Adwait Anantwar

The Climb

Early service at a small food joint in Nagpur gave Adwait Anantwar the basic disciplines that kitchens demand before anything else: pace, repetition, and the ability to work cleanly under pressure. The role of chef there would have required speed without waste, and that kind of start tends to shape the way a cook handles timing and sequence later on. At Trèsind Studio in Dubai, the work continued in a different register, with more room for exactness and refinement. The move from Nagpur to Dubai maps a line of accumulation rather than noise: each kitchen adding pressure, range, and control to a profile that reads as measured rather than theatrical. At INJA in New Delhi, Adwait Anantwar now works as Head Chef, with the restaurant providing the clearest public view of his approach. The position sits at the center of a kitchen built around layered ideas and sharp contrasts, and his role there places him in direct contact with how flavor is organized, remembered, and presented.

Today

At INJA, the plates show a kitchen interested in composition without losing appetite. The work can read as precise, but it does not drift into abstraction; the point is to keep ideas tethered to something that can be eaten, recognized, and wanted. “These are some of my favourite dishes,” he has said. The line is plain, and that is the point. It suggests a kitchen where personal preference and structure are not separate things, and where the signature work at INJA is shaped by familiarity as much as by design.

Signature

Adwait's signature dishes include Shiso Leaf ‘Tuna & Pomelo Chaat’, Palak Paneer ‘Sarada’, Corn Raab | Soba | Naga Smoked Pork, Soy Morel Pulao | Buff Carpaccio, and Timur Panna Cotta.

In Their Words “Although I’m a chef and recreating flavours is our job, her food never tastes the same.” “There are days when I crave that taste.”

Recognition

Adwait's honors include Travel + Leisure India & South Asia Tastemakers — Emerging Chef of the Year.