4 home chefs reinventing the restaurant game

Ruchira Hoon: Dakshin Canteen, Delhi

Step into Dakshin Canteen, a small 26-seater restaurant in New Delhi’s Amar Colony, which opened in December. The cosy space by 45-year-old chef Ruchira Hoon warmly embraces you.

Growing up a latchkey child in Delhi, Hoon began cooking at age nine. She found inspiration everywhere—from the back of a crisp packet to cookery shows and cookbooks. She grew up eating borderless food, thanks to her Punjabi and Tamil Iyengar roots. Though she dreamed of culinary school, family expectations led her to journalism instead.

While working as a journalist, Hoon hosted parties, showcasing entire recipe books. She transitioned from journalism to blogging and food consultancy. When the pandemic hit, she launched her home kitchen, The Ruchira Kitchen. On weekends, she served coastal and South Indian food, dishes from Persia, Pakistan, and more. “I found the response to South Indian food good. Dakshin Canteen was thus conceptualised to go beyond the stereotypical idli-vada-dosa approach and offer an explosion of flavours," she says.

Hoon’s small plates are contemporary—the menu features podi prawns, coated with chammanthi podi from Kerala (roasted grated coconut pounded with spices), chilli cheese paniyaram (pan-fried rice dumplings), inji puli (Kerala’s ginger-tamarind relish) chicken wings, and larger courses like the Sri Lankan okra curry and Chettinad chicken biryani. She also prepares soft shell crab Chettinad style, which she unapologetically encourages guests to eat with their hands.

Also read: A unique new festival in Dehradun celebrates food stories

From cookbook pop-ups, to a home kitchen, then a food consultancy, scaling up to a restaurant was smooth, given her experience. Training staff, though, posed a challenge, but by staying hands-on, Hoon now leads a team of around 14 whom she trusts.

Doma Wang: Blue Poppy Hospitality, Kolkata

Wang’s latest venture, in partnership with her daughter Sachiko, is a premium dining restaurant called Popo’s by Blue Poppy in Kolkata. It launched in October and showcases Tibetan as well as Chinese dishes popular in the city.

Wang, known as the formidable momo queen, began her culinary journey from her home kitchen decades ago. “When my daughter was born in 1991, I did not want her raised by a nanny. I also wanted to supplement the family income. Making momos was my speciality, and so in 1993, I made posters with my menu and number and stuck them around the neighbourhood. We also made thukpa, and Indian Chinese dishes like chow mein, fried rice, garlic chicken and Manchurians. Between my ‘Man Friday’ Somu and I, we did the marketing, mincing, cooking, and deliveries on our two-wheelers. On days we made ₹500, we celebrated," says Wang, 56.

In 2005, a chance to run the canteen at the Sikkim tourism guest house came her way. “Blue Poppy Canteen was born, and I got to see diners enjoying my food in person. It soon became popular, and the waiting lines outside were a confidence boost," she says.

Wang exited the canteen in 2018 and opened a restaurant in the same location called Blue Poppy Thakali, with Himalayan and Nepali food. This was followed by Popo’s by Blue Thakali at the Sikkim Commercial House last year.

“The learning curve was steep. My financial planning was not the best. When I began, I priced my momos low because I wanted students to afford them. When we scaled up, I didn’t know how to work the commercial gas range, nor did I know about the taxes. Today, I have qualified staff for finance and assistants. I am proud to have grown to a popular and multi-award-winning restaurant owner and chef," says Wang, who is now the director of her company, Blue Poppy Hospitality.

Jasleen Marwah: Folk, Mumbai

In 2023, the restaurant Folk in Mumbai created a buzz for serving home-style fare. It is the brainchild of home chef Jasleen Marwah.

Marwah was working as an executive producer, which led her to move from Delhi to Mumbai in 2002. Craving the Kashmiri Pandit food of her home, she began cooking it.

“In 2015, I took a break after completing a film project. The idea of pop-ups and home dining experiences was gaining traction, and I was encouraged by friends and family who had eaten my food to give it a go. I started Namak by Jasleen, my home kitchen initiative."

Marwah’s cooking was initially based on memories. Wanting to improve her skills, she travelled to Kashmir several times, to family kitchens, weddings, and explored traditional cooking methods. “I found technique-driven home-style dishes of dum aloo and mutsch (mutton kofta dish) resonated with people, and these became my signature dishes," she says.

The home kitchen became a full-time job when the lockdowns hit, flourishing even post-Covid. The opportunity to helm a pan-Indian restaurant soon presented itself, and Folk came to life in 2023.

Scaling up to a restaurant meant going from a menu of about 15 dishes to approximately 80, balancing variety, spice levels, and dietary preferences. Marwah, 47, learned to accept lessons from mistakes that happen when scaling up. “Traditionally, potatoes are boiled with the skin on for dum aloo, but when someone accidentally peeled and boiled them at Folk, we found that in large-scale cooking it worked better," Marwah adds.

Interestingly, mutton dishes like the mutsch and tabak maaz, which require specific cuts of meat, and the saag (seasonal greens), are made from her home kitchen to manage sourcing better. “The prep is specific for these dishes, and also I love making them," she says.

Tresa Francis: Coracle, Bengaluru

Just like Marwah in Mumbai, 44-year-old Tresa Francis, founder of the restaurant Coracle and home catering business Travancore Tasties in Bengaluru, also likes to cook certain dishes herself. Coracle, a premium dining space that pays homage to heritage South Indian dishes, opened in July.

“The Kerala beef fry, prawns mango curry, and Alleppey fish curry are made only by me. I have no qualms in saying they are not available when I cannot make them at the restaurant," says Francis.

For Francis, the family’s foray into the food business began in the 2000s after they moved from Kozhikode to Bengaluru. Her mother began to cater Kerala food and was a prolific baker too. “My family’s passion for food led me to realise it could be a business," says Francis, who took to catering from home after getting bored in a week’s time, when taking a break from her corporate job in 2015.

“At Coracle, we focus on the flavours of spices. We are naturally known for our Kerala food. We also have Karnataka food and Tamil dishes like murungakkai mutton curry with dosa," she says, adding that the idea of the restaurant was to bring in nostalgia, and so desserts like sticky toffee pudding and caramel custard are there too.

“It has been a massive learning curve. I have catered from my 8 by 10 foot home kitchen for up to 100 people, comfortably taking over the whole house when needed. In the restaurant kitchen, getting a team together and learning to delegate took time. I am still hands-on, though, and make a lot of the food myself," says Francis, who is delighted that people bring back friends and family for a meal to her new restaurant.

Ruth DSouza Prabhu is a features journalist based in Bengaluru.

Also read: Experience a rare home meal with Saudi Arabia's first female tour guide