Chef Varun Totlani reimagines tradition at Masque’s table
Mumbai, India
A new menu emerges from the kitchen, where Himalayan ingredients meet classical technique. Sea buckthorn from Ladakh arrives as pani puri, a dish that honours heritage whilst exploring the possibilities of refined craftsmanship.
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The mountains send their gifts slowly, and when they arrive at Masque, they are transformed by a chef’s hand into something both familiar and utterly unexpected. Varun Totlani has long understood that the best cooking emerges not from novelty, but from a deep respect for what the land offers and a willingness to ask new questions of it.
His latest menu moves through seasons and regions with the ease of someone who has spent years understanding the pulse of Indian cuisine. Here, sea buckthorn from Ladakh becomes the vehicle for a dish that speaks to memory and innovation in equal measure. The pani, that essential element of the street food classic, takes on the golden brilliance of the fruit, wrapped delicately within a lattice of jicama and scallion, then completed upon a phyllo puri that crackles with precision and intent.
It is the kind of dish that rewards attention. The flavours layer themselves: the bright acidity of sea buckthorn, the subtle sweetness of jicama, the gentle sharpness of scallion, and beneath it all the architecture of technique that holds everything in balance. Nothing overwhelms; nothing retreats. Each element occupies its own space within the composition.
This is what matters about a refined kitchen: not the pursuit of spectacle for its own sake, but the quiet confidence that comes from understanding your materials completely. Totlani’s approach has always been rooted in this philosophy. He moves through India’s vast culinary landscape not as a tourist, but as someone engaged in a continuous conversation with its traditions, its ingredients, its possibilities.
The new menu at Masque reflects this ongoing dialogue. It is a collection of dishes that respect what has come before whilst making room for what might come next. Each plate carries the weight of consideration: where the ingredient comes from, how it behaves under heat, what it wishes to become when treated with intelligence and care.
Service at Masque unfolds with the same attentiveness that characterises the food. The rhythm of the evening is orchestrated to allow time for contemplation, for the flavours to settle and reveal themselves, for the conversation at the table to develop at its own pace. This is dining as a form of presence.
Imagery courtesy of Masque (@masquerestaurant).
