Manish Mehrotra, the celebrity chef who rewrote the rules of Indian cooking, in India and the West

“I cook global Indian food, not Indian Indian food,” says celebrity chef Manish Mehrotra, as we chat over a cup of tea in the London outpost of his award-winning New Delhi restaurant, Indian Accent.

Named India’s No 1 restaurant by the judges of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, his flagship establishment has been luring diners since 2009, keen to try his unusual format of traditional spice blends, diverse global ingredients and modern cooking techniques.

Some guests hope to catch a glimpse of the famous cook – for Mehrotra is as comfortable in front of the camera as he is in the kitchen. He won the popular television culinary game show Foodistan and has been a guest chef on MasterChef India.

After the success of his first Indian Accent restaurant, Mehrotra decided to open one in New York in 2016, followed by another, in London in December 2017. Both have been well received by diners and critics.

The London restaurant is located in upmarket Mayfair. A discreet shopfront leads into an elegantly understated space, with comfortable booth seating, minimalist decor and low lighting. Jazz drifts through the restaurant along with the scent of richly spiced buttery curries, punctuated by citrus wafts of delicate kaffir lime leaves.

Warm and effusive, Mehrotra has the cool mind of an astute businessman. Unlike many chefs, who are inspired to cook by their mothers or grandmothers, he admits that for him it was a calculated career decision. He studied hotel management, but became excited by the opportunity to learn and create in the kitchen.