Wine & Dine
Textual content and Pictures by Mallika Chandra.
Kartikeya Ratan, 32 and Rishabh Doshi, 32
Kiki & Pastor
Location: Bandra
Speciality: Mexican
Kartikeya, inform me about your beginnings as a chef and the way you co-founded Kiki & Pastor.
Kartikeya Ratan (KR): For the final decade or so, I’ve labored at various positive eating eating places in India and overseas. And I more and more felt that I wished to prepare dinner extra soul meals, consolation meals — meals that really satiates. Once I returned to Mumbai from Delhi in 2019, I felt just like the pandemic had taken a giant toll on the nightlife of town. There wasn’t anywhere the place you may simply hang around and never have to sit down down and dine in. A taqueria was a good way of bringing that vibe in. However given the circumstances of COVID-19, issues had been very unsure round 2020-2021, and but Rishabh and I stored discussing how we may do it on a small scale.
Whereas I used to be residence through the lockdown, I began promoting taco kits and there was an excellent response. However I wasn’t blissful as a chef though the product was doing positive. I wished extra management. So now, we now not ship clients the elements and ask them to assemble it. We construct your taco and ship it to you. We’re additionally massive on catering as a result of tacos are so much like chaat, proper? You wish to eat them contemporary. And but, the deliveries work as a result of we’ve got an excellent radius, being in Bandra.
Loads has been spoken and written about how Mexican meals simply doesn’t do properly in Mumbai. Do you suppose there’s one thing specifically that’s working for you?
KR: I believe one factor we realised fairly early on was that there’s no substituting good elements. Working in positive eating taught me that no dish may be higher than the elements utilized in it. And I believe that with Mexican meals, that could be very true. You possibly can’t simply make a mole (sauce) out of a Bhavnagri chilli, as an illustration. Typically, sourcing an excellent, dried chilli from Mexico is essential. Freshness additionally performs an enormous position in elements which can be virtually served uncooked, as is the case with most of our salsas and marinades. So freshness takes priority over every little thing else and the standard of elements can by no means be compromised.
How have you ever tried to raise or differentiate your meals from what is accessible within the metropolis?
KR: Lots of people ask us for Indianised variations of issues as a result of that’s what they’ve grown up consuming. You could have seen corn queso balls on our menu, however they gained’t style like those obtainable at New Yorker in Mumbai, as an illustration. By no means are we saying that we’re higher or dissing an expertise that we too have grown up consuming. However we’re providing a brand new expertise with regards to consuming Mexican meals. There’s extra to Mexican meals than simply placing cheddar sauce over every little thing.
Inform us how you’ll be able to ship the meals as contemporary as potential.
KR: Supply is a troublesome format. Particularly through the monsoons, it turns into robust for a rider to get your meals to you in excellent situation. However folks nonetheless anticipate to get piping-hot meals; contemporary meals shouldn’t get soggy, laborious or dry. One of many issues we do is that we add both a layer of chilmole or a jam that we make with salsa verde between the meat and the tortilla in order that the juices from the meat don’t make the tortillas soggy. We additionally do a double tortilla in order that even when the primary tortilla will get soggy, you may simply slap the second over it.
Rishabh Doshi (RD): Principally, proportions matter. So, should you sauce it up an excessive amount of or too little, it’ll change your complete expertise of the taco.
KR: Completely. After we rent a brand new chef, we will style the distinction between them and somebody who’s been making it for 4 or 5 months and has understood what these sauces do. Everybody has their very own tastes and the dish will get its character from there. So, the query that arises is how do you give it that character whereas sustaining a excessive commonplace? It comes from the bottom recipes, that are tried and examined for a very long time earlier than we put them on the market.
Inform us somewhat extra about the way you arrange processes for the cloud kitchen mannequin.
KR: Principally, it was about conserving in thoughts the taqueria idea and the freshness of the produce. After we fastened on a supply mannequin, the place the meals was going to be on the street for 30 to 40 minutes, we needed to do lots of checks. Rishabh lives in Bhandup and I dwell in Wadala. So, I might ship him dishes, and we’d be aware how they travelled. Did it get soggy? Did we’d like two tortillas or further salsa? From that train we determined to ship the salsa individually, for instance.
By way of prep, it was very totally different from once I labored in eating places that served tasting menus. At Eleven Madison Park in New York, as an illustration, we knew that 120 folks had been going to be coming in for dinner every evening and that 14 dishes could be going out to every visitor. In a cloud kitchen, you could not get orders for, say, two hours straight, after which all of a sudden they might are available continuous till midnight. A match would possibly imply persons are ordering in or if it’s an extended weekend and persons are out travelling, then orders scale back. Nonetheless, there’s no manner of gauging the amount of enterprise for a specific day.
We attempt to preserve the prep contemporary, however we stability that with some back-up, which is able to final somewhat longer. We’re very explicit concerning the shelf lifetime of our guacamole and pico de gallo. It’s higher to make them twice a day, moderately than to serve them the day after. Whereas we make refried beans in bulk as a result of it tastes higher the following day. Like dal makhani. Our pork carnitas and lamb barbacoa are made in massive batches as a result of they must be cooked for 4 to 6 hours within the oven. So, we freeze them in batches. For the tortillas, we even have this woman coming in on daily basis. She makes them contemporary for the lunch and night companies. We all know now that we’ll want about 200 tortillas from Tuesdays to Thursdays. On weekends, we’d like extra.
I might’ve thought that as a chef-driven taqueria you’d be making the tortillas in-house.
KR: At first, we tried to make the tortillas ourselves however it’s robust to get it proper each single time. On the similar time, we had been in search of somebody to make a tiffin for our workers lunch. It struck us then that the one that makes the rotis that got here in our tiffin may maybe be educated to make our tortillas. So, we took an opportunity and reached out to her. It took a while for her to get used to the totally different flour however she turned out to be an knowledgeable. Even immediately, if I inform my cooks to make the tortillas, they’ll take most likely 4 hours to do what she does in a single.
Folks ask us, “How come your tortillas aren’t masa?” Firstly, there’s no corn obtainable in India. There are some farms which can be doing it, however it’s not the identical. Even the calcium that you simply get in India, the chuna, it’s not the identical high quality. We tried a number of batches and there’s an extended option to go by way of sourcing and discovering the correct grinder since you want that volcanic stone. So, once we do get it proper, we’ll do it however we didn’t wish to do it half-baked.
How did you consider the branding, the naming and positioning of your taqueria?
KR: Kiki was my nickname once I lived in Goa a few years in the past. We then found that Kiki additionally means “get-together”. In African-American slang, the LGBTQIA+ neighborhood calls it a “Kiki” once you’re getting collectively to gossip, drink and have enjoyable. The pastor, alternatively, is taken into account by some to be the best of all tacos; it’s a subject of debate in Mexico Metropolis. We simply wished to provide a enjoyable title.
RD: In that very same spirit, we do a number of specials, particularly on match days. We additionally do a Taco Tuesday particular, the place you may make your personal combos. That pushes folks to strive new issues as a result of you will get a single piece as a substitute of ordering a full portion. It’s additionally as a result of Tuesdays are typically thought of slower by way of enterprise.
KR: Plus, the guacamole is free on Tuesdays.
RD: By way of the design, our designer flaked on us and it was too near launch to search out another person. The one choice was to do it ourselves. We did a number of iterations based mostly on a listing of key phrases that we wished the model to be related to, like “approachable” and “contemporary”. That led to the first color of the branding being a muted inexperienced. The emblem itself is hand-drawn and in it, the taco is bitten into already as a result of we wish to painting it as so good that you simply neglect to take a photograph.
KR: Which is definitely seen in lots of Instagram posts the place we’re tagged. We see lots of bitten tacos.
RD: We’ve a number of individuals who’ve taken a photograph of an empty plate and stated, “I forgot to click on it, however it was wonderful.” And that’s precisely what we wish.
KR: Tacos are sometimes referred to as “ugly scrumptious” so that they don’t have to look excellent. We don’t reduce our tortillas with a cookie cutter both as a result of we wish that natural form. That imperfection makes it approachable.
How do you utilize social media?
RD: Not like in a restaurant, issues aren’t taking place with us on a regular basis. We additionally don’t wish to overwhelm our followers. So, we reasonable our social media uploads. Reels that share a glimpse of the kitchen and the behind-the-scenes actions typically do properly so on daily basis at midday, we publish one thing from the kitchen that says we’re open for orders.
KR: We do wish to put a face to this in any other case invisible operation.
RD: Our kitchen is stored spotlessly clear by the staff. We really had a few clients are available simply to see the kitchen. Considered one of them wished to do catering and one in every of them wished to put an order. He wished to see the place that he’s ordering from.
Would you say convincing your clients to order the perfect suggestion is your greatest problem?
KR: While you’re in a restaurant, you’ve got a server who recommends dishes. And when folks name us, we do the identical. However most of our orders come by means of Swiggy, Zomato or our web site. So, there’s no room for suggestions. There’s no room for understanding what they’re in search of. Additionally it is difficult to speak the scale of our parts. Folks have every kind of expectations. It’s simpler to handle these expectations face-to-face.
Do you are feeling like there may be stress to make use of social media and put your persona on the market?
KR: This takes me again to when Instagram began. Buddies, each cooks and in any other case, informed me to publish extra. However once I was working in kitchens, we simply weren’t allowed to make use of our telephones on the job and that’s one thing that’s caught with me. So, it doesn’t come naturally to me to take a photograph and publish about one thing I prepare dinner. Once I’m cooking, I’m cooking.
Rishabh has thought of making a model out of me as a chef however for me the meals is sufficient. I’m not Mexican. I haven’t grown up round this meals. It’s one thing I’m extraordinarily keen about. I get pleasure from consuming tacos myself. However should you take a look at my private Instagram, persons are dissatisfied to not discover any meals there.
I’m now okay with being in entrance of the digicam as a result of I do realise that individuals wish to see the faces behind the meals. In any other case, you’re simply one other cloud kitchen. So, once we do occasions, we ensure that a minimum of one in every of us is attending. It is smart for folks to find out about you. When you recognize the story behind why somebody is doing one thing, you admire it extra.
Did you anticipate that cloud kitchens would develop into a long-lasting format?
KR: I believe so as a result of even somebody like me, who was by no means an individual to order in, did so through the pandemic. Submit-pandemic, there are such a lot of cloud kitchens opening up, and so many shutting frequently as properly. However there are a number of which have caught as a result of they’ve modified their product to suit the supply mannequin. A number of eating places have additionally realised {that a} chunk of their enterprise is coming from supply. The tradition has shifted drastically. There may be additionally an curiosity in attempting one thing new. I believe persons are going to proceed ordering in. However the product, and the way in which that kitchens take into consideration their product whereas delivering it, goes to make the distinction and be the deciding consider whether or not that model succeeds or not.
RD: The notion of a ghost kitchen or a cloud kitchen earlier than the pandemic was that it should be a small place, most likely not very hygienic. The meals wasn’t alleged to be nice, simply low-cost. However over the past three years, folks have realised that these small kitchens are sometimes serving higher meals than established eating places. And so they’ve allowed them to return into their lives every day.
What’s the excellent order from Kiki & Pastor?
KR: My favorite buyer’s order is identical each time and he doesn’t modify something. It’s three of this, two of this, 4 of this…. And he offers us an hour’s heads-up. I really feel like that’s the proper order. It’s a giant ticket. It’s easy.
So, you’re not explicit about what’s being ordered?
KR: No, order something from my menu and I’m blissful. It simply will get tough when a buyer makes too many modifications and the meals loses its essence.
KR: Our different favorite buyer orders a burrito bowl each week and says, “No corn please and thanks,” and I like that. We’re fairly emotional about our orders.
Earlier: Rehan Mehta, East seventh Pizza & Deli
Subsequent: Divesh Aswani, Commis Station