Food: Here's what Mumbai restaurants are doing with leftovers

Over the next weekend if youre at Lower Parels High Street Phoenix youll be forgiven for believing that youre acting in Honey I Shrunk The Kids Youll spot sliders instead of chunky burgers mini quiches replacing the buffed variety and shawarmas slimmed into pita pockets 35 food stations the likes of Ellipsis bakery Pita Burg Havana Cafeacute and Bar and Greko will dish out bitesized treats as part of the Itsy Bitsy Food Festival touted as Indias first Zero Wastage FestivalThe daily leftovers from the bakery section at Churchgates Gaylord are offered to a charity in Colaba the next morningldquoBe it a big food festival or a niche event brands often procure large orders because they dont want to run out of food Creating smaller portions will help keep this in check and maximise their produce Meanwhile a foodies experience is enhanced because they will get to try more optionsrdquo shares Ashwin Choithramani events and creative head of Paprika Idealabs organisers of the fest who have also planned to donate each days leftovers to charity organisations like Robin Hood Army and Roti BankThe buffet spread at Asian Kitchen Four Points By Sheraton Navi Mumbai also includes a live station to curb wastageHowever the fest isnt the only one planning to curb food wastage In a city thats reportedly home to 20000 restaurants and counting in an industry worth over 57000 crore food wastage is a growing concern ldquoOn an average three to five per cent of food is wasted at a restaurant everyday It cant be stopped completely but it can be controlledrdquo suggests Jasmit Tibb CEO of Tibbs Frankie At his QSR chain the stock is bought daily based on predicted salesRawa Crusted Surmai made with fish fillet at The Captains TableThats a standard practice followed traditionally too agrees Noel DSouza general manager of Churchgates iconic Gaylord fine dine restaurant Till the early 1990s every night after the kitchen closed two staffers would conduct a fivehour long audit to understand consumption patterns based on KOT Kitchen Order Token ldquoIt was tedious but that helped gauge the amount of produce that would be required the next day Today computer softwares make it easier We also follow the FIFO First In First Out method For instance we order 10 per cent in addition to the required stock and if that is leftover it is added to the running stock the next dayrdquo says DSouza Meanwhile the leftovers from the bakery are stored overnight and picked up by Colababased Prem Dan NGO the following dayCatch em freshAccording to Tibb dairy and seafood items are considered highly perishable and hence susceptible to wastage Aarathi Arambhan curator at MeSoHappi and The Captains Table offers a solution ldquoWe order fillet of fish and boneless chicken instead of the whole fish or chicken and based on the ingredient stock add daily and weekly specials to the menu Our maximum wastage would be 025 to 075 per cent of the salerdquo Even the 50yearold establishment Trishna at Fort buys fresh catch based on table reservations ldquoWe dont have a cold storage facility just a simple fridge So on an average we source 50 fish that are sold out by end of dayrdquo shares the manager Taranath S KuckianMeanwhile if you happen to step into any of the Lemon Leaf outposts after 10 pm theres very little chance that you will be able to tuck into their signature Thai Style Pomfret or King Prawns ldquoWe might run out of fresh seafood every night since we order limited quantities but Id rather not serve stale foodrdquo believes Mitesh Rangras of Sid Hospitality that also owns Pot Pourri and Soy StreetA staffer adds the daily waste to the Organic Waste Converter facility at ITC Grand Central Parel PicDatta KumbharRecycle and reuseThese days chefs are also doffing their creative hats to curb waste During one of her kitchen experiments chef Kshama Prabhu of The Bar Stock Exchange decided to make Mushroom Arancini Balls out of the leftover risotto and added it on the menu as the days special It turned out to be a bestseller Now its earned a permanent place on the regular menu The same goes for Lamb Kheema Tacos whipped up from mutton kheema ldquoIn our restaurants approximately six portions of red meat items are leftover so we either plan a special menu around it add it as a special for the next day or use it in the midnight meals for the staff Even at home dont we recycle our leftover idli chapatis or ricerdquo retorts coowner Mihir Desai of Corum HospitalityPortion controlSeveral city joints especially those offering Indian cuisine are now dishing out preplated meals or limited portions For instance at the SoBo allveg state speciality restaurant 29 the Bhuna Kofta Curry appears on the table with two Kerala Parottas while the Veg Xacuti and Goan Dali Thoy comes with a bowl of Coriander Steamed Rice ldquoWe serve portions sufficient for two people In case its unconsumed we encourage patrons to take it alongrdquo says owner Nishek Jain At the Punjab Grill chain of restaurants dishes are prepped based on ordering patterns ldquoWe are low on orders on Monday but Saturday is jampacked So we cook accordinglyrdquo shares chef Gurpreet SinghBash the buffetHotel buffets and banquets are a key problem area ldquoAny buffetonly establishment has a possibility of wastage because the cooked food cannot be consumedrdquo observes Rangras Desai adds ldquoBanquets work on the basis of the number of people expected So most of the times there are leftoversrdquo Little surprise then that many buffet spreads are now setting up live stations One such hotel is Four Points by Sheraton Navi Mumbai at Vashi ldquoIn our buffet weve introduced smaller portions and live cooking stations Plus we follow the batch cooking technique In case of expensive items like meat we cool them down instantly and use them for cold cuts and in salads sometimes Fortunately we have good storage equipment that helps us in making the food items last longerrdquo shares executive chef Ashwini KumarMeanwhile ITC Grand Central has installed an Organic Waste Converter OWC within its premises to tackle the problem Introduced in 2007 a technology that exists across the ITC Hotels the machine converts all the waste from its restaurants buffet and banquets into manure ldquoIt is a 10day process in which organic waste is treated in a batch size of 50 kilo each The machine operates on the principle of mechanical fluidisation of organic waste which rotates inside the cylindrical mixing chamberrdquo informs the chief engineer Ravindra Singh Here you can also avail of Single Diner menus One Bite Wonders with downsized snack portions as well as WelcomMeal a bespoke meal created for inroom dinersCelebrate the wasteAmerican Express Bakerys wholesale setup sells breads to 15 hotels and institutions daily ldquoWe dont believe in bulk production so we call them up every morning to know the order At our retail outlets we usually prepare only the bestsellers like wholewheat and multigrain breads on a daily basis and keep the specialty breads sundried tomato and olive honey and oatmeal etc on a rotationrdquo says coowner Yvan CarvalhoIn 1941 when restaurateur Muddanna Shetty established Ankur one of the oldest restaurants in Fort his main advice was to ensure minimum wastage Its followed till date by his grandson chef Toshin of Toshin Chocolatier Patisserie He says ldquoWe analyse the demand before starting production At times there are leftovers and as we are associated with the Ivy Restaurant which has a big team we pack the desserts that they can enjoy with their families Sometimes we even make up an occasion to celebraterdquo