How Indian Fine Dining Is Changing the World

For most of my life, I’ve had a ringside view of fine dining: first, as Jiggs Kalra’s son, sneaking peeks into legendary hotel kitchens, and later as the guy trying to prove that Indian food deserves a permanent spot on the world’s most coveted tables. Over the years, having travelled, eaten, and built restaurants in Mumbai, Dubai, and London, I’ve seen fine dining change more in the past 10 years than it has in the previous 50. The white-tablecloth-chef-knows-best-stayquiet era is over. Today, the ultimate fine dining experience is high craft, minus the starchiness—in other words, theatre with soul.  

Storytelling Tasting Menus  

Every great meal I remember is a story, not a collection of dishes. At Masala Library, our philosophy was to take the epic culinary lineage of India and compress it into a narrative—from the kebab trail of the north to coastal curries—served as a meticulously choreographed tasting menu. Globally, this is where fine dining is heading: multi-course journeys where each plate is a chapter and you leave feeling you’ve travelled, not just eaten. In India, the surge of tasting menus, especially progressive Indian ones, is no accident; diners are voting with their wallets for more immersive experiences over casual, à la carte grazing. 

Post-Molecular, Pro-Emotion  

I was part of the first wave that flirted with molecular gastronomy in India: liquid nitrogen, spherification, smoke, the works. It was important; it allowed us to show that Indian food could be avant-garde, playful, even irreverent. But the biggest global shift I see now is post-molecular: the technique stays, the gimmick goes. A levitating dessert in Dubai or a deconstructed chaat in Mumbai only matters if it triggers memory, joy, or nostalgia. Without that emotional payoff, it’s just smoke—quite literally! The ultimate fine-dining experience today uses science as an amplifier of flavour and feeling. 

Indianising the World  

I’ve long believed that “Indianising” anything usually makes it better. From grill-kissed tofu in rasam in Mumbai to raj kachori that arrives looking like a modernist sculpture in London, the trend that excites me most is how confidently Indian flavours are now walking into global luxury dining rooms. The ultimate fine-dining experience no longer means caviar and foie gras in a eurocentric box. It might be a 12-course, progressive, Indian tasting in Mumbai, an elevated coastal-seafood menu in Goa, or a “Farzi-fied” butter chicken bao in Mayfair. The common thread: respect for origin, but zero insecurity about being Indian.  

Theatre You Can Taste  

Let’s be honest: in 2026, if your dining room doesn’t photograph well, you’ve lost half the battle. At Massive Restaurants, we’ve leaned into this unapologetically: double-height rooms dressed in terracotta and brass, back-lit bars that glow like jewellery counters, and plates that are designed as seriously as product shoots. But the show has to be backed by substance. Theatrics: a cocktail finished tableside with smoke, a trolley carving a salt-baked fish, a dessert “painted” on marble are all there to sharpen your senses and create shared memories. As long as the stock in the sauce and the hours in the prep match the drama on the floor, it’s valid, modern luxury 

High-Energy, Low-Ego Service  

The stern maître d’ guarding the room like a headmaster is disappearing. What replaces him is a new breed of service: high-knowledge, low-ego, and genuinely warm. I love when a server can riff with a guest on single-origin chocolate or regional chillies, and five minutes later lead a birthday table into a chorus backed by a live band. Places like Farzi Café at Cyber Hub, in Gurugram, showed India early that you can do serious food in a room that feels like a party: big sound, big smiles, no compromise on technique. 

Conscious Indulgence  

The bar is no longer an accessory; it’s a parallel tasting menu. Around the world, progressive restaurants pair aged clarified cocktails with tasting courses, showcase hyper-local botanicals, and give as much thought to zero-proof drinks as to their rare spirits’ list. In India, our bars use smoke, spice and regional fruit to tell stories in a glass. Layer that with a genuine commitment to sustainability: intelligent portioning, nose-to-tail and root-to-shoot cooking, and design choices that favour longevity. So, what is the “ultimate” fine-dining experience today? It’s not a postcode or a price point. It’s a restaurant—in India or anywhere in the world–where the tasting menu tells a story, the room crackles with energy, the cocktails are as thoughtful as the cuisine, and the entire evening leaves you a little more connected to the culture on the plate. If you step out feeling moved, surprised, and just a touch proud that Indian food now plays confidently on that global stage then, for me, that’s as fine as dining can get.