New Delhi, Nov. 14 -- When chef Prateek Sadhu graduated from culinary school in 2006, a job at a big hotel was his primary goal. After working at The Leela Palaces and Resorts and Indian Hotels Company Ltd (Taj Group) for about eight years and earning a degree at the Culinary Institute of America, New York, Sadhu decided it was time to go small. He ran the kitchen at Mumbai's standalone fine-dining restaurant Masque from 2016-22. The next year, he took a big step to go even smaller. He launched the 16-seater, reservation-only Naar in Darwa, Himachal Pradesh.

Sadhu's career graph mirrors that of many other young chefs in India-starting in a large kitchen and learning the ropes of the food and beverage (F&B) business, moving to work as a c...