How difficult is it to find a chef to focus entirely on a vegetarian menu?
The kitchen runs as a team, without a “chef” as a center point. We hire the best cooks. We want to brand the name of the restaurant as opposed to glorify the chef. Traditional Indian food: Southern Indian food uses more coconut. It had similar spices as the north, but they’re used differently. Northern cuisine is more cream based, uses potatoes and onions. Is vegetarianism common in India? Only about 2 percent of the population in India is vegetarian. But most restaurants in the past were vegetarian, but that is changing. Vegetarian doesn’t always mean healthy—a lot of ghee (clarified butter) was often used. For anything to be delicious, it has to have good ingredients—and fat. But much of that can be substituted using vegetable oil. We don’t use a lot of butter, and for pure vegetarians and vegans we can accommodate, such as substituting paneer cheese with tofu. We also steam many of our ingredients. Signature dishes: Iddly, which are rice and lentil patties served with sambhar (a veg
