Indian Accent is one of the most celebrated Indian restaurants in Delhi and its emphasis on creativity and innovation has earned it a place on several prestigious lists, including Asia's 50 Best Restaurants and The World's 50 Best. However, recently, the diner was criticised by an X user who called out the restaurant over an ingredient switch.
A prominent Delhi surgeon has publicly criticized Indian Accent for allegedly serving him button mushrooms in place of the morel mushrooms promised in a specific dish. On X, the diner accused the restaurant of engaging in a "culinary sleight of hand" and termed it a "deliberate act of chicanery."
He recounted ordering the vegetarian chef's tasting menu, which featured a dish titled "masala morels water chestnut, asparagus, paper roast dosai." Sharing two photos—one of the menu and another of the mushroom dish—he claimed that the dish contained the commonly available button mushrooms rather than the advertised morels.
"What arrived under the dosa cone, was not the morel, but a drab cluster of the most ordinary button mushrooms, the kind one might expect in a roadside stir-fry, the fungal equivalent of a counterfeit handbag," said the X user.
“If you’re going to list morels on the menu, then there better be morels on the plate, not the fungal detritus scraped from the bottom of a vegetable box.” He said when the chef was called to the table, he apologised, promising to make amends.
In India, morels are commonly referred to as gucchi mushrooms and are particularly grown in the Himalayan region. These wild mushrooms are highly prized for their unique flavour and are considered a delicacy. They are difficult to cultivate and are typically foraged from the wild, which makes them expensive.
"When summoned, the chef performed the customary song-and-dance of apology, claiming he would ‘fix it in under two minutes.’ And he did. Miraculously. Brought in a new plate, flush with morels," he said. The vegetarian version of the chef's tasting menu at Indian Accent costs ₹5,400 per person, plus taxes. The set menu in question had several dishes such as whole wheat and semolina puchkas, goji berry makhani and the famous kulfi sorbet.
Indian Accent took to its official page to clear up the confusion and released a statement regarding the issue. “This is a simple misunderstanding over the 'morel masala' term. It also always includes sliced morels (as opposed to whole) and other mushrooms (oyster, shimeji, button) besides sliced morels in our recipe and that's what makes the masala tastier. The descriptor of the composition of our dish was lifted from our 2009 menu, hence may have led to the confusion,” the statement read.