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Rohit Khattar set up Indian Accent, saw it rise to the top, and left to make art films. He’s returned, he’s got new ideas, and his restaurants are better than ever

- VIR SANGHVI

Suppose you run a successful restaurant. Not only is it profitable, but it is regularly hailed as India’s best restaurant. It wins every award that matters. Culinary Culture gives it the top rating of five stars. The chef is rated as India’s best. The foreign media call it the leader of a new generation of Indian restaurants. What do you do next? Do you sit back and let the acclaim wash all over you?

Or do you try and open outposts of the restaurant in other cities? Or do you seek new challenges, perhaps outside the restaurant business?

These, I imagine, are the questions that Rohit Khattar has been asking himself over the last decade. As most foodies already know, Khattar is a born restaurateur. (Chor Bizarre; India Habitat Centre and its influential restaurants; Sitaray and Tamarai in London etc.) Two decades ago, he signed up to manage The Manor in Delhi and wondered what to do with the dining room which had, until then, been considered a jinxed space because of the number of chefs and concepts that had failed there.

He decided to take a chance on a chef who had worked for him in Delhi and London. The chef was Manish Mehrotra. They opened Indian Accent, and after about a year of struggle, they beat the jinx. Not only did Indian Accent become famous and successful, but it also created a new kind of modern Indian cuisine, which has been widely imitated around the world.

When Indian Accent took off, I wondered what Rohit would do next. I thought he would open an Indian Accent in London (because he already ran successful restaurants there) and eventually, I was proven right. But before that, he opened in New York to great acclaim. Indian Accent won rave reviews from London critics until it became a victim of the Covid pandemic.