Cover Jaipur is one of the places that the Black Sheep Restaurants team travelled to while in India (Photo: courtesy of Black Sheep Restaurants)
Jaipur is one of the places that the Black Sheep Restaurants team travelled to while in India (Photo: courtesy of Black Sheep Restaurants)
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Ahead of the opening of new Tai Kwun restaurant Prince and the Peacock, Tatler followed a crack team from the restaurant group on a trip through Delhi, Jaipur, Udaipur and more
“There’s no such thing called Indian cuisine. It’s cuisines of India. Across this country there are many cuisines, with different histories, different origins and different stories,” says chef Palash Mitra to me as we chat in a crowded airport while waiting for a flight that would take us from Jaipur to Udaipur, both small cities in the western corner of India. Tatler is following the Black Sheep Restaurants team—composed of chefs Mitra, Kumaran Balaji of Rajasthan Rifles, Jonathan Leung, a member of the group’s leadership team, and three other front-of-house staff of the hospitality group—as they traverse through India on a culinary inspiration trip ahead of the opening of Prince and the Peacock, the newest addition to Tai Kwun, which is phase two of the group’s revival project of the heritage venue’s Central Magistracy building.
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Above Prince and the Peacock (Photo: courtesy of Black Sheep Restaurants)
Prince and the Peacock (Photo: courtesy of Black Sheep Restaurants)
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On this inspiration trip, the search for these “different stories” leads the Black Sheep Restaurants team to visit fine-dining restaurants, hole-in-the-wall eateries, heritage sites, forts, palaces, spice markets and more in Delhi, Jaipur, Udaipur, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Chennai. What they seek, however, are not just any stories, but stories and flavours from a bygone royal India.
In the words of Black Sheep Restaurants’ founder Syed Asim Hussain, it’s almost like a “hospitality pilgrimage”. He says, “[This trip] is essential to understanding the soul of what we are trying to present. It is a process that involves immersive exploration, from bustling street markets to dining rooms that have become legendary places; we [are] not just bringing back recipes, but something a bit more intangible. We say there is no magic in magic; it is an investment of time and energy that we hope allows us to create transformative experiences for our guests, far from the homelands of where these things originate.”
In reality, it’s not an easy task. Prince and the Peacock aims to highlight cuisines from the erstwhile kingdoms of India, from the Mughals of Delhi to the Nizams of Hyderabad, but that means cuisines spanning hundreds of years and a broad geographical area.
Above Chowmahalla Palace in Hyderabad (Photo: courtesy of Black Sheep Restaurants)
Chowmahalla Palace in Hyderabad (Photo: courtesy of Black Sheep Restaurants)
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The challenges to accessing this kind of historical food are manifold: not only are some recipes lost to time, but others have also been morphed to suit contemporary palates; and yet others are caught up in debates around authenticity. So, as Hussain explains, what the Black Sheep Restaurants team wants to bring to Hong Kong from India is not a replica of this diverse cuisine but the team’s own interpretation of it.
Leung, who accompanied the team on this journey, says cryptically, “It’s the software we are here for, not the hardware.” He explains, “We needed to come here to get the feel of things. There is a lot to see, a lot to absorb here. From the grandeur of the palaces to the hospitality of even the rickshaw drivers, there’s a unique flavour to India which we had to immerse ourselves in. But we don’t want to copy anything—we want to be inspired by it and put our own spin on it.”
Above City Palace in Jaipur (Photo: courtesy of Black Sheep Restaurants)
City Palace in Jaipur (Photo: courtesy of Black Sheep Restaurants)
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Thus, Prince and the Peacock’s culinary offerings draw from the kitchens of the maharajas of Kashmir, the sultans of Delhi, the rajputs of Rajasthan, the nizams of Hyderabad, the nawabs of Lucknow, the royals of Travancore and more. Be it the Kashmiri royalty’s affinity towards saffron or Lucknow’s last nawab Wajid Ali Shah’s fondness for mild, fragrant biryani, these are the traditions that Mitra wants to pay tribute to in his kitchen. He shares an example of one such dish: “In the zamindars’ [feudal lords] kitchens, chefs would follow a traditional recipe of cooking fish by wrapping it in mud and then baking it. We are trying to do that at Prince and the Peacock but in a slightly different way. We’re going to get the best trout, fill it up with prawn and spices, then wrap it in salt dough and bake it in sand, before serving it with its own juices. We are trying to have a bit of fun but with a solid foundation,” he says.
Above A tea seller in Jaipur (Photo: courtesy of Black Sheep Restaurants)
A tea seller in Jaipur (Photo: courtesy of Black Sheep Restaurants)
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This urge to go back to basics and build the menu around a solid foundation in history is ultimately what will set Prince and the Peacock apart. If we look at culinary trends in Hong Kong vis à vis Indian cuisine, there’s a trend of restaurants modernising it, adapting it to non-Indian palates, and adding elements that are not usually found in Indian cuisine.
Mitra and his team have firmly and deliberately gone the opposite way with their upcoming opening. “I know a project like this is a risky one. We are not only not following trends, but we are also going deep into a genre of food [Indian cuisine from princely states] that’s not well known. We will be working with ingredients that many people in Hong Kong have not even heard of, so definitely that’s a challenge,” says Mitra.
Hussain, meanwhile, believes wholeheartedly in Mitra and in his ability to deliver. “He is my person. And he is someone I have been exchanging ideas, dreaming, conversing with all along. It is like we are a band, and we have been practicing together for years, and he is my lead singer.”
And now, after months of planning, preparation and “practicing together”, the Black Sheep Restaurants team has pulled back the curtains on Prince and the Peacock, and now it’s the guests’ turn to go on what hopefully promises to be an epic culinary journey.
Prince and the Peacock
2/F, Central Magistracy, Tai Kwun, 1 Arbuthnot Road, Central, Hong Kong; instagram.com/princeandthepeacock
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Suchetana Mukhopadhyay is the Digital Content Manager for Tatler Hong Kong. In this role, she leads all digital editorial and branded content on Tatler Hong Kong’s website, from brainstorming story ideas with the writers to editing and publishing the articles, and from managing the overall content flow to driving search engine optimisation. She also leads the beauty content at Tatler Hong Kong and across the region, and is always looking to champion diversity through her articles. She was previously with Cedar Hong Kong and Gafencu, and freelanced for the South China Morning Post, Campaign Asia-Pacific, CNN and more. Contact her here.
