Exploring India’s Sweet Heritage: An Exclusive Interview with Girish Nayak of Bombay Sweet Shop

by  EVENTFAQS Bureau Industry Watch | May 30, 2024 | Interview

Bombay Sweet Shop Girish Nayak WOW Awards Asia

Introducing Bombay Sweet Shop from Hunger Inc. Hospitality, the team behind Mumbai’s iconic regional Indian restaurant, The Bombay Canteen, the Goa-inspired dining experience, O Pedro, the all-day sandwich shop, Veronica’s, the bi-monthly food magazine, enthucutlet.com, which shares unique stories about food in India, and Papa’s, an intimate yet loud 12-seater chefs’ counter restaurant where Chef Hussain Shahzad takes you on a dining experience that is playfully Indian.

Bombay Sweet Shop is a celebration of Indian sweets and mithais, all crafted to be 100% vegetarian, handmade and preservative free. This innovative shop reimagines traditional Indian confections in a contemporary and playful manner, reigniting the ‘magic of mithai’. With a wide array of Indian sweets available, Willy-Wonka inspired spaces in Byculla and Bandra (Mumbai) and a dedicated gifting section, Bombay Sweet Shop transforms classic sweetness into a fresh, new experience.

In an exclusive interview with EVENTFAQS Media, Girish Nayak, Chief Mithaiwala of Bombay Sweet Shop, shares highlights of their travels across India in search of unique recipes and techniques for Bombay Sweet Shop and the aim of constantly innovating and surprising customers with new creations.

How did you balance the challenge of reinventing traditional Indian sweets while maintaining their cultural essence and nostalgic value?

When it comes to striking a balance while innovating, or creating an original dessert, we always apply what we call the form versus flavour philosophy that we came up with. It is either the form, or the flavour of a creation that people connect with, and it is the connection or emotion that is our inspiration. It’s a simple rule, every mithai or Indian dessert at Bombay Sweet Shop will either remind you of the form of the original, or its flavour. 

For instance, the Indian desserts we created for the all-new Bombay Sweet Shop in Bandra. The Not Your Mama’s Malai Toast is inspired by our childhood favourite - malai bread that came with sugar on top! Our version elevates the same experience by combining the creaminess of house-made pao ice cream and malai spread over a buttery slice of toasted white bread and topped with caramelized milk powder. Or even the crispy-soft mawa Gulab Jamun Churros with a spongy, gulab jamun like interior, dipped in saffron sugar syrup and topped with a pinch of sea salt. Inspired by the old-school way of enjoying them with rabri or a scoop of good-old vanilla ice cream, we serve them alongside pistachio-white chocolate sauce, vanilla cream sauce, or Malabar pepper-dark chocolate sauce.

And when it comes to mithai, we have the Kaapi Paak - traditional Mysore Paak elevated with coffee and crunchy sesame seeds, or the Kaju Marzipan Bon Bon with a classic Kaju Katli base rolled out like cashew marzipan with a layer of dark chocolate ganache sandwiched in between. This is how we strike the balance of offering something new and inventive, yet familiar.

Can you share some highlights from your travels across India in search of unique recipes and techniques for Bombay Sweet Shop?

At Hunger Inc. Hospitality, our guiding principle is to first understand how a traditional recipe is made before creating a contemporary version. This led us to travel across the country to learn how traditional Indian mithai is made.

Our travels across India weren't just to search for unique recipes and techniques, but also to understand and learn traditional Indian mithai making from the experts. Before we opened Bombay Sweet Shop in Byculla, which now runs as a mithai factory and store, in March 2020, we poured two years of research into creating these flavours and unique offerings. 

These combinations are deliberately whimsical, but their core is built on India's rich sweet-making heritage known for its bold identity. From the back alleys of Kolkata in search of the perfect shondesh to learning from a halwai in Jaipur and a third-generation sweet-maker in Mysore, the journey helped us bring alive the memories and nostalgia associated with a bite of our favourite mithai — summer holidays, sun-soaked afternoons with cousins and grandparents, family trips, and moments shared with friends.

What does the creative process involve when developing new mithai at Bombay Sweet Shop? How do you integrate traditional ingredients with modern culinary ideas?

At Bombay Sweet Shop, our creative process for developing new mithai begins with inspiration from traditional Indian sweets. We brainstorm ways to elevate these classics to make them more modern while preserving their core techniques and authenticity. We experiment in our kitchen, refining recipes through trial and error to achieve the perfect balance between tradition and innovation. Finally, we focus on maintaining high quality and consistency, ensuring each piece of mithai offers a delightful and nostalgic yet fresh experience to our consumers.

Take, for instance, the Indie Bar, where chocolate meets mithai. It's a fun play on our childhood pick-me-up - some of our most beloved chocolate bars from ‘5 Star’ to ‘Twix’ - built with multiple unique layers. The base is flaky patissa – a traditional delicacy made by cooking gram flour, sugar, and ghee on a slow flame. 

This is layered with silky pepper caramel, followed by light coconut fluff (or coconut halwa), and enrobed in 54% dark chocolate. Each bite brings equal parts of flaky patissa, chewy caramel, and decadent chocolate. Through such creations, we blend the best of traditional and modern, making each sweet a delightful journey of flavours.

How did you design the customer experience at your Byculla and Bandra locations to reflect the unique concept of your mithai shop?

Bombay Sweet Shop, Byculla

One reason why younger Indian consumers were moving away from traditional sweets and mithai was the perception that mithai shops were unhygienic. Addressing this concern was a key focus when designing our mithai factory in Byculla, which opened in March 2020. Inspired by the idea of Willy Wonka opening a mithai factory, we wanted to create a whimsical experience for our guests. Our theatre-inspired space features a glass-front kitchen, allowing visitors to see how the mithai is made. At the center is a 20-foot Mithai Bar, framed by classic cast iron columns and soft curved glass, where you can watch our mithai magicians meticulously moulding each sweet or garnishing it perfectly, or making our popular Choco Butterscotch Barks while maintaining the highest standards of safety and hygiene.

The Mithai Bar, our central sweets display counter, lets you explore and taste a variety of treats. You can create a box of your favourites to take home or gift it to a friend. We've focused on the gifting experience, honouring the Indian tradition of celebrating milestones with mithai. Our gifting station displays daily and occasion-based orders with extensive options, beautiful packaging (think gift bags, boxes, gift cards) and customizable contents, all supported by a professional team ready to fulfill your every sweet wish.

Bombay Sweet Shop, Bandra

The Bombay Sweet Shop in Bandra is an all-day café, mithai shop, and a snazzy late-night dessert bar. The storefront features large, illuminated displays showcasing a variety of sweets, namkeen, and mithai, all beautifully arranged. As you enter, you'll find the “Pick Up Spot,” a retail display with items like chikkis, cookies, and our popular chocolate barks. To make gift shopping easy, there’s a dedicated gifting corner with packaging options and gift bags to elevate your gifting game. The see-through glass façade, adorned with Indian design elements, invites passers-by to explore the store's delightful offerings.

What are your plans for the future of Bombay Sweet Shop? How do you aim to keep innovating and surprising your customers with new mithai creations?

At Bombay Sweet Shop, we are dedicated to experimenting with diverse flavours and textures, drawing inspiration from both traditional and contemporary sources, and constantly striving for innovation while staying true to the essence of authentic Indian sweets. Sometimes even just a conversation can trigger a nostalgic memory that gets translated into mithai, but of course with our signature twist. At Bombay Sweet Shop, we try to evoke fond memories while creating fresh and modern experiences with our sweets.

Furthermore, the depth of Indian mithai traditions is vast, and we’ve only just started to scratch the surface. Every nook and cranny in our country has its own sweet story, and that’s where we find our inspiration. We believe there is endless exploration in the world of Indian sweets and mithais, ensuring that our creative process will always be fuelled and inspired by the blend of traditions with modern innovation.

Most importantly, we’re all about keeping things fun and enjoying the process of innovation without going overboard. 

What are you most excited about in terms of networking and collaboration opportunities at WOW Awards Asia?

At WOW Awards Asia, Bombay Sweet Shop is eagerly anticipating networking and collaboration opportunities, especially within the wedding industry. We're excited to connect with wedding planners, and professionals in the events space to explore how our mithai offerings can add an extra touch of sweetness to weddings and related celebrations. Additionally, we’re excited to showcase our gifting range to potential partners to enhance their wedding gifting experience. This platform provides an ideal opportunity to showcase our expertise in the wedding space, exchange ideas, and form collaborations that will create unforgettable moments for couples and their guests. We're looking forward to engaging with like-minded individuals who share our passion for crafting extraordinary wedding experiences through the art of mithai and gifting.

What inspired your company to participate in the WOW Awards Asia this year?

Participating in the WOW Awards Asia this year aligns perfectly with our vision at Bombay Sweet Shop. We see it as an excellent opportunity to showcase our creativity, innovation, and expertise in the events and experiential marketing industry. As a brand deeply rooted in tradition yet driven by its contemporary approach, we believe that WOW Awards Asia provides a platform to showcase how our mithai offerings can elevate events and experiences to new heights. We’re inspired by the chance to connect with industry folks, exchange ideas, and explore collaborations that will further enhance our presence and impact in the market.