Get an exclusive insight behind the scenes of Kanishka, the Mayfair restaurant run by two Michelin starred chef Atul Kochhar which focuses on the unexplored cuisine from the so called 'Sister States' of India.
Join Atul in his online classroom and learn how to prepare some of the most iconic cuisines of India. He will take you on a rich and varied tour of the South, East, North and West - showing you how to prepare his favourite regional specialities from Kerala, West Bengal, Kashmir and Goa. Atul is keen to highlight the regional differences in his home country’s food. ‘Indian cuisine doesn’t exist to be honest – we have very specific regional cuisines instead,’ he explains. ‘Sometimes the tastes are like chalk and cheese; it would be like comparing Finnish cuisine with the food of southern Italy. Calling food Indian is just as vague as describing a dish as European.’
People often shy away from Indian food, worrying that it’s too complicated and requires too many ingredients. Atul is here to debunk this myth – “If you cook along with me and follow my basic steps, by the end of the course you will be cooking these dishes exactly like me.”
Atul will personally oversee your cooking methods, and will give you feedback on your dishes as you progress through the lessons. By the end of the course you will have prepared four spectacular dishes, and will have a newfound understanding of the history and culture of each region, and how this feeds into the ideas, ingredients and flavours behind the dishes you have created.
One of the pioneers of Indian fine dining, two Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar was responsible for changing our perceptions of the cuisine and helping British diners realise how refined Indian food can be. Combining the flavours of north, east and south India with the finest produce, it’s his contemporary style and love for traditional cooking which have brought him his success. Today, he continues to showcase the incredible flavours of his home country in the UK.
In 1994, Atul migrated to the UK and opened Tamarind, which was soon known as one of the best Indian restaurants in the world. In 2001 it won a Michelin star – making Atul the first Michelin-starred Indian chef in the world. This spurred him on to leave Tamarind and open his own restaurant, Benares, which was awarded its own Michelin star in 2006. Since then he has opened numerous successful, award-winning restaurants; Sindhu and Hawkyns in Buckinghamshire and Indian Essence in Kent. In 2018, Atul left Benares to pursue other independent ventures, most recently Kanishka in Mayfair, London.