Atul Kochhar recently opened his Rang Mahal restaurant in Dubai’s new JW Marriott Marquis hotel with an emphasis on locally-sourced Indian cuisine, a concept that helped him snag the first Michelin star ever awarded to an Indian chef.
Though the Indian celebrity chef currently employs an all-Indian kitchen, he recently told Caterer that his real goal is to build a kitchen that is rooted in "multiculturalism".
The London-based chef’s previous food and beverage outlets have all incorporated international kitchen staff. He is now looking to Dubai to bring that ideal to the UAE.
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“I think authenticity is in the concept,” said Kochhar. “I strongly believe a good Japanese restaurant, and I’m not saying you have to be a sushi master, but a good Japanese restaurant can also be run by English boys. And there are many examples. It’s fantastic. It’s a matter of thinking how we make the cultures meet; it’s not about pulling them apart. For me, it’s pulling people in.”
He currently sources much of Rang Mahal’s menu from both the UAE and India, which he says outlines the close relationship that the two cultures share through a growing expat population.
“It’s not just Dubai under my radar,” Kochhar said. “I also feel that mainland India is not very far from here, it’s about three hours and 20 minutes and that can be considered as fairly local in my opinion. This cuisine has been local here for quite a long time. So I would be sourcing things from there as well.”
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