Crazy about chicken

BENGALURU: Life has almost come full circle for Saransh Goila. A decade after starting his professional culinary journey in Bengaluru, the Mumbai-based chef is now setting up his popular brand, Goila Butter Chicken (GBC), in namma Ooru. “It’s a special feeling - from doing my first job at the Leela Kempinski to bringing my own brand here. It’s such a trip down memory lane,” says Goila, whose butter chicken and eponymous food venture have slowly gained a dedicated following.

Set up in 2016 as a cloud kitchen in Mumbai, GBC has since then expanded to Pune, London in November this year, and is now traversing to Bengaluru this month. Similar to its Mumbai menu, the delivery kitchen here too will offer its butter chicken, butter paneer, naan bombs (dough balls served with different fillings like mushroom, paneer or chicken), Sindhi mutton curry and a slow-cooked makhni dal as well. Goila, who co-founded GBC with Vivek Sahani, is toeing a fine line between offering tried-and-tested classics and new combinations from the places the brand is expanding to.

For example, the London outlet will also serve a pizza-oven baked sourdough naan. “We’re still doing trials but we are considering serving Malabar parothas in Bengaluru. Maybe, eventually, we might consider some dosas. When you go to a new city, it’s nice to create your dish with a product they already like,” says the chef, who is partnering with A2Z Hospitality LLP’s Amit Roy and Vishal Nagpal for the Bengaluru outlet.

Goila’s butter chicken (with a smoked gravy, honey and ground cashew nuts) took him six months to perfect and has earned many fans, including chef and former judge on MasterChef Australia, George Calombaris. In 2018, he even appeared as a guest judge on the show, where three contestants had to recreate his butter chicken to prevent being eliminated. Interestingly, Goila never tried the dish until he was 21 years old. “I’m part Sindhi, part Marwari and part Baniya, and grew up eating vegetarian food. In the case of my recipe, the paneer actually came before the chicken.

I created this recipe for vegetarians, the gravy tasted like butter chicken, minus the meat. When it became popular in my family, I started making the same with chicken. That’s how it became popular in Mumbai and after several pop-ups, it took off on social media,” recalls Goila. While cloud kitchens have become a rage after the pandemic, Goila set up one in 2016. The decision, however, did not come easy. “There was hesitation and a lot of debate. But what gave us confidence is that a delivery kitchen is easier to scale up than a restaurant.

We had to take a call about - do we want a create a dish that people have to come to Mumbai for? Or do we want to take it to the world? The second prospect definitely sounded more exciting,” says the 33-year-old. Things may have taken a backseat because of the pandemic but Goila hasn’t lost hope. “Food is like entertainment. We bank on it to have a good life. So, restaurants are nowhere to go and business will be back sooner or later.”

ON B’LURU AND BEER Goila’s tryst with the city goes back many years and is filled with memories at CTR and Brahmins. Speaking about Bengaluru’s evolution in the food scene, Goila says, “The city has dominated the gastro pup culture in India. It has made dining out exciting, there are so many places serving excelling beer and food. Cities like Mumbai and Delhi can learn from Bengaluru.”