74 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {food coloring} For chef Manish Tyagi, navigating the food scene is like grooving to the music. After transitioning from San Francisco’s August 1 Five Restaurant to Aurum, a high-concept Indian restaurant in downtown Los Altos, Manish says his tempo needed to shift. “San Francisco is like hip hop,” he notes. “It’s more like jazz here.” Expounding on this, Manish reflects back to San Francisco’s millennial-heavy clientele. “It’s more electric,” he observes. “They were more adventurous, more ‘Ooo’s and ‘Wow’s.” Los Altos, on the other hand, “It is more about comfort. Here you have to be very subtle. Very mellow. The vibe is more relaxed.” Matching this cadence, Manish built Aurum’s menu by starting from a place of trust. “I don’t play around with the recipe that much because people have a connectivity with that recipe,” he explains. “I don’t play around with the base. I build around it.” Diners need to feel confident, he says. “You have to create a balance, a bridge between your cuisine, authenticity and their acceptance. That’s where the food should lie. To make them more comfortable so they can say, ‘Oh wow, let’s do it! Let’s try it out!’” That said, aesthetics, texture and flavor are all fair game for Manish’s highly innovative and intentional approach. “I don’t do a hundred percent the way it has been done before,” he says. “I try to have crunch and some kind of soft texture in it. I have a sweetness and a sourness in it. I want umami in it.” In essence: “Flavor bombs!” he declares.
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