approach — it followed the chef with the hangdog look, slightly hungover to exotic ports of call, trying out local cuisine and giving a sneak peek into foreign cultures.
He repeated the concept on the Travel Channel’s “No Reservations” and “The Layover”, both successful shows that aired from 2005 to 2013.
Bourdain followed up his literary success into a gig with Food Network hosting “A Cook’s Tour.” This happened to be his breakout moment with Bourdain’s signature programming approach — it followed th..
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Anthony Bourdain seen here with the outstanding informational series or special award for 'Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown' backstage at the 2015 Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. As part of the show, Bourdain ate grilled pork and noodles with President Barack Obama in Hanoi, examined the legacy of apartheid in Johannesburg, dug into pig ear sandwiches in the Mississippi Delta, and experienced the harvest festival, Gawai Dayak, in Borneo. It was in Borneo that Bourdain was asked and complied with a request from villagers to plunge a spear into the heart of a pig!
Anthony Bourdain seen here with the outstanding informational series or special award for 'Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown' backstage at the 2015 Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. As part of t..
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Bourdain was never too far from controversies. Apart from being admonished by some for cultural invasion, he was recently declared "persona non grata for his disrespect of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty." The Foreign Ministry spokesman of Azerbaijan told Agence France-Presse. "Filming a food show on Azerbaijan's occupied territory is an insult to one million Azerbaijani refugees who were forcefully expelled from their homes."
Bourdain was never too far from controversies. Apart from being admonished by some for cultural invasion, he was recently declared "persona non grata for his disrespect of Azerbaijan's territorial in..
