At Crackle Kitchen, food is theatre and the produce is the hero

Experience the innovative omakase dining at Crackle Kitchen in Indiranagar, with no menu and creative dishes

I walk up to the maitre d’ at the front of the building. She checks our reservations, hands us wristbands and discreetly knocks on the door. Someone quietly opens it from the inside, and we are ushered in. The whole thing feels like an underground party or a speakeasy. We are, however, at Indiranagar’s newest restaurant called Crackle Kitchen. 

Crackle is a 22-seater restaurant helmed by chef Vivek Salunkhe, who also is the man behind Dofu, Bengaluru’s first ‘chuka’ Chinese restaurant. He digs deep into his personal experiences and nostalgia with Crackle. The restaurant concept borrows from the omakase style. Omakase means “I’ll leave it up to you” in Japanese, and it means that what you are served is left up to the chef. 

There is no menu. Based on the day’s produce, the team prepares a menu with appetisers — six vegetarian and non-vegetarian each, and a selection of mains (from which you pick one). Dessert is served home style aka they make a big portion and every guest is served a slice. The cocktail menu has been created by Avinash Kapoli (of Soka and Jamming Goat).

Act one

There is a wood fire burning in the open kitchen and we take a seat right opposite it. The chefs in the kitchen talk to us as they do prep work. It is intimate and welcoming. First we are introduced to the day’s produce. Today, there are fresh mussels, naati eggs, white pomfret, rib eye steak, lion’s mane mushrooms and lobster. The amuse bouche is called gaiety galaxy. Inspired by the Galaxy Theatre in Mumbai, this dish has a corn shell filled with sweet corn, fresh popcorn and truffle souffle. The flavours tell me we are off to a great start. 

Between the two of us we try twelve appetisers. The anda bhurji is brought to the table deconstructed – an egg, a piping hot cast iron pan, bowls of fish roe and house made mayo. You crack the egg yourself in the pan and watch it cook. With the roe and the mayo, this bhurji is unique. Zunkha bhakar is their take on the Maharashtrian dish. A rice flour tortilla topped with a chickpea flour custard, baingan bharta and goat’s cheese. The chickpea is smooth, the baigan is smokey and the cheese is creamy, a delightful combination. The kodi ghee roast, one of Salunkhe’s grandmother’s recipes, is naati chicken soup with ghee roast spices. The flavours in this are a stand out. 

I enjoy all the starters, but six is one too many. Yet tempted by the dishes on the menu, we continue.