It may be true that excellent Indian food is served around the world, but to get to the root – literally – of what makes this cuisine so richly diverse and addictive, it’s time to take a trip right to the source. India calls out to those who listen to the earth and wish to partake in ancient farming, cooking, and dining practices that are inextricably connected to the lands and waters of the country. At Indian fine dining restaurant Masque in Mumbai, the chefs heed this call, demonstrating a keen harmony with the ingredients that make such an illustrious culture of food possible.

With a population of over a billion people and powerful terrains that range from the snowy heights of Sikkim to the deserts in Rajasthan and rainforests in Karnataka, there is a never-ending myriad of sumptuous foods to be experienced in India. At the cavernous hideout of a former cotton mill in Mumbai, Indian fine dining restaurant Masque bring the elusive ingredients and ancient cooking techniques of the country’s many regions and populations to a ten-course tasting menu. On this stunning menu that changes with each microseason, every dish is a tender ode to the ingredients that bring it to life.

Reinventing traditional gastronomy may be a lofty goal, but at Masque it is very much an on-the-ground mission. In their ambitions, the team at Masque is led by a respect for the essence of recipes handed down over generations and a curiosity for how those recipes can be reimagined meaningfully to celebrate the abundance of diverse ingredients grown in India.

A gleaming, industrial-style sculpture by artist Rathin Barman sections off the Masque dining area. Dark furnishings and the understated elegance of light streaming through the high ceiling skylights create an intimate atmosphere to enjoy a surprising and delectable Indian fine dining experience. The food that greets you at the table is intricately linked to the culinary team’s travels around India, the restaurant’s own farm, their research space and private dining location Masque Lab, and the bar offerings at The Living Room. This range of projects contributes to Masque’s collection of accolades that mark their impact on Asian fine dining. It is recognised by Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants as the 2020 winner of the Miele One to Watch 2020 Award, The Best Restaurant in India in 2022, and secured a place on Asia’s 50 Best Bars with The Living Room at Masque.

Taking shape in 2016, Masque was founded by chef Prateek Sadhu and restauranteur Aditi Dugar. Their story of partnership began not in the encased bubble of a restaurant kitchen, but over eighteen months of traveling together across India. In this maiden voyage, they followed their curiosity to seek out ingredients and traditional ways of cooking that had fallen off the map in the mainstream Indian fine dining experience. As such, the founders made special connections with not only the land, but the farmers who care for it, learning directly from them about local uses of obscure ingredients.

Ever since, trips throughout the country have become a longstanding practice at Masque to get to the root of an ingredient, its history, and its cultural milieu, learning about its hyperlocal conditions to dream up what it can bring to the table at Masque. In 2022, chef Varun Totlani, an original member of the team since its inception, took over as head chef to carry on the spirit of ingredient-driven modernisation in the Asian fine dining scene.

The luxury culinary experience at Masque is a finely tuned journey for the taste palate, so tailored in fact that there is no a la carte menu, only a vegetarian and non-vegetarian tasting menu. The first of its kind in India to pursue such a bold strategy, the founders stand by this decision as one that elevates the restaurant’s offerings to consistently celebrate the seasonality of the country’s ingredients and showcase the diverse landscapes from which the chefs draw on.

With Masque’s approach to Indian fine dining, humble classics are infused with the innovative use of foraged and home-grown ingredients. Take for instance, a golden, crispy ghee roast. This dosa is a mainstay of both home-cooked food and local canteen offerings in parts of India such as Tamil Nadu. At Masque, this staple food takes on a new life with the succulent, light textures of coconut malai, an ingredient used in many region and often associated with the imaginative coconut dishes of Kerala. Another surprising element of this meal is the refreshing sweetness of tadgola, a fruit which comes from the sugar palm tree and belongs to various cooking traditions in areas such as Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Thus, in just one dish, there is a lavish spread of different Indian flavours recalling generational cooking and farming practices across the country.

Just as Masque’s location is a reinvention of a memory, imbuing the cotton mill-turned creative hub with new purpose, so is their food. Founders Sadhu and Dugar describe how the restaurant’s ethos of foraging, changing with the seasons, and going straight to the source of their special ingredients is inspired by a guiding principle of joining food and memory. By drawing on the exciting, varied topography of different Indian flavours, Masque aims to reinvigorate the classic dishes that make up generations worth of food memories in India.

In this tricky balancing act of preserving the essence of a dish – what makes it special in the hearts and memories of people in so many regions of the country – while being creative in the array of ingredients used to approach such food, Masque operates on three key principles. These principles are tradition, innovation, and sustainability. A respect for tradition comes through in the restaurant’s commitment to sharing the wisdom of the farmers and home cooks that they learn from in research expeditions to various parts of India.

The innovative mentality is clear in unexpected combinations of ingredients. Take for example the introduction of tortellini to a dish of cassava roast with the distinct sharply spiced tang of a clear tomato rasam broth. Or, taking a peek at the desert segment of the menu, consider the bold play with flavours in a dish where ambemohar rice – an ingredient from Maharashtra with the enticing fragrance of mango blossom – is paired with the decadent mango fruit leather that is aam papad and the honeyed notes of Vin de Passerillage.

As for sustainability, chefs respect the seasonality of ingredients with a religious fervor and grow much of their own organic produce at the restaurant-owned farm a few hours away in Pune. Moreover, the practice of only serving a tasting menu eliminates unnecessary food waste and Sadhu remarks that this is particularly important to the restaurant’s appreciation for the hard work of farmers who bring such exquisite ingredients into being. With these values, the luxury culinary experience at Masque is a lovingly curated invitation to guests to reimagine the possibilities of the food memories they associate with India.

The passion for these three principles shines in the tasting menu, but for guests who want an even closer look at the behind-the-scenes process, the Masque Lab offers a warm welcome. In the private dining experience of this exclusive twelve-seat enclave next door to Masque restaurant, the intense research and expertise of the chefs is put front and centre. Guests are seated around the kitchen and get a first-hand look at the thought process behind how and why each ingredient is manipulated in a precise and calculated way.

This space is the equivalent of a chef’s playground, an active kitchen that hosts the Masque team’s research and development projects dreaming up delicious new definitions of Indian fine dining. Chefs invite diners into collaborative conversations about the aging process, the unique advantage of harvesting and cooking produce in a specific way, and how the flavours of a particular season enrich one another. Through these exchanges, the chefs then concoct a special menu for the occasion, making for a one-of-a kind, participatory dining experience.

The latest brainchild of Masque can be found by following the spiral staircase up from the main restaurant to the sprawling mezzanine floor where The Living Room awaits. Here, playful yet highly-technical cocktails are served with delicious light bites. Each drink on this selective bar menu comes with harmonious dimensions of flavour, using obscure fruits such as sea buckthorn and delicately incorporating potent spices like wild thyme. The science is precise, with techniques including liquid nitrogen extraction making even familiar ingredients and liquors take on new auras.

With an unrelenting hunger to research, innovate, and celebrate the ingredients of India’s many culinary landscapes, Masque continues to redefine Indian fine dining. The sensational tasting menus at Masque, exclusive dining experiences at Masque Lab, and creative experiments at The Living Room take guests on journeys that cross cultural boundaries. As such, Masque earns its place as one of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants and offers a luxury farm-to-table experience that challenges preconceived assumptions of what Indian cuisine can mean.