Earlier this week, chef Prateek Sadhu of NAAR, a 16-seater vacation spot restaurant in Kasauli, and his workforce ready a multi-course menu for a state dinner at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The event marked a uncommon second when a standalone restaurant was invited to serve India’s most elite diplomatic desk, attended by President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the chief visitors of the Republic Day celebrations — European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa — together with members of the cupboard, diplomats, and entrepreneurs.
NAAR, which implies “fireplace” in Kashmiri, was began in 2022 and has since featured in lots of lists, together with Time journal’s ‘World’s Best Locations’ in 2024. On the restaurant, Sadhu and his workforce curate a 14-course tasting menu rooted within the Himalayan area, spotlighting substances, methods, and meals traditions from Uttarakhand, Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, and past. The meal served at Rashtrapati Bhavan was an extension of this philosophy, inserting the Himalayan belt and its culinary sensibilities on the centre of the expertise.
Chef Prateek Sadhu began NAAR, a 16-seater eating vacation spot in Kasauli in 2022. Photograph Courtesy: Particular Association
From Kashmiri gucchi to pine nut salad
The meal opened with jakhiya aloo and inexperienced tomato chutney, and a jhangora millet kheer completed with meah loon and white chocolate. A sunderkala thichoni soup from Uttarakhand adopted, constructed round buckwheat noodles, roasted tomato, fermented greens, and dried vegetable chutney, with accompaniments of yak cheese custard, bhaang mathri, and mustard-glazed greens.
The pre-main featured pumpkin and sinki slow-cooked in buttermilk with Kashmiri katlam bread, whereas the principle introduced collectively Kashmiri gucchi and Solan mushrooms with poppy seeds, burnt tomato sauce, pine nut salad, swarnu rice, and regional chutneys. Desserts showcased Himalayan produce, from a ragi and Kashmiri apple cake with timru and seabuckthorn cream to a espresso custard made with Assam beans, ending with honeyed persimmon and jambhiri lemon.
“The thought was to place Himalayan meals and new-age Indian cooking on the desk,” Sadhu says over a voice word, including, “We needed to showcase lesser-known substances and methods, and thru meals, speak in regards to the tradition of the land. The best way it was offered additionally mirrored a brand new and rising India.”
Root-to-stem cooking method
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He provides that methods corresponding to root-to-stem cooking, seasonality, and preservation have been central to the menu. “That is how India eats, particularly in rural kitchens — there may be minimal wastage, greens are seasonal, and pickles and chutneys are integral to the meal,” he factors out.
The workforce cooked for about 80 visitors, and the whole menu was vegetarian.
Curiously, when Sadhu first obtained a name from Rashtrapati Bhavan, he assumed it was a prank. “We later realised it was respectable,” he laughs. This was adopted by a collection of calls, a private assembly, and a number of tastings at Rashtrapati Bhavan. “First, the secretary tasted all the things. As soon as that was accredited, the President herself tasted all of the programs. Solely then did we get the ultimate go-ahead,” he says
The stakes, he admits, have been excessive. “It was a really high-profile, high-pressure dinner,” says Sadhu. “It was a landmark event for India, and the concept was to current the nation in one of the best ways potential. Meals is likely one of the strongest mediums to showcase tradition. We have been nervous, however ultimately, it was an amazing present,” he says with a smile.
