Chef Adithya Kidambi on reinventing the burger, his 100-day Burger Project

Chef Adithya Kidambi says there is a need to change the category of burgers being fast food to being craft and gourmet. He launched burger brand Anatomy during the pandemic years, and is all set to host a pop-up in Bangalore this week

Chef Adithya Kidambi is on a mission. This is to take the mainstream burger and elevate it to suit the palate of a fine dining connoisseur. “There was a need to change the categorisation of burgers from fast food to being craft and gourmet,” says the chef who launched Anatomy during the pandemic years, and is all set to host a pop-up in the city this week. “Reinventing the dish is the most exciting part for me. Making sure that a lot of care and attention goes into every small element in the burger,” adds the Le Cordon Bleu, Sydney, graduate.

Post the launch of Anatomy, Adithya — who, alongside Shishir Sathyan, launched kombucha brand Mossant Fermentary in 2019 — made a mark with his signature burgers including the Nashville fried chicken burger, classic smash burger, among others. At the pop-up, diners can look forward to variants like the OG KFC (buttermilk fried chicken with Gochujang glaze, kimchi), Oklahoma smash (beef patties), chilli cheese smash (lamb patties), and a range of whoppers.

For the vegetarians, the miso corny (butter poached corn and miso patty), and Luxe M Burg (grilled mushroom and cottage cheese patty) awaits. One would think packing a punch and creating the right balance of flavours would be time consuming, but for Adithya, it was perfecting the burger bun. “The perfect bun for us had to be light and airy at the same time it needed to be the perfect blanket for the meat when you ate it. Whilst the bun is 50% of the burger it never should be more than 20% in taste  when you eat the burger,” he says, adding that they have been working with two kinds of bun: a potato bun and a milk bun. “We hope to pick the winner before the pop up.”

Alongside curating flavours, Adithya has now teamed up with brothers Nikhil and Abhijit Gupta of Popo Ventures to create a burger brand in 100 days. Titled The Burger Project, it aims to create a gourmet burger brand in Bengaluru.

On March 16th (6 pm to 10 pm) and  March 17 (12pm to 4pm) At The Courtyard, Shanti Nagar.