LOUIS XIII Gastronomy: The Story Of A Perfect Pairing

Cognac maker Remy Martin brings together a French and Indian chef to create a dining experience that raises the bar on alcohol-food pairings

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Curated dinners that pair high-end alcohol with specially prepared cuisine is a growing trend in the major metros in the country. The challenge for chefs, sommeliers, and spirit experts involved in the process is to get the combination right. While continental cuisine with its minimal use of herbs and spices is relatively easy to pair with wines and whisky, Indian food is a wholly different ball game. The complex array of tastes and the wide variety of spices used makes every pairing exercise a very demanding task requiring a full range of expertise for a gastronomically authentic and enjoyable experience.

It wasn't surprising then that Malo Le Mestre, the brand ambassador in India for Maison Remy Martin, the famous French cognac house, spent months looking for the right chef and restaurant to do a food pairing involving north Indian cuisine and the much-coveted LOUIS XIII, the crown jewel in his brand portfolio. The quest for him was to find the 'perfect culinary pairing'. "We wanted to create an authentic experience that combines the best of Indian food with the best of French cognac," Malo says.

Remy Martin takes food pairing very seriously. The Maison runs a full-fledged kitchen in its hometown of Cognac in Southwestern France, with a team of chefs under Executive Chef Romuald Feger. They are constantly at work to create gastronomical pairings that complement the aromatic richness of the brand's cognacs.