Co-Founder Of Gauri Khan's Torii Restaurant Says Fly Or Hair In Food "Will Happen, Nothing Can Change It"

Gauri Khan's Mumbai-based restaurant, Torii, recently courted controversy over allegations of serving "fake" paneer. Now, the restaurant's co-founder Abhayraj Kohli opened up about the hurdles of operating a high-end restaurant.

In a conversation with Pop Diaries, Abhayraj Kohli acknowledged that despite Torii's strict hygiene protocols, occasional slip-ups can still happen.

"A small fly or insect or a piece of hair that comes into your food, that's part and parcel of doing work. It happens at your homes, it happens at your workplace and it will happen at a restaurant, and nothing can change that."

He said, "A lot of restaurants, they are not very clean with what they do but restaurants of our calibre, we pay utmost and most importance on how food is treated. It's not only the hygiene of the kitchen or how clean it is but also how the food is stored from the time it comes in from the suppliers to the time it gets on to a person's plate."

Abhayraj Kohli also spoke about the storage system for raw foods such as sushi, sashimi and ceviche at a restaurant like Torii, which serves progressive Asian cuisine, 

"At Torii, we serve raw meat. We have sushi, sashimi, ceviche, we have raw meats. Is it safe to just remove the meat from the freezer and serve it? No. The food has to be kept in a particular piece of equipment called a superfreezer. And the superfreezer takes the food down to -60 and -70 degrees, which does not let any bacteria grow in the food," he said.

Before venturing into the hospitality sector with Torii, Gauri Khan, who is married to Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, is an interior designer by profession. She owns the Gauri Khan Designs in Mumbai and has previously designed restaurants such as Arth and Sanchos. Apart from that, she has given makeovers to several suburban Mumbai restaurants and celebrity houses over the years.

Torii, based in Mumbai's upscale suburb Bandra, also features a blend of Asian and Latin-American flavours in its fare.

Also Read | Did You Know Gauri Khan's Restaurant Torii Has A Secret Doorway For The Khan Family?