ROYAL RICHES

Ahead of the opening of Prince and the Peacock, Black Sheep Restaurants' latest establishment, Tatler joins the hospitality group on a culinary pilgrimage to India

- Suchetana Mukhopadhyay

“There’s no such thing as Indian cuisine: it’s the cuisines of India. Across this country there are many cuisines, with different histories, different origins and different stories,” says chef Palash Mitra, the culinary director of South Asian cuisine at Black Sheep Restaurants (BSR), as we speak to him in a crowded airport while waiting for a flight that would take us from Jaipur to Udaipur, both cities in northwestern India.

Tatler is following the BSR team—Mitra and fellow chef Kumaran Balaji; Jonathan Leung, a member of the group’s leadership team; and three of its frontof-house staff—as they traverse India on a culinary inspiration trip ahead of the opening of Prince and the Peacock, the group’s Indian restaurant in Tai Kwun, the second phase of BSR’s ambitious revival project for the heritage venue’s Central Magistracy building. It also operates Magistracy Dining Room and Botanical Garden in the complex.

Syed Asim Hussain, the group’s founder, describes the trip as a “hospitality pilgrimage” of sorts. “This trip is essential to understanding the soul of what we are trying to present. This process involves immersive exploration, from bustling street markets to dining rooms that have become legendary places. We are not just bringing back recipes but something a bit more intangible. When guests enter Prince and the Peacock, I just want them to feel the deep sense of care that went into developing and curating this [diverse royal Indian experience],” he says.