The 16-seater restaurant which opened near Kasauli less than a year ago, has already become the toast of the country. NAAR, which means ‘fire’ in Kashmiri, is Chef Prateek Sadhu’s passion project. For those who have made it to the restaurant surrounded by lush pine trees, a 45-minute drive from Kasauli, it is an experience to be cherished.
The Himalayan culinary culture that it offers ranges from ingredients, techniques and dishes from Kashmir, Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, parts of Sikkim, and Assam among others. For those who are yet to make it, NAAR has come to them in the form of a collaboration with The Leela Palaces and Conosh — a four-city tour which includes Jaipur, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai. After a hearty meal of Himalayan food finished off with a beautiful ragi cake with smoked pineapple and brown butter ice cream in Delhi, the Chef sat down for a leisurely chat about NAAR.
Excerpts from the interview: NAAR was among Time’s list of World’s Greatest Places 2024. Were you expecting that to happen so soon? Honestly, not at all. In fact, I was sceptical whether the concept of NAAR would even work or not, because nothing of this sort had ever been attempted in India.
This is the first ever concept like this. I had my apprehensions. I think what helped was we were ready to fail.
But when we opened reservations around 40-45 days before opening our doors, we received 300-350 odd emails and phone calls. For three days, we were just.