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 answering mails or returning phone calls! That gave us a lot of encouragement and we have not looked back since. We are extremely grateful about the overwhelming response.
There were naysayers who had wondered who would come so far. But it was a dream and sometimes, you just have to follow it. You might fail in the process but that’s fine.
I think India is ready for such concepts. You have worked in some of the most renowned restaurants including Noma in Copenhagen and Masque in Mumbai. Was NAAR always at the back of your mind when you were working at these places? Always.
I wanted to open something in the mountains and I wanted to call it NAAR because NAAR in Kashmiri means fire. I believe it’s the fire in the belly that counts. It is the flame within each and every person.
Your name was synonymous with Masque...
Yes, some people still thank me after having a great meal there! (laughs) I’m very proud of the work that we did at Masque. It was a concept which I genuinely wanted to do when I moved back to India. It was a great journey and I’m really proud of the work we did there.
We built a team and reached where we wanted to. It must have been a huge risk and a big leap of faith for you to move to Kasauli? That’s my personality type in a way. I want to look forward to challenges.
I am impractical too. NAAR’s concept is very impractical. Anyone in their right mind would think that this will be a disaster, especially when you’re running your own business.
How do you think the journey to the destination adds value to the dining experience? Experience counts for everything. I keep saying that food is only a percentage of the experience. It’s who you are with, where you’re dining, what are you looking at - everything counts.
I cannot replicate the NAAR experience anywhere else. People don’t even realise it there but it sometimes extends to four or five hours. During breaks, people go on garden walks and look at the mountains.
I’ve seen people crying, mesmerised, because it is overwhelming as well. We’re in the business of food and beverage, yes, but I feel the work we do is about making memories. A lot of people don’t completely understand what Himalayan cuisine is.
They associate it with certain dishes but don’t know the rest...
It’s a perception, right? Outsiders think India is only about butter chicken. Likewise, many in India don’t know much about our own food because there is so much diversity. That is why we are there.
We’re trying to change perceptions of what Himalayan food means and look at the entire mountain region from North to the North East. So, the diversity factor is also there from Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh. We’re trying to tell these stories through the food.
It’s one step at a time. What’s next? We’re always evolving. We keep changing a lot of things.
There’s a lot of R&D that’s happening. Collaborations will happen. Right now, we’re too young to even figure out what’s next.
I guess we just want to reach a point where we’re happy. Right now, we’re just very hungry (smiles)..
