Doma Wang wins your heart at “hello” with her positive attitude and warmth. To the world, she is the ‘Momo Queen of India’ and an award-winning chef, only recently bagging the #15 position on Culinary Culture’s Food Superstars 2024 edition. But to friends and Kolkata’s food family, she is simply Doma Di.
Her entrepreneurial endeavours like The Blue Poppy Thakali in Kolkata is a popular hotspot for anyone who wants to enjoy authentic Tibetan cuisine. Doma will carry these flavours to The Power Play, a culinary event presented by Masters of Marriott Bonvoy at The Ritz-Carlton Pune and Bangalore on November 30 and December 7, respectively. Joining her will be Mythrayie Iyer of Bengaluru’s Farmlore, Vanshika Bhatia of Gurugram’s Omo, Pooja Dhingra of Mumbai’s Le15, and Nooresha Kably of Goa’s Izumi. Each chef will showcase their speciality. And Doma will showcase her core area of expertise — the Tibetan delights – including her famous momos!
My Kolkata called Doma just as she was gearing to take off for Pune, and one could not miss the excitement in her voice. “This is something I have never done before, and I am very excited,” shared the chef who is always up for experimenting. What’s on the menu at The Power Play? Doma is breaking a food myth. It is often misconstrued that momo is a snack but to Tibetans, it is a meal. Hence, she will be serving her delicious momos with a soup, a Dalle Khursani (red cherry pepper chilli, popular in the hills on West Bengal and Sikkim) chutney, and a Tibetan salad made with chhurpi (traditional cheese of Sikkim and Nepal) and cucumber. The chef heroes hyperlocal ingredients and often shares glimpses of her visits to the markets in the hills. When it comes to momos, Doma banks on quality meat, which is the star ingredient of these succulent wonders, and for dalle and chhurpi, she has relied on the hills.
For Doma, momo isn’t just a dish — it’s a connection to her roots and a symbol of togetherness
“I am called the Momo Queen of India, and I want people from other cities to taste the momo,” shared the culinary expert, striving to be her best version every day. Her love for momos stems from her childhood in the quaint town of Kalimpong, where Sunday afternoons at her family home revolved around this comfort food. “Sunday lunch was always momo… In the small town of Kalimpong, sitting together as a family and just enjoying those parcels of joy,” recalled Doma. Her earliest memory from those sepia-toned days is when she was around eight though she suspects the bond began much earlier. “Most babies start with mashed food, but for us, it was always momo. Just mash it between your fingers and feed it to the child,” she shared.
A traditional Tibetan recipe with brinjal and meat keema — a recipe passed on to Doma from her father
Doma has been deeply inspired by her late father, from whom she gets her passion for cooking. “I remember my dad cooking for us. He always believed that the family should eat together, and our love language was food. I have imbibed that,” said the lady, who has not only carried forward the family philosophy, but has also passed it down to her children — Sachiko Seth and Sonam Dolkar Seth — as inheritance. Chef Sachiko Seth is taking the culinary baton ahead with Popo’s by The Blue Poppy, a nod to his maternal grandfather.
Another life lesson that Doma got from her father was that “family comes first”, and in the same sentence he would say, “Family doesn’t always mean blood. Who loves you is family, and you have to feed them”. Anyone who has met her at her restaurant can often recall the personal care and attention she invests in each guest.
On her bucket list of places to eat in Bengaluru are Naru Noodle Bar and chef Regi Mathew’s Kappa Chakka Kandhari. Doma is also hoping to visit her event co-chef Mythrayie Iyer’s restaurant Farmlore
The top chef is an inspiration to many, especially for women who are striving to carve their niche in the culinary world. Doma’s success story is one of hard work, grit and determination, exemplifying the essence of ‘Women in Power’. To her, power means “the power to make someone happy with the food you cook”. As she signs off, she reflects, “I think we are finally being heard, and I hope and pray that there will be many more women in the culinary industry”.
Chef Doma Wang and chef Sachiko Seth making momos and memories together
