Flames, Forest, and Flavour: How a Jungle Kitchen Near Nagpur Is Redefining Indian Fine Dining
By the time Pushpa Sidam’s connecting flight lands her in Mumbai, she’s already lived a dream she never imagined could be hers. Between layovers and laughter, she answers the phone with giddy delight, still riding the high of her very first trip. “Mujhe bahut mazza aaya,” she says, her voice bubbling over with joy. “I had so much fun.”
Just days earlier, Pushpa was plating up a seven-course gourmet experience at Udaipur’s regal Leela Palace, representing Palaash—a restaurant not in a five-star hotel or a buzzing metropolis, but nestled on the edge of Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Gondwakadi, Maharashtra.
This isn’t just a restaurant. It’s a revolution.
The Fire in the Forest
Palaash, co-founded by chef Amninder Sandhu and backed by Keyur Joshi (of MakeMyTrip and Wildlife Luxuries fame), is unlike any other culinary outpost in India. Imagine a dining experience under the stars, flanked by tiger trails, where meals are cooked without gas, electricity, or fuss—just wood fire, sand pits, and ancient knowledge.
Here, ingredients don’t just arrive; they grow. The land provides, the women cook, and the forest whispers its approval.
“We wanted to make food the anchor of this project,” chef Amninder explains. And food, as it turns out, was also the spark that lit the flames of empowerment.
From Chapatis to Chef Whites
Pushpa’s journey started humbly. A native of Marathwakdi village, she once swept the floors at Tipai resort—the luxurious eco-lodge that hosts Palaash. But fate had different plans. When she met chef Amninder two years ago, she offered her a humble thecha (a fiery chutney of chillies, garlic, and salt). That moment changed everything.
“She made 400 chapatis a day with precision,” recalls chef Amninder. “I saw that and thought—this is skill, this is instinct, this is art.”
Today, Pushpa is part of a handpicked team of local women who aren’t just cooking—they’re curating. Their deep-rooted understanding of spices, technique, and restraint shapes every dish that comes out of the open-fire kitchen. And in return, they’ve found independence, agency, and a platform that was once unthinkable.
Gas-Free, Guilt-Free, Glorious
At Palaash, there are no gas stoves. Only fire. Glorious, slow, soul-warming fire.
Chef Amninder, who’s long championed gas-free cooking (see: Arth, Bawri), draws from her childhood in Assam, where meals were born of scarcity, improvisation, and heart. “If we couldn’t find it,” she says, “we grew it.”
It’s a lesson she’s carried into adulthood—and into every smoky, soul-stirring bite served at Palaash. Tandoors, sandpits, cow-dung-fired sigris, and charcoal tavas power the kitchen. Recipes are sourced from oral histories, family heirlooms, and childhood memories. Each meal is part performance, part poetry.
A Menu as Wild as the Land
Think gendaphool sorbet made from marigolds, bamboo-smoked pork seasoned by fire and forest air, puran poli profiteroles with a French wink, and saoji bater that punches through with heat and heritage.
Or try the ambaadi greens and charred ananas, the Nagpur black crab and the decadent pistachio paan motichoor laddoo. Each plate tells a story — one of land, legacy, and innovation.
Even the kitchen garden isn’t just for show. Guests are invited to the wadi, a Mediterranean-style space amid pumpkin vines and wood-fired ovens, where they sip sparkling wine, knead their own dough, and build pizzas under the stars.
The Women of the Flame
Yet, for all its flair, Palaash’s most extraordinary feat is its heart: the women. They’re not just workers. They’re the heartbeat of this gastronomic sanctuary.
“When I see Pushpa presenting a dish she helped craft to guests at a luxury hotel,” chef Amninder says, “it’s more than just a proud moment—it’s a revolution in real-time.”
These women have gone from making chapatis to creating fine dining experiences. From anonymous kitchen corners to centre stage.
And what powers this transformation? Fire. Both literal and metaphorical.
A New Kind of Luxury
Palaash redefines what luxury looks like. It’s not starched napkins or gold-leaf garnish. It’s the flicker of open flame, the rustle of teak leaves in the breeze, the laughter of women around the chulha, the aroma of slow-cooked goat stew wafting through the wild.
It’s about connecting—to the land, to tradition, to each other.
In Sanskrit, “Palaash” is a tree that flowers in flame-like blooms. And true to its name, this jungle kitchen blazes brightly—not just with flavour, but with fierce female fire.
As Pushpa boards her final flight home to Nagpur, she carries more than luggage. She carries stories. She carries pride. She carries proof that sometimes, the road from the village kitchen leads not just to five-star hotels—but to a whole new future.