admin Nails gleaming with gold polish, Manish Arora is carefully applying a sprig of coriander to a generous mound of rice shaped like a heart. Behind him, several pans are simmering with sauces as a blender turns coral lentils into a smooth purée. We are in the kitchen of Desi Road, an Indian restaurant located a stone’s throw from the Pont Neuf, the bridge that doubled as a runway for Pharrell Williams’s Louis Vuitton debut.
Arora, the Paris-based fashion designer known for collections lavishly ornamented with psychedelic flair, has spent the last week fine-tuning the menu for Diwali Mela, a takeover starting today as a nod to the festival of light that is considered India’s most important holiday. Although the main celebrations culminate on Sunday, the pop-up will run through November 30.
Together with Desi Road’s owner Stéphanie de Saint-Simon and chef Ghosh Gobinda, Arora is showcasing a variety of dishes from his 2021 cookbook, We Are Family, comprised of recipes from 26 relatives in India—his mother, aunties, cousins—all women. Think crispy okra batons with chaat masala, paratha bread with tomato chutney, vegetarian samosas, dahi papdi chat (a spicy chickpea and potato snack), and a vegetarian thali platter with the customary condiments. Whereas the cookbook is exclusively vegetarian, this menu includes chicken, fish, and lamb.
For Arora, who dons a vibrant apron reworked from a bedcover of his own design, the dishes represent the home-cooking he assiduously learned from his family via WhatsApp during the early months of the pandemic. In other words, humble fare versus haute cuisine.
