Eight years after it opened in 2014, Cafe Mezzuna still draws large crowds on a weekend in Forum Mall Courtyard. As does the second outlet that opened in South City Mall two years later. Among the first names that come to mind when we think of casual dining, European food or restobar in Kolkata, Cafe Mezzuna has been loved and cherished over the years by patrons from all over the country.
However, this year, Anjan Chatterjee has some new plans brewing for the restaurant. He has brought Chef Sabyasachi Gorai, also known as Chef Saby, on board to reinvent the menu of Cafe Mezzuna. Chef Saby was the culinary director of Olive Bar and Kitchen till 2012, and has extensive knowledge of European cuisine.
My Kolkata caught up with Anjan Chatterjee and Chef Saby to know all about their collaboration to create Cafe Mezzuna 2.0 and more. Edited excerpts from the conversation follow…
My Kolkata: The main focus of the new menu is Mediterranean cuisine, what was the reason for this shift?
Anjan Chatterjee: Eight years ago, we created Mezzuna with casual dining in mind and it has been accepted very well. Now, we know change is the only constant. It is important to challenge the status quo. Since the pandemic, the world has moved towards healthy, vegan and gluten-free food, so the next step for Mezzuna was to contemporise the menu and make it more modern, and what I would call honest food.
Sabyasachi Gorai: In the post-Covid scenario, we all want to eat healthy and focus on sustainability and nutrition. This has always been part of our culture, but we seem to have lost touch with farms and their produce with the increased availability of processed foods. So, with the new menu, we hope to bring back ‘clean honest food’ with a focus on farm-to-fork eating. The Mediterranean food pyramid is very balanced by itself. We will be borrowing from that and focussing on the fresh produce of West Bengal. The state is blessed with five seasons and some of the finest produce of the country.
‘The world has moved towards healthy, vegan and gluten-free food, so the next step for Mezzuna was to contemporise the menu and make it more modern,’ said Anjan Chatterjee TT archives
Chef Saby, can you describe the creative process that led to the new menu?
It has been a fantastic journey, because I’m a Bengali. Being born and brought up in Asansol, I’ve never really lived in Kolkata, so the city is like Paris for me! The journey was very exciting for me — coming back home to work with someone I’ve always looked up to since my college days. It’s a huge learning process, so I'm trying to incorporate all this using local ingredients and skill, to create the menu.
Anjan da, with Cafe Mezzuna being the Italian and European extension of Speciality Group, how, according to you, do the sensibilities of Chef Saby enhance the menu?
Chef Saby is making the menu more contemporary, healthy and fresh, while sticking to the European sensibilities of Mezzuna. He’s a champion when it comes to being vocal for local, so that will reflect in the new menu too. We plan to have a short new menu in December before we launch the completely refreshed menu in early 2023.
Also, Chef Saby has never worked in Kolkata before, so I had to pitch and convince him to take this up! After all, he is a bongo shontan, so it only makes sense for him to explore this realm.
How was the process of collaboration?
Anjan Chatterjee: I believe in honesty and ektu paglami. Food is an emotion. If one is not emotional about food, I don’t touch them. Chef Saby is a domain expert, he has the knowledge of food trends and has been championing the concept of ‘vocal for local’. There is a synergy in our thought process and collaboration.
Chef Saby: Our collaboration was a series of midnight messages asking, “Omelette khabe? Kheerkodom khabe?” (laughs)
We’ve known each other for ages, we’re connected at heart. It’s not that we discussed the menu at length, but our thought process and wavelengths matched. When he told me what he wanted to do with the menu, I told him I’d come back with suggestions. In our second chat, I described what I had in mind and he saw it and said, “Chamatkar!”
Chef Saby, European food is very technique-driven. Do you focus more on technique or ingredients?
Mother Nature is everything for me. Without the produce, technique can only take you so far. What the European style of cooking teaches us is to use ingredients to the fullest. The concept of nose-to-tail eating is something we also embrace in our culture. So, for me, ingredients first, always, and then technique.
Anjan da, how do you think the patrons of Mezzuna will respond to the new menu?
As long as you don’t make ‘confused’ food, people will like it. The origin of the food is going to be kept clean, fresh and delicious. I’m sure — well, I hope — everyone will love the food!
