Chef Rahul Rana

Executive Chef, Avatara

In Dubai for six years, Chef Rahul knows the lay of the land well enough to hold down the fort at this vegetarian Indian fine-dine, now in the Michelin Guide. He’s humble, friendly and a creative master 

In His Original Avatar

Interviewed by LYLE MICHAEL

We love the tête-à-têtes which are fuss-free and smooth, the kind that flows and is less a Q&A, more a conversation. With this young executive chef of a high-end, all-vegetarian, fine dining restaurant – a part of the Dubai Michelin Guide since a few months now – it was just that.

Seated in the lounge area preceding our 16-course affair at Avatara with a cup of Joe in one hand and a pen in the other, we chat with Chef Rahul Rana. He opened us up to the humble chef who hails from Rishikesh in the northern part of India and made it to the UAE six years ago, with no plans to move out any time soon. Especially not with his second baby on the way!

Chef Rahul beams. “My wife is expecting, and we have a six-year-old daughter. Every Saturday at home is a party night for the three of us, and I am looking forward to my parents joining us very soon.” He’s all smiles when he talks about family time – swimming with his daughter and quality moments with the wife who is the chef at home. All smiles when he talks about work, too – six years with Passion F&B that runs restaurants like Tresind and Avatara, giving him the experience as Executive Pastry Chef of Tresind prior to Executive Chef of Avatara.  

Having grown up in the tourist destination at the foot of the Himalayas, Chef Rahul has an innate sense of different cultures and the ability to procure fresh produce across cuisines. Undoubtedly, he grew up in a predominantly vegetarian community which has now mainfested perfectly in his running Avatara.

Avatara, where a 16-course Degustation Menu floors you and calls for some pre-fasting. No a la carte, note. Take our word for it: it’s an experience worth having when you’re in Dubai and making your way to this fine-dine which presents a reincarnation of the Indian soul on a platter. The least favourite ingredients are employed by Chef who is aware diners would not prefer going to a restaurant to eat them, but rather stay at home! Which is why he has “reincarnated” said ingredients with the confidence that you’ll be coming back for more. He knows what he’s doing!

“We are not doing meat substitutes here,” Chef Rahul emphasises, “no onion, garlic, masalas, and the like, as they are too overpowering in the food. There’s no mushroom, no paneer, only house-made butter, sometimes avocado is used and coconut water is served plain. We use mustard and grapeseed oil and try to cut down on all the ingredients we don’t need in the kitchen.” That’s the essence of Avatara: soulful food from Indian ingredients that are clean, fresh and unusual. 

These are dishes he was brought up with and some are an ode to his mum’s cooking. “A signature dish is from my hometown in Uttarakhand. A lentil dish made of horsegram curry and ragi bread like bhature,” shares Chef Rahul. The Dalika is delicious, with jakhiya aloo added in – baby potatoes flavoured with a Pahadi spice native to his home state.

Chef Rahul works hard on the presentation and visual appeal – always has, especially during his time as Executive Pastry Chef of Tresind, Dubai, in 2016. It’s an art which will keep you captivated just as much as the varying tastes of each course does. Flowers adorn Chef’s fare – edible and procured from a local farm in Dubai. The Krishna Phal is another attractive dish of passion fruit, guava and strawberry bhel placed in the centre of a lotus flower which Chef himself sought out of a temple in Bur Dubai.

Chef Rahul will certainly not take all the credit, like any leading chef shouldn’t. His team is a well-trained seven-member battalion that you can see, as you dine in the pristine space, at work putting the finishing touches on your Madhuram – a dessert of condensed milk fudge known as Bal Mithai with a chocolate rosette with wild plum java sorbet. “This one comes from my childhood as an army kid. It looks like chocolate but it is not. Here, we do it in a lighter version,” shares Chef Rahul who answers our next question with, “Yes, the menu changes every four to six months. And yes, there is a lunchtime offering on Sundays.” Else, Avatara is only a dinner do, we learn.

Three months into its opening, in March 2022, the restaurant earned entry into the Dubai Michelin Guide and Chef Rahul is hopeful that a Michelin star comes their way this year. Ambitious, he is. Dedicated, definitely. Successful, evidently. Humble, very much so. “I am just enjoying the process, no pressure. What matters is consistency and I aim to maintain it.”

That’s the evolution of Rahul Rana, the chef who studied Hotel Management in Dehradun, worked at Ananda in the Himalayas back in 2007, then on to restaurants like Olive and Indigo in Delhi before Dubai beckoned, with its soulful food and its wines which Chef Rahul is very adept at, FYI.