As you enter the bylane that takes you to Lovefools, the noise of Bandra begins to recede. The traffic fades first. Then the urgency. Here, the peculiar restlessness that defines contemporary dining &nbsp;&mdash; where reservations are timed, courses are photographed, and meals are experienced through a screen before they&rsquo;re tasted &mdash; is absent.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/aug/Basundi-Khari_e.jpg" alt="Madh Island Koli Community Crab Curry Consomme pani puri and Basundi Khari" /> Madh Island Koli Community Crab Curry Consomme pani puri and Basundi Khari
Founder Chef Sarita Pereira asks something entirely different of her guests who come to this space that feels more like a lived-in extension of her philosophy. On a Thursday evening, the four-seat, closed-door chef&rsquo;s table, Sanskaar, that we attended was built around fermentation, ageing, preservation, and transformation.
<h2>Meal and memory</h2>
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/aug/Candle-dessert_e.jpg" alt="Besan laddu candle" width="1280" height="720" /> Besan laddu candle
We start with Root &amp; Tide, non-alcoholic beer, dashi, and smoked paprika rim, drawing inspiration from the sea. The menu opened with a simple observation: some dishes are more than recipes; they are rituals, comfort and memories carried across generations. First course had the traditional South Indian Panakam, reimagined with kokam and Tellicherry pepper kombucha. Then came Koli&rsquo;s Harvest, a seafood-inspired course featuring sargassum seaweed, white fungus, black fungus, and cucumber.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/aug/Course_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" />
The third course, Ambotik, was built around kokam-cured fish, kokam gel, coconut gel, and a coconut-chilli crumble. Next course, Roti and Ghee, served with Pecorino Romano, cashew miso butter and black garlic garum butter had familiar Indian flavours, elevated with fermented elements. Then came a refined interpretation of rasam, featuring a fermented tomato broth and scallop. This dish was our favourite.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/aug/Fermentation-library_e.jpg" alt="Fermentation library" width="1280" height="720" /> Fermentation library
Then Pepper Roast, inspired by India&rsquo;s love for pepper and fire, had shio koji chicken and fermented pepper. Odisha&rsquo;s traditional Pakhala, paired fermented rice with baingan bhaja brought back memories of a simple lunch, savoured in Bhubaneshwar. The meal concluded with Besan Laddu Candle and &nbsp;a modern take on Payasam, featuring koji rice, palm jaggery and coconut. Green Fire with gin, kimchi and basil. The Pandan Highball with tequila, soju, pandan and clarified lime were loved by guests too.
<h2>Act of love</h2>
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/aug/Sarita-Pereira_e.jpg" alt="Sarita Pereira" width="1280" height="720" /> Sarita Pereira
Every dish and drink asked where a flavour came from, how it has survived, and what it becomes after time has had its say. For Pereira, this was a journey through time, microbes, fire, and intention because raw ingredients are allowed to change, mature, ferment, and evolve before being subjected to heat, cold, and final refinement. Here, fermentation wasn&rsquo;t employed as a fashionable culinary technique or a nod to contemporary gastronomy. It became a way of understanding food itself.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/aug/Payasam_e.jpg" alt="Payasam" width="1280" height="720" /> Payasam
&ldquo;At its core, fermentation is an act of patience. It requires surrender, it demands trust. It asks to relinquish control and allow time to become an ingredient in its own right,&rdquo; she adds. That philosophy resonates deeply within Indian food traditions, even if we don&rsquo;t always recognise it as such. A bowl of rasam delivered to your bedside when you&rsquo;re ill.
Pakhala left to ferment overnight. Roti torn by hand and dipped into melted ghee at the family table. These aren&rsquo;t dishes; they&rsquo;re emotional landmarks and fragments of domestic life, embedded within memory in a way that you don&rsquo;t remember the recipe, you remember the feeling.&nbsp;
<h2>Heart of the conversations</h2>
This narrative extended beyond the food and into the structure of the evening itself. The closed-door format changed everything. Four seats; four diners and a shared experience. Without the distractions of a traditional dining room, conversations became a part of the meal. The boundary between the kitchen and the table began to dissolve and the courses arrived with stories.
Techniques were discussed, memories were exchanged and the evening became collaborative rather than transactional. Next up, she is doing the Unset Menu with the theme, roots and wings with dishes like Madh Island Koli Community Crab Curry Consomm&eacute; pani puri and Basundi Khari among others.

The four-seat, closed-door chef’s table, Sanskaar, by chef Sarita Pereira we attended was built around fermentation, ageing, preservation, and transformation

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At this closed-door chef’s table, fermentation turns into a meditation on memory, tradition, and the stories behind our familiar dishes

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Home / Sunday-mid-day / Article / The slow alchemy of memory takes over at this new closed-door chef’s table in Mumbai