Himanshu Saini talks to Vir Sanghvi about chance, Tresind and two Michelin stars

Saini is in excellent company. The other two Dubai restaurants in this category are run by two of the world’s greatest chefs, France’s Yannick Alleno and Italy’s Niko Romito.

But had Saini not made a specific phone call in 2015, his life may have been very different. Unlike many top Indian chefs, who started out with hotel chains, he went to work in the kitchen at the standalone restaurant Indian Accent, in his hometown of Delhi, where he became a protege of Manish Mehrotra. This was in 2012; Indian Accent was only about three years old, but already making waves.

The legendary chef Mehrotra was disappointed when Saini, along with another young kitchen star, Saurabh Udinia, was lured away by restaurateur Zorawar Kalra to open another standalone restaurant, Masala Library in Mumbai.

Saini and Udinia opened Masala Library to much acclaim and then collaborated on the menu for Kalra’s next effort, Farzi Café, an attempt to take modern Indian food to a younger demographic.

But Saini had always wanted to work abroad. And so, when he was offered a job at an Indian restaurant in New York, he took it. The job was not what he expected. He had endless problems with the management about staffing, ingredient costs and nearly everything else. One day, he decided that enough was enough and walked out.

But what was he to do? Was he to return, tail between his legs, to Kalra? He had no offers in the US and wasn’t even sure how to secure a fresh work visa.

In desperation, he turned to a friend who worked in Dubai. The friend suggested that he reach out to Bhupender Nath, who was in the process of setting up a new restaurant in that Emirate.

His timing was perfect. Nath, a self-made millionaire who had earned a fortune in the fisheries business, had dreamed for years of owning a prestigious restaurant. A proposed collaboration with Kalra to open a Masala Library in Dubai fell through, and he was looking for a chef to helm an all-new brand. He knew very little about Saini but decided he was worth the risk. He sent him a ticket to Dubai and gave him the job.

I met the duo in Dubai in 2015. Tresind had recently opened in a mid-market location and was not particularly well-known. Saini’s food, though, was a revelation. He was still very inspired by Mehrotra (one dish on the menu was described as a tribute to the Indian Accent chef), but I could discern in Saini’s food the beginnings of a culinary style all his own.

I was less sure about Nath. Was he just another rich guy flirting with the restaurant business for a lark? Nath insisted that he wasn’t, and said he was deeply committed to Tresind and to Saini.

He was true to his word. I watched as Tresind began to gain traction and as Nath and Saini opened the less-ambitious but very successful Carnival restaurant. Then, as Saini’s reputation grew, Nath opened Tresind Studio next door to the original. This establishment served a different, more experimental menu crafted by Saini.

“I wanted this to be a very personal restaurant,” Saini says, “where I didn’t have to worry about cooking what would be popular. I could just cook what I liked.”

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About four years ago, Saini’s career moved to the next level. He was invited to cook at great restaurants around the world and participate in what the trade calls “Four Hands” collaborations, when two master chefs cook together.

Nath opened new successful restaurants, the original Tresind moved to a glamorous location at the One&Only hotel, and Nath took a space at the fancy new Nakheel Mall in the Palm Jumeirah islands, for an entirely new Tresind Studio.

Saini’s food changed too. The flavours remained resolutely Indian, but they emerged in surprising forms. Each menu always started with a new take on pani-puri but there were such dishes as tandoori chicken dumplings; a crab ghee roast served on a slice of bark; a modern take on the Kerala sadhya; a lobster tail charred and served with corn curry; a chilli stuffed with pickling spices and served with a khaman-dhokla ice-cream; and a standout dish inspired by the pan juices released when braising meat.

All of it looked beautiful (perhaps too beautiful), and there were verbal nods to Saini’s travels. One dish was called Scarpetta, an Italian word for scooping up the last bits of sauce with bread (which probably played well with Bottura but mystified Indian guests).

Saini took chances that chefs at top Dubai restaurants rarely take. He refused to rely on luxury ingredients such as caviar, foie gras and truffles and, whenever possible, tried to use local produce, which is not easy in Dubai, where even the salt and pepper are imported.

“I don’t want to take the easy way out. We grew up eating food that was about flavour, not luxury,” he says. Though Tresind Studio is more expensive than the original Tresind, guests do not appear to miss the frills, and have responded well to the new flavours of ingredients such as locally sourced prawns.

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I’ve known Saini for eight years now and he has not changed a bit. He is still curious, still overly emotional (he cries easily), still deeply sensitive, still always dissatisfied with his own food (because he believes he can do better), still entirely loyal (to Nath and to his old friends), and still humble.

He cooked a few months ago at a pop-up in Delhi and when Manish Mehrotra entered, he stooped to touch his feet. His Delhi-based family attended the pop-up and, while they were proud of his success, his father seemed unimpressed by the food.

“He says he still doesn’t think I’ve got it right,” Saini told me later. “He is my biggest critic and he does not like many of my dishes.” It was not a joke. Saini does seem concerned about his foodie father’s approval. Fortunately, his wife Megha Jain, a marketer with a bank in Dubai, and their two-year-old daughter Jenelia, are entirely supportive and appreciative.

What’s next for Himanshu? The Michelin success has yet to sink in, he says. As for expansion, there is already a successful Tresind in Mumbai. And though Nath often talks about expanding into the West, they are both too busy growing the empire in Dubai.

I don’t think Himanshu is the sort of chef who plans his career much in advance, anyway. After all, this chapter began with a desperate phone call. And look how well that turned out.