What sustenance would you wish to have within the afterlife? For Historic Egyptians, who have been steadily buried with an array of foods and drinks, bread was once a not unusual selection. As I chunk into Ekaa’s 110% Hydration Bread impressed via this civilisation, I’ve my solution to the query. Time and custom had been transcended… one feels that if any bread may give new lifestyles to the useless, it might be one thing like this. We ourselves are blissfully rejuvenated with extra bites.
This beautiful bread is a part of Ekaa’s lately introduced Tasting Menu 5.0. Via an impressively elaborate 10-course meal, Chef Niyati Rao and her staff take you on a adventure via (Earth’s) area and time. Chef Niyati explains, “We got here throughout such a lot of dishes from the previous that we needed to reconnect to. We needed to create our personal variations of them. So we concept, ‘Why no longer assemble them and curate a whole tasting menu according to kingdoms of the sector?’ There are a number of tales and legends related to each and every dish. Historical past buffs are without a doubt going to revel in it. However there may be different trivialities as nicely. Each and every route generally is a dialog starter.”
All through my meal, I nearly felt like a gourmet Physician Who making foodie stops over the centuries the usage of the TARDIS. In spite of everything, each and every route targets to move you to a area throughout a specific historic technology. And if we had the danger to embark on one of these voyage, would not we need to ceremonial dinner like royals? That is how Ekaa hones its focal point, the usage of storytelling to curate an revel in that includes regal cuisine from a choice of international dynasties. This isn’t an easy, archival plunge into royal diets. There are signature twists within the story.
As an example, the 110% Hydration bread reinforces its Historic Egyptian ties with a date pairing. Alternatively, the elements for the latter do not come from Egypt. As a substitute, you’re introduced Indian nolen gur and buffalo milk white butter. “The bread is flavoured with coriander seeds and unripened blueberries we’ve freshly picked from the farms,” Akshay Bhonsale, Ekaa’s Head Boulanger, tells us. Even if the conceptualisation of Tasting Menu 5.Zero calls for a definite suspension in time and area, Ekaa reveals techniques to flooring you ceaselessly within the provide and the native.
The Kingdom of the Tzars route. Photograph Credit score: Ekaa
A number of the different favorite international forays is Trout Roe with Smetana and Buckwheat – Ekaa’s tackle Russian Tzar Nicholas II’s cherished “eggs on eggs”. It’s served with beetroot cooked in terracotta, harking back to the famed Faberge Eggs. The cool softness of the roe, the creaminess of the garlic-infused smetana and the crunch of the buckwheat end up how ingenuity and ability supplement the storytelling right here. This texture deal with is adopted via a flavour pleasure. The Kingdom Of Qings route contains soup made with goji berries, tapioca pearls, spices, and mugwort-flavoured Chinese language lap cheong. The playful presentation brings to thoughts goldfish frolicking in a small pond, whilst the wholesomeness justifies the nod to the medicinal soups of imperial China.
Photograph Credit score: Ekaa
Ekaa introduced a brand new cocktail menu a couple of months again and we had the chance to check out it along Tasting Menu 5.0. Even if the cocktails don’t seem to be a part of the similar narrative, they nonetheless have a good time historical past. Curated via Head Mixologist Jishnu AJ, the bar menu highlights the wealthy heritage of Ayurveda via leading edge concoctions and lesser-known elements. We extremely counsel ‘Camphor’, a gin-based cocktail with suitable for eating camphor, jasmine syrup, supasawa, blue pea and jasmine leaves. Every other gin and supasawa possibility is the attention-grabbing ‘Mountain Pepper’. We additionally favored ‘Khus’, which presented us to smoked tequila and honey black garlic.
Camphor cocktail. Photograph Credit score: Ekaa
Returning to our culinary voyage, we relished the soul-soothing aggregate impressed via the Kingdom of Travancore. This route celebrates the easy, well-balanced flavours of Kerala Sadya via a horse gram thuvial, Ghandasale rice and a Nendran banana broth. It additionally equipped a much-needed respite from the richer choices. Each and every route presented us to novel elements and astonishing texture mixtures. Therefore, we may not expose what the Kingdom Of Siam, the Aztecs, the Marathas, the Rajputana, the Meiji Recovery, and The Vikings. You need to prevent via to find their delectable riches first-hand.
Photograph Credit score: Ekaa
Ekaa’s new menu promised to allow us to in on royal secrets and techniques and proceeded to present us a style of them. Superbly illustrated playing cards prefaced each and every route, hinting on the treats to come back. As we accumulated them on the finish of the evening, we realised we had certainly drawn a successful hand.
What: Ekaa’s Tasting Menu 5.0
The place: Kitab Mahal, 1st Flooring, D Sukhadwala Street, Azad Maidan, Citadel, Mumbai.