It has been three years since we met chef Nitin Kulkarni, whose attention is usually focussed in the kitchen. Rarely seen at social gatherings or culinary shindigs that are now commonplace, Kulkarni, 58, prefers to man the backrooms to ensure every dish that leaves is competent.

He joined celebrated chef-restaurateur Rahul Akerkar in 1999 as sous chef on a team that successfully created the city's first standalone European cuisine outpost, Indigo, on Colaba's Mandlik Road.