Alpana Kirloskar

The luxury interior designer and architect divides her time between her many projects: Brand Ambassador for Walter Knoll and Kiara Lifespaces, her real estate company, to name a few

Text: Minoti Makim     
Photographs: Vijay Barathe
Location: The O Hotel, Pune

Alpana, how was ‘lockdown’ for you?
It was great! We got to spend quality time as a family at home, aai (her mother in law), Rahul, the kids, and I. We hung out, swam, and enjoyed being at home. It was the first time in a long time that we had this long stretch altogether.

You started a new venture recently, tell us more about it.
I started my own development and construction company called Kiara Lifespaces. We are in the process of completing our first project, a three-tower residential project called Kiara Residency in Sushant Golf City, Lucknow. Post lockdown, the last month has been really good for us and we’ve made quite a few sales, the project is 65% sold out. I’ve enjoyed this new experience a lot. I have a degree in Architecture from SPA (School of Planning & Architecture, Delhi) and it was great to put a lot of that learning to practice. While I have been a practicing interior designer for years with a lot of great projects, this experience was special.

What about your Lucknow experience?
I enjoyed the experience of Lucknow, especially the food. Awadhi cuisine is superb, everytime I go there, I stay at this club and I always request the owner to get me the famous tundey kebabs from the original dhaba. I visited this small place in one of the city’s bylanes and loved this melt-in-your-mouth delicacy. Now, I eat some fresh, and freeze a lot to bring back to Poona. Also, Lucknowi Mutton Korma and the chaat are fabulous.

You are such a foodie, want to share about your lockdown cooking and experiments?
We are all foodies, my husband, my son, and my daughter, all of us. You know how it was during the lockdown, no one wanted to have home food after a point. I had plenty of time to clean out and organise the kitchen and I thought of trying new recipes also. This was very therapeutic, I enjoyed it. I started making bread at home, looking up different recipes such as gluten-free, oat, multigrain, all types of bread. I finally zeroed in on the best recipes and now we’ve stopped buying it from outside completely. We make home-made bread every two days!

That’s amazing, what are some of the new dishes you made? Any favourites?
Bread, rolls, tiramisu, salad, salad dressings, zucchini pasta, chicken in wine sauce, mushroom risotto, white asparagus with hollandaise sauce. I tried so many different things and most of my online shopping was kitchen stuff, like a spiraliser. I even did a few Zoom cooking classes which I enjoyed a lot. I learned many things like making lamb chops, cheesecake, and French onion soup. I even tried my hand at sushi, which is very difficult and I have yet to master rolling.

Elaborate on your favourite experiences in the kitchen.
Favourite cooking experiences were simple ones but satisfying. My kids love Eggs Benedict, so I wanted to make that but could not find English muffins anywhere. My son had a great idea and suggested I bake them since I was anyway baking bread at home. So, I baked them a day before they wanted the eggs, and they turned out perfect! Another favourite experience was making cinnamon rolls, which took all day because it is a long process. You have to make the dough, allow it to proof, then make the inner layer and proof again, then cut and roll. This took a lot of concentration and I waited till I had the kitchen to myself to master this. As it turned out, it was around 4.00 pm when they were ready, and as I got them hot out of the oven, it had just started raining. The fresh, warm rolls, the scent of cinnamon, and the delicious layered goodness were the most amazing combination with the sudden early evening downpour.

Any other lockdown hobby you developed?
It’s an extension of my love for cooking and food. We have always had a terrace garden where my mother-in-law grows bhindi, baingan, dudhi, etc, and I decided to experiment with growing different types of lettuce, bell peppers, broccoli, bok choy, Morning Glory, etc. I bought saplings and started my own kitchen garden, all organic with no chemicals, totally fresh. So the “zoodles” were with our own zucchini, the daily salad had our own Rucola or broccoli, even the lemons were from our garden. This became a lockdown hobby and I would incorporate the fresh, ripe produce into our menu every day.

Your fave restaurants and foods you missed during the lockdown?
I love Japanese food, and in Poona, I love Harajuku at The O Hotel, the sushi rolls, the sashimi are really good, also Ukiyo at the Ritz-Carlton and Alto Vino at JW Marriott. I missed thin-crust pizzas but then Switch Deli & Kitchen started deliveries, so we were set. Internationally, my favourites are Jean-Georges and Casa Mono in New York and La Colombe in Cape Town, these are the first ones that come to mind. I have eaten some of the best meals of my life at restaurants in New York. Casa Mono did amazing scallops, lots of interesting small plates and delicious bone marrow served in the bone. Jean-Georges is just one of those places where every dish and course is an experience in itself! At La Colombe we did a long 4-hour meal over five to six courses, all paired with wine, each course representing an element from the forest. It was a theatrical meal, a treat for all the senses.