This new restaurant in Fort serves diners varied authentic flavours of India

In the buzzing bylanes of Fort we walk into the serenity of Mool Kitchen and Bar to be welcomed by a space that receives ample natural light which is paired beautifully with the soft light emanating from 1800 intricately sculpted fourpetal origami salt cellar structure The minimalist space has a menu of homecooked meals from coastal borders rich in produce Ladakh where vegetation is scanty for months the arid deserts of Rajasthan salt basins of the Rann of Kutch as well as the verdant hills of Meghalaya and forests of Nagaland A plate is served with stories from where the recipe originated connecting diners to the communities where these dishes are a stapleAttempting to bring authentic flavours of the country to the city entrepreneur couple Dipti and Mithilesh Shetty started Mool to celebrate the roots of Indian cuisine In Sanskrit Mool translates to lsquofrom sourcersquo ldquoOver years of travels and visiting peoplersquos homes in different regionsrdquo Dipti says ldquowe felt Mumbai lacked spaces that served homecooked meals in a fine dining setup Certain places may have a chef special on regional cuisine or pop ups but no one is committed to documenting authentic taste of home cooked meals in a restaurant set up This void inspired us to work on the idea of MoolrdquoSarvesh Moudgill at Mangalore learning to pick the perfect fish for a seafood thaliThe founders and their culinary team identified home cooks based on recommendations and research ldquoFirst we selected dishes that are locally popular in different statesrdquo Dipti walks us through the process ldquoThen we narrowed down on the ones with stories that needed to be told We contacted home chefs and travelled to them to try these dishes Once convinced that they aligned with our concept we put them on the menu We covered as much as possible in a simple menu that any foodie in Mumbai can enjoy Moreover India has too much to offer and everything cannot and should not be put in one go Wersquoll keep working on the menu as we move forwardrdquoA pioneering concept for the industry for every home meal sold a fixed percentage of royalty is shared with the respective home chefs whose recipe it is ldquoWe have entered into a legal agreement with them and they will be paid for as long as their recipe features on our menu For example if 10 meals by a particular home chef are sold monthly we will calculate the revenue generated and share the agreed percentage of that sale in the form of royalty every month Our menu also has the names of every home chef from whom we have taken recipesrdquo explains MithileshDipti adds ldquoItrsquos a first in the industry in India Every home chef we have worked with has not only given us their family secrets but also inspired us to create what we had set out tomdashand make it better Itrsquos a tiny way of thanking them and we did not want to restrict this to a mere photo ops opportunities for Mool In the future more home chefs will be brought on boardrdquoMarwari meals inspired by the flavours in Asha Kediarsquos home in Ked RajasthanFor Chef Suresh Singh Fartyal travelling to the interiors of India has been an enriching experience ldquoDespite being in the industry for 20 years I got to learn so much For instance I knew most homes in the north and east use mustard oil but I got to experience how the flavour profile of a dish changes with this one small change Or that in Ked Asha Kedia told us they swear loyalty to certain types or brands of hing and saunf for making a tremendous Marwadi meal In Tangra Yin Shung Jonathan shared his secret to cooking isnrsquot ingredients but how hot the wok is These little tips go a long way into ensuring the dish is perfectrdquo he addsSuresh Singh FartyalBusiness Consultant Sarvesh Moudgill who travelled with Singh to meet the home chefs shares that they also scouted for vendors in those regions to source ingredients from For instance the turnip comes from Himachal Pradesh or the wild onion from Uttarakhand ldquoOnce we were ready for trials in Mumbai we ordered those ingredients Almost 80 per cent of themmdashincluding jaggery chillies asafoetidamdashcome from the sourcerdquo he addsKashmiri meal inspired by the flavours of Feroza Begumrsquos Srinagar home PicSatej ShindeThe team identified local botanical for cocktails too Rhododendron from Uttarakhand mahua from Bihar saffron from Kashmir etc The cocktails bear names from the cities or regions that inspired them Speaking of the research travels Moudgill shares ldquoOur camera crew chef and I fuelled by wanderlust and an insatiable appetite weaved a path across the vibrant tapestry of the country not chasing recipes but following hearts Like in Kashmir with a backdrop of snowcapped peaks kissing the emerald valleys we learned how to make cheukh vangun an aubergine dish simmered in a slightly sour curry A Kashmiri grandmother sharedmountain folklore as her nimble fingers sliced the vegetable with practised ease making the experience more memorableDipti and Mithilesh ShettyIn Rajasthan we learned how to use limited produce to make raab a wholesome soup with bajra In Kerala we mastered cooking the perfect beetroot pacchadi From the communities in Jharkhand Bengal Tangra and Assam we learned what our forefathers meant when they described our motherland Cuisines and cultures change every 100 kilometres From Tangra style chilli chicken to bhuna meat in Jharkhand to the humble khar made from raw papaya in Assam to the delicate nolen gurer payesh in Bengalmdashthese intimate encounters captured in short videos taught us that there was so much to learn about how a dish not just about spices and techniques but also of the people who make itrdquoFood from TangraYin Shung Jonathanrsquos home in AssamMoudgill concludes saying ldquoOur Indian odyssey wasnrsquot born of Michelin stars or gourmet guides but in the fragrant smoke billowing from village chimneys and the warmth of chai shared in sundrenched temple courtyards Thatrsquos what Moolrsquos food is aboutrdquo