Picture this: A lone office worker in a crisp white shirt and pressed pants, hunched over a kilo of curried goat in an earthen pot with a roti in hand. His lunch break is only an hour, but he makes good progress as he scoops up chunk after tender chunk of the slow-cooked meat.
As the corporate crowds retreat back to their cavernous cubicles, the unbothered chap wipes clean the interior surface of the wide-mouth pot or handi of any residual masala with a torn piece of paratha or chapati.
This sight is a lot more plausible than you think, thanks to the Gravy Restaurant & Bar in Tanjong Pagar. Known for its authentic North Indian fare, the restaurant serves rustic and hearty regional dishes in the heart of the swanky Central Business District (CBD).
One of its signature dishes is the Mutton Champaran, based on the iconic delicacy from the historical Bihar district of the same name. The meat, usually bone-in chicken or goat, is marinated with toasted spices and slow-cooked for several hours in a clay or mud pot.
Similar to the “dum” method, the pot is sealed with a kneaded wheat dough. This creates a pressure cooker-like environment, where the meat steams and roasts at the same time to achieve an earthy and smoky flavour with a melt-in-the-mouth texture.
Ideally, the pot should be placed over a wood-fired stove. At Gravy, however, it is cooked over a gas stovetop for five to six hours, depending on the cut and weight of the meat.
“We experimented with cooking it over charcoal but the temperature was not even, so there were consistency issues,” said Mr Virbahadur Yadav, 34, co-owner of Gravy Restaurant & Bar.
He concocted the recipe on his own in 2021, based on already-known elements of the dish.
“It must be cooked in mustard oil,” he emphasised. “You then add a mix of garam masalas on top of the salt, chilli, turmeric, coriander and cumin powders”.
Due to the arduous preparation process, the dish is made to order and requires a one-day advance notice. It is also sold in substantial one-kilo portions, priced at S$100 each, which can easily feed four to six people.
The word “astonishment” doesn’t quite cut it when Mr Vir claims that plenty of customers have conquered an entire portion of Gravy’s Mutton Champaran all by themselves. “There are a lot of people who can finish it. If they can’t, they will just do takeaway,” he said.
A chartered accountant by trade, Mr Vir relocated from Bihar to Singapore in 2010 to attain his ACCA accreditation, and complete his master’s degree programme. He developed a passion for food when he had to cook for himself as he lived alone while studying.
This spurred his lifelong decision to open his own restaurant so that he could work alongside his 85-year-old father who dabbled in the F&B industry. In 2018, Mr Vir’s dream came true with the launch of Gravy and the subsequent success of his Mutton Champaran.
