get to the level of vision that we were thinking of. I am more of a visionary; Pooja is more of an executioner. She basically drove our ambitions in terms of getting into hospitality. We saw a gap when we arrived in Tasmania, and we have seen this gap in Australia as well overall, about the modern Indian cuisine not being represented accurately.” This gap acted as a catalyst for the birth of Indian Culture, where authenticity isn’t just a buzzword but the cornerstone of their culinary philosophy. The first restaurant opened in North Hobart in 2022, immediately making an impression with the menu offerings. This year a second branch in Salamanca was unveiled to the public, providing another avenue to showcase the sub continental heritage. One common misrepresentation – that Indian food is just about heat and spice – is a narrative Mohit and Pooja are determined to change. “There is a big stereotype about Indian food that we wanted to break – that it’s just spicy. That’s not true. It can be spicy, but that is not the whole thing. There are a lot of flavours that go into a butter chicken or all the other dishes that we cook,” Mohit points out. “Spice level, or accurately, you should say the hotness level, can be changed from mild to medium to spicy,
depending on the customer’s palate. If you cannot handle the hotness level, that does not necessarily mean that you can’t eat Indian food, which is the stereotype that I found among a lot of people.” Another driving force for the Dureja’s is to showcase dishes from across their homeland. Although they hail from New Delhi, you won’t only find northern Indian cuisine on the menu at Indian Culture.
20 Tasmanian Hospitality Review Oct/Nov Edition
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