When one thinks about dahi papdi chaat, kuttu, jowar and bajra are not the ingredients that come first to mind. Nor is ajwain something that one associates with croissants. And sprouts golgappas with pineapple and mint water? Pfft.
While there is a decidedly familiar menu of parathas, rotis, biriyani and snacks at Fabindia’s dining space at their Experience Centres across the country, most of the ingredients used are organic. In addition to this, 95% of the dishes are gluten-free, says director and co-founder Chef Sunil Chauhan. It is no mean feat, considering most of our favourites use atta and maida in them. The menu at Fab Cafe achieves this by substituting refined flour with jackfruit, quinoa, potato and/or tapioca flours, and instead of refined sugar, there is organic jaggery and coconut sugar.
For example, the momos — made with a mix of jackfruit flour and root starches and stuffed with spinach and water chestnuts — are gluten free. There is a vegan option for the tri-grain papdi chaat mentioned earlier. The seed-coated samosa (considered among the most deadly deep-fried Indian snacks) is baked. Most of the non-perishable ingredients come from Organic India, a Lucknow-based organic food company which Fabindia has a stake in, while the cafe goes local for fresh produce.
The first Fab Cafe opened in March 2017 in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj area, but by October, they started rapidly expanding. Chauhan recalls that when he sat down to plan the enterprise with Fabindia’s managing director William Bissel, they wanted to create something that would stand out, but also appeal to everyone across the country. “He had in mind a place that promoted healthy eating, but at the same time, reflected the DNA of their brand. We curated the menu keeping this in mind, incorporating a pan-India cuisine,” says Chauhan. Think everything from the ubiquitous dal makhni of North India to Tamil Nadu’s iconic Chettinad chicken and Kerala and Bengali-style fish curries to Coorgi pandi curry. For dessert, there are vegan cheesecakes (with nolen gur), sabudana pudding and grain-free caramelised banana cake.
And so diners will find the same menu at the nine cafes across the country — two each in Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru, and one each in Gurugram, Mumbai and Hyderabad. There are also plans to open one more in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar area, two in Pune and one in Chandigarh. In future, there will be summer/winter menus, as well as inputs from experts in local cuisine.
“Right now, we want to give customers the same experience everywhere. Standardisation across restaurants is a challenge, but we’re working on it,” concludes Chauhan.
Open from 8.30 am to 10.30 pm, at the Alwarpet and Besant Nagar Fabindia Experience centres. 9944987610 and 9944987604