This month, quite a few Thai, Nepalese, Burmese, and Sri Lankan restaurants throughout the nation will kickstart festivities to mark their respective new years.
We have seen the increase of small-seater restaurants, foraged substances dotting menus, and the celebration of conventional Indian delicacies courtesy of pop-ups and food festivals. Now, we’re seeing the latter evolve into a bigger pattern of Indian restaurants commemorating conventional festivities throughout Asia and Southeast Asia with menus backed by intensive analysis and area journeys. This not simply spotlights the rising recognition of genuine regional food from Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, amongst others, but in addition the altering culinary panorama of Indian diners.
A snapshot of the Songkran competition 2019 at Wat Pho
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Varaporn_Chaisin
The Future of Food Report 2025 for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) area additionally highlights that that is the 12 months Asian flavours will take centrestage. Cuisines from the worldwide South, together with the Asia Pacific area are actually receiving extra Michelin stars from the esteemed French eating information than western restaurants in Central London, it states.
Dishes at Nara Thai
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Special Arrangement
At Nara Thai in Mumbai, Songkran (Thai New Year) — noticed between April 13 and 15 — celebrations are in full swing by the month of April. “Songkran, with its water-centric traditions, festive spirit, and refreshing summer-friendly Thai dishes, is an exciting opportunity for restaurants to create a seasonal culinary experience,” says Abhishek Bindal, COO, Aditya Birla New Age Hospitality. In collaboration with its govt chef primarily based in Bangkok, the group identifies dishes that align with Songkran’s themes of water, and summer-friendly flavours, he says, including that this 12 months’s menu options guava som tam salad with watermelon granita, vermicelli clay pot, and a Thai tea panna cotta, amongst others.
The Tiffin Meal at Burma Burma
| Photo Credit:
Cyrus Dalal
Popular restaurant chain Burma Burma is commemorating the Burmese New Year, Thingyan, albeit as a muted affair this 12 months. “Our hearts go out to the families and communities, including our chef-partners, culinary experts, vendors, and artisans who have shared their skills, traditions, and warmth with us over many years and helped us create Burma Burma. While we will be offering our annual Thingyan Festival special menu for dine in and delivery from April 14 until May 11, part of the sale proceeds from this promotion will be donated to the UN World Food Programme — Burma Earthquake Relief Fund,” says co-founder Ankit Gupta, including how, yearly, their cooks create a particular menu primarily based on their experiences on analysis journeys. The jasmine rice with white peas, for occasion, is impressed by a signature providing in any respect Burmese feasts: Pe Htamin.
Traditional sweets like banana sanwin makin, chilled black rice custard, sago delight, and tropical jelly can be found at Burma Burma
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Cyrus Dalal
At the guts of this 12 months’s celebrations is the Tiffin Meal for two, comprising an assortment of appetisers, dips, mains, and desserts served in a particular tiffin field. “On a recent visit to Burma, a local family invited our culinary team to feast on a traditional meal, and this is where the idea for a tiffin-style meal — that also celebrates the region’s popular lacquer-coated enamel tiffins — took shape. Each year we strive to present a new facet of Burmese cuisine and this harvest festival’s offering is inspired by home-style celebratory dishes,” says Head Chef Ansab Khan, including that well-liked dishes embody hand-tossed broad beans, bottle gourd and tofu curry, and so on.
Cultural components equivalent to stay storytelling about Thingyan’s significance will probably be a part of the festivities at AsianKatha
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Special Arrangement
At Chennai’s AsianKatha — which opened its doorways six months in the past — founder Aswin Thottupurath and his group are additionally gearing as much as rejoice Thingyan. “Diners today are eager to explore beyond traditional fare and experience the stories, flavours, and customs that define different regions. We are planning an exclusive menu and cultural elements such as live storytelling about the festival’s cultural significance,” he says. Their particular Thingyan menu (out there from April 13 to 16) will spotlight conventional Burmese delicacies equivalent to mohinga (a aromatic fish noodle soup), laphet thoke (fermented tea leaf salad), and mont lone yay paw (candy rice dumplings), amongst others.
Dishes at AsianKatha
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Special Arrangement
New culinary experiences apart, such festivals are giving Indian diners a style of substances and a rustic’s regional flavours. At Bengaluru’s Utse Kitchen, founder Dechen Dolkar has introduced Nepali delicacies to the forefront because it opened in 2017. “For us, the inspiration to celebrate our new year, Nepal Sambat (April 14), came from a passion for Nepalese cuisine and the joy of sharing special traditions with our guests,” says Dechen, who began commemorating Nepalese occasions about three years in the past. The group at Utse Kitchen includes Nepali cooks and housewives “who contribute their family recipes and cooking traditions”.
The Newari Khaja Set Typical Nepali Thali with rice flakes, choyila, eggs, chickpeas, tama, bamboo soup, and extra
| Photo Credit:
Jasper Neupane
New Delhi’s Yeti – The Himalayan Kitchen was based in 2011 “with the idea to bring unexplored food from households of Nepal, Tibet, and other Himalayan regions to Delhi”. “We’re excited to have Nepali women in our kitchen team, and we have been working closely with them for the past two months to test and refine recipes to perfect our special menu,” says Joy Singh, companion, who has additionally added Naga-inspired dishes equivalent to smoked sliced pork, ahomiya mutton, singju, and rooster raja mircha dry to the combo.
The Thakali Thali at Yeti – The Himalayan Kitchen
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Special Arrangement
For Nepali New Year At Utse Kitchen, diners can relish the kuchi bhoye — a community-style meal eaten on a leaf with dishes equivalent to chiura (crushed rice), choyla (spicy grilled meat), bara (lentil patties), amongst different dishes; samay baji that includes crushed rice, bara, a spicy potato salad, bhatmas, and meat, and is well-liked among the many nation’s Newar group; chhukey, a hearty dish made with dried meat and veggies; and sukuti, a dried meat curry. And the menu at Yeti includes sel roti with chukauni, a Nepali khaja platter, and smoked stir-fried pork, to call a number of.
“On these special occasions, we serve the local jhangoora kheer complimentary to all guests,” says Joy, who sources spices and gundruk from Nepal, and their cheese is “custom-made using a special proprietary recipe to complement the local Datchi flavour”.
Kiribhath (milk rice) made with heirloom rice varieties at Yo Colombo
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Special Arrangement
Trials and travels
“There’s a definite shift away from generic menus to food that is rooted in real places and celebrates their cultures and traditions,” says Chef Priya Bala, who runs Sri Lankan delivery-only restaurant, Yo Colombo, in Bengaluru. Observing Sinhalese New Year aka Aluth Avurudda (on April 14), she will probably be providing the signature harvest competition dish: kiribhath (milk rice) made with heirloom rice varieties, and served with sambols from April 11 to 16. “We will serve the traditional coconut sambol; the lunumiris with shallots, red chillies and lime juice; and a sweet version with coconut and jaggery,” says Priya who additionally served the kiribhath final 12 months for Avurudda. “It was a hit especially among people who had travelled to Sri Lanka and knew about the dish,” she says of the kiribhath that’s typically served at breakfast buffets at motels in Sri Lanka.
Sel roti at Yeti – The Himalayan Kitchen
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Special Arrangement
Unlike common restaurant menus, a competition curation takes months, and typically entails travelling to the house nation for analysis. “We visit Burma frequently and take our chefs along to explore and learn first-hand with local cooks and culinary experts,” says Chef Ansab, including how Burma Burma’s analysis and delicacies growth group, headed by Chef Touseef Shamsudeen, has a devoted kitchen area for trials and coaching. “It can take a few months for us to curate dishes,” he provides.
AsianKatha sources dry shrimp and dry catfish immediately from Myanmar
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Special Arrangement
Aswin says the method of crafting the Thingyan menu begins months upfront. “We source key ingredients such as dry shrimp and dry catfish directly from Myanmar, conduct multiple tasting trials, and refine the recipes. Each trial can reveal something new perhaps the fish stock could be enriched, or we might add a touch more chilli for the perfect hint of heat. We also update our festival menus from time to time, introducing fresh variations with seasonal ingredients.”
Priya, nonetheless, is sticking to only one dish for the New Year celebrations, and not a whole menu or number of dishes. “Unlike the Thai or Chinese New Years, we don’t have a special menu in Sri Lanka, but we do make special sweets like the oil cake with rice flour and treacle, and kokis, Sri Lankan rose cookies. But since these are skill and technique-oriented preparations, and ingredients are not easy to source, we are sticking to just the kiribhath.”
Traditional Sinhala and Tamil sweets
| Photo Credit:
Nilanka Sampath
Authenticity vs. adaptation
The cooks additionally spotlight that modifying dishes to go well with native preferences and/or dietary restrictions in India is vital to the menu curation course of. “We’ve had to make a few small tweaks along the way,” says Joy, including, “For instance, while mutton with skin is a favourite among Nepali diners, we don’t prepare it that way here as Indians eat the meat without the skin.”
Aswin explains what number of Burmese dishes incorporate fish sauce and shrimp paste, “which may not appeal to all diners”. At AsianKatha, he presents vegetarian and vegan alternate options that keep the umami-rich profile whereas utilizing regionally out there substitutes.
Burma Burma imports substances equivalent to tea leaf, fermented soybean paste, and dried mustard
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Achyut Sood
To retain originality, the group at Burma Burma imports substances equivalent to tea leaf, fermented soybean paste, and dried mustard. Having mentioned that, Ankit believes tastes and cuisines evolve over a interval. “What we ate in India a decade ago is very different from what and how we eat today. A similar change is happening across the world including in Burma, and we try to keep up with the changing foodscape,” says Ankit, who notes Burma now has a number of standalone restaurants whereby dishes like broad bean edamame hummus, shiitake fingers, and stuffed savoury puffs are lining menus.
Traditional Thai delicacies incorporates many substances which might be unfamiliar to Indian palates, equivalent to kapi (fermented shrimp paste) and nam pla (fish sauce). They have been tailored to go well with vegetarian preferences through the use of alternate options equivalent to in-house chilli paste,” says Abhishek, who additionally has plant-based diversifications of key Thai sauces.
Pahadi munchies platter at Yeti – The Himalayan Kitchen
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Special Arrangement
At Utse, Dechen begins the method by maintaining the core flavours and substances intact. “If a dish calls for a certain type of meat or ingredient that’s hard to find or maybe not as widely accepted here, I’ll swap it out for a similar flavour profile,” she explains. The timur (Nepalese pepper), for occasion, Dechen says, “doesn’t adapt well with the Indian palette” so she has changed it with complete black pepper. “Fermented soybean in soups has an acquired smell, and we use oyster sauce instead. Yak meat is common in Nepal, but it’s heaty and works in the high altitude region but isn’t suited for the Indian climate. Also, our Tibetan tea uses Amul butter and not yak butter, and it tastes somewhat similar to the original.”
Dishes at AsianKatha
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Special Arrangement
Aswin additional provides that the delicacies apart, storytelling is on the coronary heart of the restaurant’s imaginative and prescient. “We wanted to create more than just a dining experience, and such festivals offer the perfect opportunity to bring people closer to the essence of a culture,” he concludes.
Published – April 11, 2025 03:23 pm IST
