Bringing the age old royal cuisine of various erstwhile princely states to the contemporary dining experience in the city is what 21 Guns Salute has been doing for the past one year. And to celebrate this feat, they were greeted by a guest from the same gharana whose cuisine they so profoundly exhibit as one of their best. Jammu and Kashmir's Maharaja Kumar Ajatshatru recently visited the Gurgaon restaurant as they presented an array of dishes closest to what was served in the long-gone times of the maharajas.
The day also saw the addition of two new dishes from Jammu and Kashmir — murg pashtoon and lal mirch ka jheenga — on an evening of jugalbandhi with Indian classical instruments that included the jaltarang, flute and tabla.
The maharaja, who feels reviving traditional Indian cuisine is much more important and relevant to our cities than delving into foreign ones, spoke on the occasion, saying, “Many Indian chefs and diners nowadays are confused. They are bringing fusion tastes and cuisines like Japanese and many others, something which we don't have the palate or the feel for. Instead, they must bring something that is originally Indian. This particular restaurant is reviving old recipes. These are grandmother's old recipes, most of which are dying out. They are researching and reviving authentic cuisine, be it from Manipur, Kanyakumari, Kashmir or Hyderabad.” He also spoke about the importance of a dish's presentation, besides its flavour and preparation, saying, “The visual aspect of a dish is extremely important, and if they can create such an experience where one can't differentiate or figure out what the dish is, and yet love it and find it delicious, the place gets full marks.” The dishes the maharaja found remarkable yet undistinguishable turned out to be the mawa paneer ki seekh and the mattar ki tikki.
The owner of the restaurant, Madan Mohan, who has been collecting antique items and heritage cars for the last 10 years, explained how he would always receive a royal treatment each time he would visit such a household, and later decided to bring such an experience to the city-dweller too.
“The royal households would present great hospitality and treat me with delicious food. Reviving those customs and cuisines is important, as they are otherwise dying. So we go to the royal households and, on request, get their chefs here. They teach our chefs, and when they feel our chefs make the dishes just like the original, only then do they leave,” he said. spoke.
