World Gourmet Festival comes back to Mumbai for its third year

Raaj Sanghvi of Sanguine is clear that this year’s World Gourmet Festival has to learn and expand on last year’s Michelin starred list of chefs. Since he came on board last year, the focus is on, “Michelin or Asia’s 50 Best [restaurants list], partly because these resonate with Indian diners, and you need something to catch their attention.”

Asian flavours and chefs familiar with cooking for a palette that’s used to strong tastes make up one aspect, but there is also the fact that in the country, Indian food has largely preferred. “There’s a huge, huge demand for Indian food,” says Sanghvi, “and especially Indian cuisine that is not available in Mumbai and people who are doing something different.” While Vineet Bhatia was the sole chef serving up Indian food last year, with dishes from his London restaurant VBL, this year chef Manish Mehrotra of Indian Accent (the New Delhi outpost is No 19 on Asia’s 50 Best, though Mehrotra will be cooking dishes from his London and New York outposts) and chef Rohit Ghai (winner of two Michelin stars for his cooking at Jamavar and Gymkhana) of London’s Kutir are both going to be donning the Anita Dongre-designed chef coats for the duration of the festival.

Also on the list of visiting chefs is chef Jason Tan of the Corner House in Singapore (No 36 on Asia’s 50 Best), chef ThiTid Tassanakajohn of Bangkok’s Le Du (No 14 on Asia’s 50 Best) and chef Kirk Westaway of JAAN (No 44 on Asia’s 50 Best list) that is also based in Singapore.

Says Hardik Shah, assistant director of food and beverage at the hotel, “We don’t want to repeat the chef or the cuisine, but obviously Indian cuisine does sell best, because people don’t want to experiment too much.” So adventurous visitors can book Westaway who, per Sanghvi, is, “reinventing British cuisine”, or Tan, “a Singaporean-Chinese chef who’s doing French cuisine” and has won a Michelin star for it. The meals are priced between Rs 8,500 to Rs 9,000 per person, and will kick off with dinners by chef Tan and chef Mehrotra on Friday, March 15. With Aer at the Four Seasons now open, there are also two visiting mixologists who will be whipping up special cocktails: Sasha Wijidessa from Singapore’s Operation Dagger and Agung Prabowo from Hong Kong’s Old Man.

Those undecided between the many meals can book a table at San Qi’s Sunday brunch, which will see two of the visiting chefs collaborate with the hotel’s executive chef Anupam Gulati on an informal meal. This six-hands collaboration is fun and casual, with a live band and a buffet that showcases three or four signature dishes.

Scroll through the gallery to take a look at some of the chefs whose dishes you can taste at the World Gourmet Festival in Mumbai.

To book, email Wgf.mumbai@fourseasons.com or call 077-10033143

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