A crack here, a flare there, and a whole lot of smoke — fine dining is now nothing if not a high definition affair. Smoke-filled cloches, fire-kissed plates, and chefs deciphering fermentations at your table — all turning meals into immersive performances. While fine dining in Southeast Asia welcomes theatrics, India is carving its own spotlight in this global act.
As six-Michelin-starred Chef Björn Frantzén’s vision unfolds as a masterclass in Nordic culinary theater at Villa Frantzén in Bangkok, the open kitchen moves with balletic precision. Chef Martin Enström completes a few dishes tableside, explaining ancient techniques as he works. Here, scallops wrapped in lardo are just as delicate and balanced as the grilled, dry-aged duck that sparks nostalgia. For those unfamiliar with Nordic cuisine, Frantzén offers an unforgettable immersion into its precision, restraint, and quiet brilliance.
At Kōen, a specialty restaurant at Patina Maldives, fusing Nordic styles with Japanese ingredients, theater takes a different form. The entire menu unfolds on the counter, twice a week, before just 14 guests. The chef is both the creator and the narrator, cooking and plating before you.
Once more, Nordic technique and presentation shine through, this time reimagined with Asian touches like the screw pine sorbet. Both feature hamachi on a snowy base, adorned with aromatic edible flowers. Each bite reveals precise timing, temperature, and technique — hallmarks of Nordic cuisine. The dramatic, multi-sensory style is unmistakable, blending artistry with flavour in a shared culinary language.
At Gaggan, Asia’s top restaurant for five years straight, Chef Gaggan Anand’s signature flair continues to amaze Bangkok diners with bold presentations and surprising dishes. India’s dining scene, once far more restrained, is now catching up, thanks to trailblazing chefs like Niyati Rao, Varun Totlani, Himanshu Saini, and Rahul Rana, who are redefining theatrical gastronomy at home.
At Avatara, the Indian outpost of the vegetarian, Michelin-starred Dubai restaurant, I learnt that fine dining today thrives on innovation, and techniques like sous vide, flambé, and liquid nitrogen applications are ideal for table-side demonstrations. Dinner becomes a performance of cultural storytelling and indigenous technique. Its Rasa-inspired tasting menu offers a contemporary take on traditional vegetarian cuisine, reclaiming culinary heritage with every course. The famed Indian Accent too has a new tasting menu rooted in nuanced simplicity, and Chef Shantanu Mehrotra is letting high-quality ingredients shine through it, inspired in part by the clean, focused Nordic style. “We balance it with a playful energy — adding a bit of drama with unexpected elements, visually as well in the flavour profiles and techniques.” He sees potential in techniques such as deconstruction, where traditional dishes are reimagined with modern flair, like the Kulfi Sorbet served in miniature pressure cookers at his restaurants.
At Niyati Rao’s Ekaa, one would be left shocked in a good way, with creativity reflected in the tasting menu titled ‘Awakening’. Dishes are depicted by signs or unfamiliar words. For me, a lucky encounter with her reveals a sharp deviation from the way Indian cuisine has been represented at fine dining establishments. “I don’t want to tamper with what’s already happened, we want to create our own blueprint that maybe hundreds of years from now, will be used as an evolution of Indian cuisine”, she says. There is no flair, just excellent food that tastes completely different from what it looks like.
At Carnival by TrèsInd, where drama plays a central role, the signature dessert is built tableside with choreographed precision. Chef Sarfaraz Ahmed considers this an integral part of the meal. “We created a menu that is not only Indian at heart but can be presented with a flair, reimagining the street food we have eaten at local fairs, but with the best quality ingredients and techniques that help us commemorate a traditional dish with a modern touch.”
Racks of fresh tomatoes adorn the kitchen counters at Celini in Grand Hyatt Mumbai. Behind this, a team works in quiet frenzy. In true blue Italian café style, Chef Allesio Banchero graces tables whether for tableside assimilation of dishes or to serve a large scoop of the devilishly good tiramisu from his baking tray.
Cajsa at ITC Gardenia in Bengaluru has transformed their open kitchen into a stage where cooking becomes art. Celebrating ingredient purity through technical mastery, the components of the tasting menus are treated with respect bordering on reverence. Diners witness the entire journey from raw ingredient to plated perfection, live.
Not every experiment lands, though. At TrèsInd Mumbai, the theatrical “Khichdi of India” feels more flourish than flavour. Yet, the Michelin-starred Dubai import dazzles overall with bold reimaginings of Indian cuisine, and with most dishes hitting the mark, it is a welcome addition to the city’s thriving fine dining scene.
Fair to note, the reimagined ‘pani puri’ appearing across Indian fine dining establishments often arrives with such complexity that the beloved street food’s soul seems obscured beneath layers of unrelatable sophistication.
The theatrical dining experience elicits varied responses. Ranjani Subramanian, a vegan diner at Avatara, says, “The presentation enhanced my connection with plant-based ingredients; it was surprising. Watching the chef transform humble vegetables into such fabulous-looking and tasting dishes made me appreciate the complexity possible in vegetarian cuisine.”
However, diner Suhasini Mehta has an opposing view. “After the third or fourth tableside performance, I found myself wishing they’d just let me eat. A four-hour meal with constant interruptions for elaborate explanations can become exhausting.” Sometimes, the theater overshadows the fundamental pleasure of enjoying a well-prepared meal in good company.
Mehrotra says, “While theatrics are important, they must serve the dish’s narrative rather than overshadow it.”
What many forget is that theatrical dining isn’t a modern marvel — it’s woven into the fabric of our past. The royal kitchens of pre-independence India were masters of culinary spectacle – a performance of aroma, flame, and flourish. Keeping this in mind, Oudhyana, Taj Mahal Lucknow’s flagship diner, the Narangi Kulfi arrives nested in a hollowed orange, freezing before your eyes with liquid nitrogen. Over at Saraca, the past glows softly in the present. Bhatti kebabs, kissed by fire and cooked over live coals tableside, echo ancient traditions.
The restaurant as a theater is a rediscovery of dining’s fundamental truth – breaking bread together has always been about connection and memory. Across kitchens, the culinary performance art continues to evolve, inviting diners not just to taste, but to witness, participate, and remember.
