Megha Agarwal potters around the Summer House Cafe, her terrace restaurant, issuing directions to her staff and overseeing prep just before the restaurant is thrown open to customers.
Later, during peak hour, there is an added bounce in her feet, even as she tries hard to keep her face calm through the rush. “My kind of cooking is not defined by any genre,” says the eminent chef featured in Pluc.tv’s exciting new culinary show, Served. “I did specialise in French cuisine but I use that just as a basic knowledge bank to create the kind of dishes that I do now. I would prefer the term ‘cuisine-agnostic’.”
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Besides picking up intriguing terminology, you will also learn, from this eight minute episode, how to score a chicken, why to use mango wood chips for your next barbeque, the difference between a marinade and a dry rub, and the key to balancing flavours. Agarwal is a champion of Assamese cooking but her terrace restaurant serves up a smorgasbord of fancy fare, ranging from Assamese snacks to artisanal focaccia, classic Thai desserts and possibly the most perfect brick-oven pizzas in Delhi. The show she is being featured in, Served, aims to take us through the best kept secrets of some of India’s most celebrated kitchens. A monthly feature created by Sparsh Hasija, Shamita Harsh and Devesh Chopra, it airs on Pluc.tv, a B2B2C platform for the creator economy where creators can monetize their stories early and brands can find unique creators.
The show introduces you to Indian culinary stars and kitchens but, more importantly, it delves into nuances that so many mainstream food shows miss out on: how they source the ingredients; what the process of preparation looks and feels like; how they manage a busy day, right until the last dish is, well, ‘served’.
An episode of Served is likely to motivate even those of us most prone to ordering in to finally get into the kitchen and create something special for family, friends or just ourselves. But, over and above this, the show satiates your curiosity about the many mysteries on the other side of a restaurant door. Its second episode, for instance, transports you into a bustling cloud kitchen and makes you meet Delhi’s ramen don, Kunal Singh Dogra, who like many of us discovered ramen on Youtube, and tried infinite variations which culminated in him deciding to begin a kitchen of his own in NCR. He believes “the kitchen is a lab” and, brimming over with confidence and swag, says, “I feel like I got into Ramen because it’s like me. It is a palooza of things that has some structure to it.”
Dogra’s love for food began when, as a child, he sat perched on a kitchen slab as his mother went about cooking and doing the day's chores. He remembers how the silent, unremarkable and bland space that was the kitchen would suddenly transform, as it burst into flavours and smells. Whipping up a slurpy bowl of comforting ramen he opens up about the stigmas associated with a man taking up a job in the kitchen: “My father was unpleasant in the beginning. Because society has dictated the definition of a respectful job and that did not equate to me working in the kitchen. They got onboard when they saw me wake up early in the morning to source fresh produce and come back on time to cook at home. That's when they understood that I'm serious and made peace with it.”
Every signature dish, from the chefs featured in the show, has a fascinating origin story. Anahita Dhondy remembers being ten and icing her five year old brother's Spiderman themed birthday cake. “I think that was one of the first cakes that I made,” she says in the third episode of Served, as she adds dry ingredients to wet ones, recreating the chocolate cake from her childhood. In the kitchen at her home, she takes us through her transition from being a pastry chef to a household name for Parsi food.
“Pluc.tv hosts over 125 such shows like Served,” says Tamseel Hussain, founder of Pluc.tv. “And there are more than 32,000 creators from around the world on the platform.” Each show is a mix of riveting and insightful, and deals with a different niche. There is something for almost everyone.
Ask Shamita Harsh, co-creator of Served, what prompted her to come up with a show that would capture the revolution of the modern Indian kitchen and she replies, “Our relationship with food changed so much during the pandemic, that’s when I found myself not just cooking but experimenting and learning about food.” That’s when she realised that what was needed was a show that captured the new gastronomical experience that chefs were creating, as well as their individual journeys with food. “A one-on-one food voyage that helps restaurateurs understand the new meaning of serving food and serving an experience,” she explains.
Perhaps most significantly, Served is a series which does not require you to have a previous knowledge of food to be able to enjoy it. Devoid of the pretension that permeates some shows exploring haute cuisine, it is a comforting experience, evoking Gezelligheid (cosiness, conviviality and fun) whether seen through the lens of your love for food or the desperate need you might have felt for a late night 2 am snack, combined with the warmth of a bedtime story.
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