Nikhil Bendre Spring 2018 Blog

by Nikhil Bendre, June 30, 2018

In the summer of 2017, I started a class, Menu to Plate Concepts, with Chef Elaine Sikorski. The class was surrounded around studying different types of menus and formats and representing them on plates to be judged by Chef. The final project of this class was to make our own menu and one of the dishes from that menu for tasting. I had never come up with an entire menu throughout my career before, so I took this project as an opportunity to experiment.

I began experimenting with concepts that were familiar to me and ingredients that I had grown up eating. I decided that my concept was going to be a fine dining establishment where ingredients from my homeland were going to be the showcase. I wanted to pair traditional Indian techniques with modern gastronomy. This whimsical 12am idea gave rise to Bombay Duck. Now in Spring 2018, I am still working on the menu but on a much more formal setting as my concept for Kendall’s Capstone project.

I am especially excited with this concept because I believe that this could be a viable restaurant concept for me to own someday. This might be highly far-fetched but a man can dream. With this concept, my ultimate goal is to not only change the way the world views Indian food but also the way my fellow Indians view our food because I know that it is so much more than Garlic Naan, Dal and Butter Chicken!

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