Shankar Mahadevan on Mumbai vs Delhi food and his love for cooking

Singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan has entered the hospitality space with Malgudi, a modern South Indian resto-café brand co-founded by entrepreneur K S Ramakrishnan. Mahadevan chose Delhi as the site for the next chapter due to Delhi being known as the eating and food capital among India's metro cities.

In an interview, Mahadevan discussed his love for food, drawing parallels between it and music, stating that while Delhi has equally good food as Mumbai, Delhi is better for chhole bhature, while Mumbai has many other dishes that surpass Delhi's offerings.

Mahadevan shared that he'd prepare minced chicken with basil (Pad Krapow Gai) for a Thai meal, tamarind fish with a tamarind sauce for steamed fish, and green curry with jasmine rice and Thai papaya salad for a dinner party. Malgudi offers a range of filter coffee variations, including cappuccino, macchiato, latte, and picante, as well as matchas and boba teas, with their blueberry matcha being particularly popular.

Regarding fusion food, Mahadevan prefers it to be done right, as poorly executed fusion can be disastrous. He shared examples of unique dishes they have tried, such as vanilla ice cream with glucose biscuit and boondi jalebi caviar with milk foam, alluding to the process of fusion food being akin to music, requiring a strong foundation in the core cuisine followed by experimentation.

Malgudi prioritizes food safety, following a 100-plus point safety guideline covering hygiene, cleanliness, product origin, expiry dates, and oil usage, with Ramakrishnan stating that they are willing to enforce stricter measures rather than accepting food safety violations.