In India, Karol Bagh in Delhi and Crawford Market in Mumbai are the chefs’ best bet for the chemicals. “PCB Creations in Gurgaon imports plant extracts that are prepared by Ferran Andria of El Bulli in Spain. However, there is no proper training institute in India and we send out chefs to Singapore for hands-on experience in molecular cooking,” says Chef Dean. The pioneer of this technique in the country is Aurus in Mumbai, where chefs are trained at the CIA (that’s the Culinary Institute of America) in Napa Valley.
Chefs haven’t yet turned good old butter chicken into golden-brown globules but a few innovations are on. At Fire, The Park Delhi’s Indian diner, the dessert menu has Masala Chai Panacotta, a pudding flavoured with tea, and topped with cardamom caviar. Indian flavours disguised in a very French-looking dessert.

Another branch of this technique is molecular mixology, which pulls off similar gimmicks in cocktails. At the 2007 Belvedere Cocktail competition, the winning concoction was a blend of mint and melon stirred by a South-east Asian master mixologist, and felt like smoking a cigar. Rick’s at the Taj Mahal hotel maintains a list of molecular cocktails for the adventurous. On offer are two pearls and two foams. “When we introduced these cocktails, the response was mixed. Then we started showcasing the technique and the bartender stirred the molecular cocktail in front of the guest. Preparing a single cocktail takes a good half-hour but people enjoyed the process and their drink,” offers Sachin Hasan, a bartender at Rick’s. His favourite is Kir Royale that offers champagne topped with a foam of black current.

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