Bollywood Goes Gourmet!

The interiors at Arth.

In recent years, Bollywood has gone gourmet with B-town stars becoming restaurateurs and cafes and restaurants being themed after celebrities and their movies. Take for example, Suniel Shetty, whose restaurant business has been going strong for 10 years and currently boasts H2O in Khar. There’s also Shilpa Shetty with Trilogy and Arjun Rampal with Lap. Of course, you don’t have to run the show to be a part of the business, Bhaijaanz is a restaurant that’s wholly themed around Salman Khan and his movies.

But now, there’s a new celebrity in the restaurant business. Gauri Khan, noted interior designer and wife of SRK, has lent her skills to Arth, a new modern Indian restaurant helmed by Chef Amninder Sandhu, who also oversees the kitchen of ‘A Bar Called Life’ in Juhu.

Chef Amninder Sandhu.

Arth is a multi-level space with a bar and lounge on the ground floor followed by the restaurant on the first floor. "Dining out should be a delightful and beautiful experience,” says Gauri Khan. “At Arth, we wanted to create an inviting atmosphere. The space is rustic-chic with soft lighting. Stunning, old-world chandeliers are central to the design. They create an ambience that beautifully complements the food.”

Arth is all about traditional Indian food with a modern rustic ambience and a live kitchen which is gas-free. What sets this restaurant apart is the traditional food along with the traditional slow cooking process on a charcoal, wood and copper anghiti as well as a live sigri. The idea is to have a place where guests can experience traditional cooking methods with ingredients re-interpreted in innovative ways, while retaining their essence - or Arth. The philosophy behind the drinks menu at Arth is ‘familiar yet unexpected.’ Some of the finest ingredients have been sourced from across the country to create a menu full of surprises by the bar team.

Birds Nest at Arth.

“Each dish on the menu is rooted in the techniques of traditional, ancient cookin. Inspired by the fact that the earliest record of cooked food in history made use of a charcoal-powered hearth, I'm preparing each dish on wood or charcoal. I've focused on ingredients sourced from far-flung corners of the country, including Majuli, Shillong, Khonoma, Alleppey, Mangalore, Guntur, Rishikesh and Kashmir. Even though the cooking techniques are deeply traditional, the plating of each dish is highly contemporary.” says Executive Chef Amninder Sandhu.