Talking ‘dosa’ tacos and ice cream ‘chaat’ with chef Ajit Bangera
The culinary master and former Avartana chef opens up about authenticity in food, and why he believes in creating recipes from scratch
When top chef Ajit Bangera says — “there’s nothing authentic about food" — you are compelled to sit up and take note. As someone with over five decades of experience in the Indian culinary landscape, he clarifies, “Authenticity is what you create, and there’s no end to what you can create in food." Bangera, along with Ashish Thadani, CEO of the Chennai-based Tiam Foods, opened the 54-seater restaurant Firo last month to offer what he calls “reimagined" Indian cuisine.
Firo is Bangera’s first venture post his retirement two years ago from ITC Chola, where he set up the iconic Avartana, recognised as India’s foremost modern south Indian restaurant. For the record, he also launched Colombo’s ITC Ratnadipa. It brings to Chennai a fine-dining experience that spotlights Indian food in a modern avatar, which, according to Bangera, “has been lacking for a long time." Thadani echoes the thought. “There hasn’t been a contemporary Indian restaurant that reimagines our food, honours tradition, but presents it through a creative lens in the city," he adds. The launch also brings to the fore Bangera’s creativity in a standalone restaurant in Chennai, a first for the chef who started his career with Taj in the 1980s before joining ITC. “I often told [the] chef that when he retired, we needed to create something together," remembers Thadani, who owns the cycling-themed spot Ciclo Café in Chennai and Puducherry (opened earlier this year in a 100-year-old restored French villa that was also the location for some of the scenes in the film Life of Pi).
The Mangalorean chef was inspired by his mother’s cooking early in life. “I don’t want diners walking into the restaurant for just good food. That’s a given. But they’re walking in to experience a memorable event with the best taste and presentation. And that’s why food flavours, taste, and presentation are something that I’ve learnt from my childhood days," says Bangera. His hack, if we may use the terminology, to create good food is simple: “To know good food, you must eat good food." To that effect, by his own admission, he tries to eat in the homes of locals.
One would probably expect the chef to give us a structured routine that keeps him inspired, but like most creative geniuses, it’s really in the mundane that a eureka moment creates a dish. “My thinking process is simple. To come up with a dish, it’s got to keep churning in the mind, and then it’s about elements coming together," says Bangera, adding, “I don’t take any pre-existing recipe and fine tune it. I like to build it from scratch." With Firo, the collective idea is to create food from the heart that exudes flavours of nostalgia even as the presentation is chic and novel. The duo also brought in chef Abhishek Mody from Bangkok, who has previously worked in Tapori, a regional Indian restaurant that found a mention in the Michelin Guide 2025.
At Firo, Bangera wished to serve tapas-style food “so that diners could order and sample more", and came up with 60 inventive dishes. There are dosa tacos, and ice-cream chaat, a rather glamorous take on the humble dahi bhalla. “A true chaat, after all, must capture that perfect balance of sweet, spicy, tangy, and savoury notes to keep the palate intrigued and craving for more. We bring a refreshing twist and a subtle umami depth to this timeless favourite," informs Thadani. The yoghurt is turned into an ice cream that’s served with a spinach crisp on the side, along with a tangy coriander-beetroot chutney, combining a plethora of sweet, savoury, and cold elements. There’s also the innovative ghee ice cream that accompanies a semolina pudding with jaggery sauce. “It took over 50 trials before we could get it right," says Bangera, explaining how he wanted to strike the balance between semolina and the perfect ratio of ghee to milk, ensuring that the richness was achieved without the feeling of any greasy residue on the palate. Another dish that has already become a hit is one inspired by idli filled with shitake mushrooms and prawns balchao. There’s a Bengal gram flour dish of the Gujarati dhokli, only, in this case presented as ravioli stuffed with figs. There is also a dessert that combines raspberry jelly, chocolate, and dehydrated pineapple with a hint of jasmine.
Firo’s innovative use of local ingredients, spices, and produce extends to its cocktail programme, which uses kokum, jaggery, and even nannari root (known for its Ayurvedic properties of healing). Terra Twist, for instance, is a whisky-forward drink that combines the spirit with spiced jaggery syrup and edible camphor, all of which promise a whiff of nostalgia.
It seems Chennai has a new address to offer the same superlative food experience by a chef who knows his food.
Abhilasha Ojha is a Delhi-based art and culture writer.
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