Nishar Diwan

Egg Sriracha v3.0 David Tran named his company Huey Fung after that ship that ferried him to the USA from Vietnam. Also, that Sriracha’s success relies on how delicious the sauce is, because they never really marketed it and only relied on word of mouth. The first three months of the five year plan are the most difficult. They do get difficult because of all the things that you have set yourself up to do are gradually dawning upon you, its metamorphosing, like the Kundapur ghee roast. It does not seem like a long time in the grand scheme of things when you look back to it. But your reality starts shifting as if someone is pulling the ground beneath you in slow motion for that time and it is scary. The change.But after you do it a couple of times you know it is necessary. Positive change many times is bitter, and in a good way addictive. . . . . . . . . #sriracha #eggs #cheese #sandwich (at Modernist Coffee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CZ8waUOvV9S/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Plum Habanero, coconut sorbet, Peanut and oat crumble . . . . . . . #plum #sorbet #icecream #coconut #crumb (at Modernist Coffee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CZHl3dUPnQC/?utm_medium=tumblr

Flatwhite @merakitch I had been wanting to revisit Meraki since quite some time. I had one too many coffees during my short trip to Surat, repercussions of which I can still feel as dreary exhaustion at end of day. It has been quite a while since my last post, and about the same time since I have been able to write a complete essay. Perhaps this is long needed to break my dissonant stride and get back to me. Currently taking one day of mental exhaustion at a time. As my IELTS approach my exam anxiety tided up, but I am glad that I had fallen into practicing writing coherent and well structured articles few months ago in my monthly magazine. Although I enjoy it in small quantities it does more harm than good if taken in higher quantities, the anxiety. I am fairly confident about the success rate, but I do have a personal goal set up which would be nice. As far as english assessment is concerned I wish they would just seat David Attenborough or even better, Nigella Lawson infront of me and have a pleasant enough conversation over a high-tea or a pint and score based on how cheerfully they say ‘Oh! It was surprisingly pleasant.” . . . . . . . . . #coffee #latteart #flatwhite (at Meraki The Coffee House) https://www.instagram.com/p/CViWJUnN67-/?utm_medium=tumblr

Robusta Espresso. If gods have a coffee, its probably a robusta. Gives a rich and full bodied espresso drinking experience that I will relate to as drinking a heart warming chocolate syrup. As far as Indian Speciality coffee is concerned, that was the goal from the very beginning. To promote good Indian Speciality coffee, a train of thought in which we could not disregard robusta. So, we decided to give it the centre stage when it came to it. From my previous experience with robusta this was an fun dial-in. As far the caffeine high is concerned it just elates you, to the point where you feel floating and fleeting. A proper, wake you up and get you going coffee that feels elating and not something that would lead you into a caffeine crash, Its a crystal clear high with a clean mind that vanishes away without a hangover. . . . . . . #robusta #coffee #epsresso #spro #caffeinehigh #singleestate #indiancoffee #indiancpecialitycoffee #specialitycoffee (at Modernist Coffee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CT9jUqCKcq3/?utm_medium=tumblr

Anda Bhurji and Hokkaido Milk bread. Ghost of tomato. After sitting in the refrigerator holding up on a lot of precious space decided to rip out a little breakfast. . . . . . . #bhurji #scrambled #streetfood #milkbread #sourdough (at Modernist Coffee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CT17Yj5KEwi/?utm_medium=tumblr

Kundapur Ghee Roast. On fine evening I got a text from @allan.christian29 saying he is going to drop off the ghee roast masala that he was talking about while sitting at the bar at Modernist. I was excitedly looking forward to it. Got some nice chicken picked up from my butcher and early morning before dialling in my espresso for the day. I got the ghee roast running on a slow heat. So slow and low that you could see the spices and ghee sear itself on the chicken meat almost forming a delicious crust. A process I put so slow you could smell the chicken fat seeping and dancing around with the delicious ghee’s nutty almost brown buttery aroma. But here’s where my french trained friends might be alienated is how the fenugreek seeds and curry leaves thrust that nuttiness three notches up. The chillies, byadgi, those deep red chillies with the dark red pulp that is put into the paste keeps releasing its colour making the dish progressively richer and almost scarier looking. All of this while the juices seeped out the chicken and you could visibly see the juices from the crevices of meat seep out. Everything happening while I turned things around with my spatula in that heavy bottom pan at a pace so slow it felt like it should be measured on the geological time scale. As everything metamorphosed and amalgamated into each creating this one singular complex entity which one could only describe as Ghee Roast . . . . . . . . #gheeroast #kundapur #foodwriting (at Modernist Coffee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTm6dQMqNAt/?utm_medium=tumblr

Breadly boi, welcome to this world. May you stay healthy and become wiser and mature. To do good in life and make great breads. . . . . . . . . . . . . #starter #culture #forthevukture #breadbaking (at Modernist Coffee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTc48xBKqs5/?utm_medium=tumblr

Matcha Yuzu Lemonade. I usually go through this Sinus pain which puts me in place of my own mortality. It usually is not so pleasant. I have unconventional ways of feeling the thrill, not taking any painkillers during this time is one of them. Where I am in a constant sublime state of fleeting consciousness trying to fight through the pain and to act normal and sometime overcompensating. Putting a lot more of the energy into fighting the pain which leads the body to turn off my profanity filter and many other things. Usually leading to insane verbal and written accounts discovered. . . . . . . . #matcha #green #lemonade #sinus #sublime (at Modernist Coffee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTRgfzYKAp9/?utm_medium=tumblr

Hokkaido milk bread. I love bread, to a level of obsession. I haven’t become a nerd when it comes down to making it especially. I know everything that happens in the process till a certain microbial point. But I haven’t played around to controlling temps and humidity or played around with flours. I guess it is about time i soaked myself into it considering that I have started getting good quality bread flour available. Too much nerding around, many variables to note. It will be a fun thing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #bread #boulanger #lepain #hokkaido #milkbread #foodnerd #miso #breadbutter (at Sears Tower Sevasi) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTKLsNNK6Z9/?utm_medium=tumblr

Kimchi One might find it wild but, I had never tried kimchi before, so making it and flying blind was certainly less than ideal but again, it was helpful that I could go in without any preconceived notions. It was something that was overplayed by a lot. Did not have high hopes for it, but it did live up to my expectations of how good it could be. I felt it was a little too gingery, but it was also my first time. The fermentation did wonders though. . . . . . . . . . . . . #kimchi #fermentation #koreanfod #vadodarafood #vadodarafoodwriting #travel #kimchidelicious (at Modernist Coffee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTHYbeYK90w/?utm_medium=tumblr

Yuzu Lavender Kombucha. kinda want to get a RotoVap, an Ultrasonic homogeniser, Centrifuge. “Oh to have a cat come sit by you and rub its face against you, like yes, there is love in this person.” Instinct is something that develops over time. In the kitchens it is important to be more driven by instinct in cases under a lot of heat and pressure where your brain is probably not in the right condition to think for itself, so all senses in your body combine to form a general feeling of one particular thing going on. That is instinct. I would stop in middle of pouring a v60 if I get what I call ‘the smell of extraction’ something that I got to know after making thousands of pour-overs repeatedly with all sorts of coffees. After you get a in-depth understanding of what is happening at a microscopic or unobservable scale, it becomes a part of your instinct. But that is work, mostly. And the word instinct is used most of the time to explain why one goes off the books without having to explain the science of everything. Then there is the natural instinct. Which, I observe is very strong in animals and kids. In animals be it change in weather, or imminent looming danger of being killed, they keep their instinct sharp. In kids, whatever silly little things the say, many a times is based on the fact their gut feeling and mouth does not have any filter. . . . . . . . . . . #kombucha #flavour #biochmeistry #foodwriting #writing #fermentation #vadodarafood (at Modernist Coffee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CS6YIjSq1f1/?utm_medium=tumblr

Katko Dabeli. In a recent conversation with my brother I realised that both he and I, live in a very idealistic and virtuous ways. He more than I, to do good and not expect. But in the end there needs to be a lot more element of hedonism that just does not fit into his and I’s way of thinking. It aches. Fulfilling out responsibilities towards others. But needing to understand responsibilities to our personal well being and self. (at Modernist Coffee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CS3VNuzK6gI/?utm_medium=tumblr

Lemon Lavender Coldbrew, very inspired by drink at LightHouse Coffee. Over the course of my life I have many times come across a point, am I being too big of a geek? Recently I realised I am one, and for sometime I felt like it was a bad thing. Not necessarily the overanalysing everything. It felt like snobbery, something I consider to be a grave sin. I might come off as one, on the surface level due to some very particular choices I make. But its just a deep rooted preference with an epilogued explanation as to why I prefer something over something. Consider it showing off my geekiness. Moving forward I would say I have stepped back into the realm of my own geeky nerdy, absorbed, overanalysing self in order to make insanely better coffee, omg I am so excited. And not just that I would also let it seep into all the aspects of cooking. Cause as much as I enjoy just free balling and making pizza with intuition and feel. I also need to understand what is happening every second on a microscopic scale with a ton of mental maths going on in order to feed the ginormous god complex that I have. . . . . . . . . . #lemonade #coffee #lavender #foodgeek #foodwriting #foodscience (at Modernist Coffee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CStvYXSqYSo/?utm_medium=tumblr

Sorbet being churned. I have always felt people who understand and enjoy food, sex, music, etc also love to enjoy life and get a certain thrill out of making out most of an experience. For me the baseline is if you can enjoy any kind of food in any settings, you are open to experiences and I like that kind of people. Maybe I enjoy life and I like to be in company of people who do. Snobbery though, is a big sin. Its a fine line. Very inspired by Bourdain and kinda by Gold. Moving Ahead, The act of cooking, like the act of having sex is a dirty gritty work. Someone whom I would call a cooking virgin if tried to walk into a restaurant kitchen during service would be taken aback the amount of sounds, smells that would be encountered by them. Probably all the cooking shows would have them thinking that all things are measured out in small bowls and tossed inside a pan with a nice aesthetic kitchen. If they tried to dive in head first without an explanation they would have to encounter and feel textures and smell, mostly good ones and some of them probably would take time to get acquired. But in both scenarios, the outcome is nice. Although I have my bias leaning towards one them. . . . . . . . #sorbet #foodwriting #foodjournal #foodjournalism #foodtravel #freshfruit #churning (at Modernist Coffee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSmEK6vKzY-/?utm_medium=tumblr

Anda Pulao. Jholokia hot sauce. I love eating out of bowls, pho, ramen, gumbo, haleem, I think most of the greatest meals of my life were from out of a bowl. Ugh, I do not know where I can start explaining the provenance of this beautiful vessel of eating. Its so good people started eating burritos out a bowl A lot of these meals were eaten in at the end of shift in Hyderabad, sitting on a milk can after spooning in some basmati rice and a ton of whatever chicken curry was made for the buffet, malai tikkas, sometimes that delicious malabari style poached egg curry that was made every Thursday. All of it in its own section of the bowl mildly warm over steaming hot rice, a spoon which I later subsequently carried out from the hotel on accident. Wish I could take those delicious mixing bowls too. But here I am talking about the daily experience of things, Now I could sit on the couch while watching a movie and eat out of it slumped into a rest, cradling the bowl in your hand like a little baby, the low slung centre gravity keeps its very stable. The high edges keeps anything from falling out. The best experience is when you have a lot of elements to play around with. Imagine a layer of rice, fried rice, grits, polenta, congee, noodles, that covers the entirety of bottom and a central curry, or sauce or two or three and various accoutrements ranging from fried chicken, slices of steak, scallops. Perhaps a pickle, chutney? Something for the crunch, freshness too. Onions, bombay mix, that spicy asafoetida rich ratlami sev. All of it lined at their respective boundaries in this colosseum of textures and smells you are ready to dive in…. More in September 2021 Issue . . . . . . #mealinabowl #andapulao #grits #donburi #hotsauce #foodwriting #foodessay #foodjournalism #foodjournal #journalismstudent #personalessay #foodforthought #news #nyfood #eaterla (at Baton Rouge, Louisiana) https://www.instagram.com/p/CShEN0DKtPd/?utm_medium=tumblr

Back in 2019 when I was in Bombay trying to find Suzette around Nariman point I stumbled across Swati Snacks. I only then realised the grandeur and pedigree it had as a restaurant with all stories running in my head of rich textile magnates frequenting Bombay in need of Swati Snacks. I went to the one in Ahmedabad running with some work I decided to go there with my father. The newer place just off of SG highway was close and we decided to drop by. As we took a turn the change in real estate was apparent and… rich. It was located in this really modern block type architecture looking complex which reminded me of the building modernist is in. The sign board, more like a placard is difficult to see if you are driving by, it looks very modern, like the one Osteria Francescana has. Do not let the per capita Porsches that are lined up outside scare you, the moment you walk in Swati Snacks you are just pulled into two different direction which is modern minimalist, but it somehow still carried that essence and feel of a canteen from 1980s. Those old school canteens or coffee houses, The architecture of it, lots of clean glass panes and comfortable metal seatings. Still carrying the Gujarati hospitality where I was asked if Garlic and onion is okay because Shravan had started. Regardless to say the food was amazing, super simple and delicious all around. Clean taste. The baked khichdi was a saat dana ni khichdi with dahi and topped with a ridiculously generous amount of sweet crispy fried onion was my favourite. The ragda patties, were serendipitous little things which I savoured with onions and tangy sweet date chutney. The panki had this sweetr fermenty flavour cooked between banana leaf felt like eating a silk saree, it was great and I fell in love with the chillies doused with corriander powder and black salt that they gave with it. In all, the food there was good of course. Like an upscale classic Gujarati snackery. The flavours do not overwhelm your pallete. One42, Billionaires St, Ashok Vatika, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, 380058 #ahmedabadfood #foodwriting #foodjournalism #foodtravel #foodwriteup #ahmedabadfoodwriting #foodblogging (at Swati Snack 0ne42) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSdYoHVqA51/?utm_medium=tumblr

Kombuchas, fiddling around. Played around with miso in this run and additional spice and kicks. I wonder how I can go about it trying to make something like a broth out of it. . . . . . . . . . . . . #kombucha #fermentation #ferment #wildyeast #scoby #fruits #miso #mango #foodphotograph https://www.instagram.com/p/CSbo68dKFjo/?utm_medium=tumblr