Masque is in good hands with chef Varun Totlani helming it
From @thefinelychopped Instagram: 15/2/25
‘Don’t wait for an occasion for your next visit; please come sooner,’ said the ever-smiling Mirelle Pingfu of Masque at the end of K and my dinner on my birthday a couple of weeks back. Masque is a special occasion place in my book.
It’s not everyday food, even if affordability is not an issue.
Mirelle Pingfu is front of house and makes sure that your Masque experience starts from the door itself
The much-awarded and globally feted restaurant, Masque, offers a tasting menu with dishes rooted in Indian ingredients and culinary traditions. The food’s ‘Indianness’ dazzles through in some cases; at times, you will wonder what is ‘Indian’ about a dish. My advice would be to focus on enjoying the food rather than over-intellectualising it. Appreciate the skill, passion, and effort that the chefs have brought to the table and enjoy the sensorial treat on offer.
A smiling chef leads to a happy meal
I had not eaten at Masque since Prateek Sadhu, its charismatic founder chef, left to establish his own venture, Restaurant Naar.
I was keen to see how Masque would fare after Prateek moved on, as Prateek and Masque were considered synonymous.
From all accounts, chef Varun Totlani, an old Masque hand, who had taken over, had done a creditable job and was winning accolades all over. I realised why after our dinner.
King prawn gassi with koji benne dosa. The showstopper
I won’t get into analysing individual dishes. Varun told us that he was introducing a new menu soon, which meant that you might not get to try the dishes we had. What I’d like to emphatically say is that almost each course was memorable, some a bit more than others. Which is quite a task to pull off in a multi-course meal.
Some of the dishes that stood out were the moringa stuffed crisp sevaiyya cigars, bhutta miso soup, smoked pork belly in a choris glaze, shirmal, braised lamb, king prawn in reduced gassi and koji benne dosa. The use of ingredients such as nagphani, sohiong berry was inspired.
Forgive me if I am the last to come to the party but chef Varun & his team are clearly rocking it. 80 pc of diners that night were foreigners & I am told that they book well in advance, a testimony to Masque’s global recognition. A great example of a transition handled right, with due credit to owners Aditi & Aditya Dugar for backing the team.
And I got a layered cake as a birthday trip
