Nestled in a mango grove on a 37-acre farm, Farmlore is the latest addition to the thriving food scene of Bangalore, India’s tech hub in the south of the country. The 18-seat restaurant opened in 2021 and offers a 10-course seasonal farm-to-table menu curated by three chefs who have worked at Michelin-recommended restaurants: Johnson Ebenezer, the former executive chef of Nadodi, in Kuala Lumpur; Mythrayie Iyer, who worked at Noma, in Copenhagen; and Avinnash Vishaal, formerly of Frantzen, in Stockholm. Farmlore does not peg itself to any particular cuisine; the food is made with indigenous produce and respect for the traditions of South India, but with a contemporary twist. Dishes might include Bannur lamb – known for its fatty texture – rubbed with salt, wrapped in banana leaves and smoked for two days; or comfort foods like ambali – a meal of buttermilk, ragi porridge and lime pickle, and mappillai samba and horse gram khichdi – a rice and lentil dish – topped with peppery duck. Even the restaurant’s desserts make use of local ingredients like curry leaf, jaggery and cow colostrum. In the last decade, more restaurants like Farmlore, where chefs experiment with local ingredients using international techniques, have popped up across Indian cities. The dishes at these places appeal to millennials who are increasingly aware of global trends thanks to social media and travel, and are conscious of their carbon footprint. These young people are moving away from fast food in favour of cuisine that is produced more sustainably, and they want authentic culinary experiences with healthy grains like millets and quinoa . Going back to their cultural roots seems the natural progression. It’s all about playing around with techniques and ingredients to create new flavours Chef Sandeep Sreedharan Farmlore sources ingredients like milk and eggs from its own farm, which has a solar-powered hydroponic system used to produce greens while minimising the carbon footprint. Instead of using gas to cook, the restaurant uses wood-fired ovens. The restaurant’s seasonal menu changes every week, and dishes are generally low in carbohydrates and designed to be healthy. “We have guests from all age groups, well-travelled people who know their food and are looking for special experiences like these,” Ebenezer says. “A lot of young millennials like the food so much that they buy tickets for their parents to experience our food.” Sandeep Sreedharan is another chef championing farm-to-table ingredients. He founded Elaa, a restaurant in the village of Anjuna, in Goa, on India’s west coast, that specialised in plant-based dishes before it closed. Sreedharan says that growing up in the Indian state of Kerala, he ate “simple, local food”, and that “all [the food] that is a fad today was actually eaten by [our community] for hundreds of years”. “When I curate a menu, I try to introduce a surprise element using the same traditional ingredients,” he says. “I make upma [a dish of dry-roasted semolina or coarse rice flour commonly eaten in Kerala] from foxtail millet, make a pumpkin purée instead of the usual curry and pair it with a crisp idli [steamed rice and lentil cakes]. It’s all about playing around with techniques and ingredients to create new flavours,” he adds. Comorin, in the city of Gurugram in northern India, is an Indian restaurant that reinvents lesser-known regional cuisine. It is owned by EHV, a division of Old World Hospitality – the group behind much-loved restaurant brands like New Delhi’s Indian Accent , which came in at No 19 on this year’s Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list . “The food at Comorin is regional and drawn from across India, but focuses on unique hidden gems that were invented or designed by street vendors or housewives or home cooks, and we add our own twist to it,” says Manish Mehrotra , the restaurant’s culinary director. “There are unique items [on the menu] like Champaran mutton curry cooked in a mud pot over hot ashes and served with sattu [flour made from pulses and cereal] parathas. “From dahi batata puri [lentil dumplings in yogurt] – which have a couple of wasabi nuts – to barley salad with seasonal fruits, the food uses local ingredients, and draws on nostalgia and popular comfort food with a surprise spin to it. “ Cheeni malai [sweet cream] toast is one of our most popular dishes; something that is made at home or by street vendors, by putting leftover clotted cream on bread with a bit of sugar,” he adds. Reji Mathew is the co-founder of Kappa Chakka Kandhari, a restaurant with branches in Chennai, on India’s east coast, and Bangalore, that serves traditional Kerala cuisine with a twist. The chef says he started the business after three years of research on how to reinterpret the food he grew up eating for a modern audience. 50 years of Hong Kong’s Gaylord Indian Restaurant, a Tsim Sha Tsui icon “In the past, we ate a lot of rice but had a more physical life, walking miles and doing manual work. In the present scenario, with sedentary lifestyles, it does not make sense to have too many carbohydrates, so our restaurant focuses on offering more protein,” he says. Kappa Chakka Kandhari serves unique foods like pazhan kanji – a highly nutritious dish made from rice porridge fermented overnight that is traditionally eaten by farmers in Kerala. There are also other Kerala staples on the menu, such as Kadala curry – made with black chickpeas – and breadfruit curry. Mathew says his aim is to serve traditional food that isn’t too heavy and feels as light and nourishing as home-cooked food. He sources ingredients such as bird’s eye chill, tapioca, coconut oil, Kerala rice and spices like pepper from different parts of Kerala, where he believes he can get the best quality from local farmers. “I also don’t compromise on traditional vessels and utensils. We still use iron griddles and earthen pots instead of pressure cookers or non-stick pans,” he says. Avinash Krishnan, a software professional in Bangalore sums it up well. “I think there is so much wisdom in eating traditional food and focusing on what is grown locally. And when this is presented in an interesting way and combined creatively, it makes the whole experience pleasurable.”