New Delhi, Oct. 18 -- When top chef Ajit Bangera says - "there's nothing authentic about food" - you are compelled to sit up and take note. As someone with over five decades of experience in the Indian culinary landscape, he clarifies, "Authenticity is what you create, and there's no end to what you can create in food." Bangera, along with Ashish Thadani, CEO of the Chennai-based Tiam Foods, opened the 54-seater restaurant Firo last month to offer what he calls "reimagined" Indian cuisine.

Firo is Bangera's first venture post his retirement two years ago from ITC Chola, where he set up the iconic Avartana, recognised as India's foremost modern south Indian restaurant. For the record, he also launched Colombo's ITC Ratnadipa. It brings to...