This Globetrotting New Indian Fusion Restaurant Tells A Story With Every Dish

When Maheep Singh joined the kitchen team at SkyCity in 2020, it was merely the latest chapter in a global culinary odyssey that had taken him from his native India as far as Kuwait and K’Gari (Fraser Island). And while his timing was in many ways unfortunate, there was a silver lining to arriving just as Covid was about to hit.

“At that time, the company was sending us to different venues as required, so I cooked French Vietnamese cuisine at Madame Hanoi, Italian at ITL and modern Australian cuisine in the functions and events team. Working in all those different places meant I could spend all that time gathering knowledge.”

Growing up near Delhi, some of Maheep Singh’s strongest memories are of the time he spent in the kitchen with his mother and my grandmother, and he always dreamed of opening his own restaurant. It’s why he spent four years studying everything from nutrition and cooking techniques to menu planning, wine tasting and property management before taking his skills on the road.

This year, he finally made those dreams a reality by opening Fitoor Fusion Kitchen + Bar at 324 Magill Road. All he needed to do was decide what kind of restaurant it would be. “I wanted to bring something new and interesting to the market,” Maheep says, “and Indian cuisine will always be close to my heart. But I’ve also been cooking modern Australian for a long time, so it made sense to do Indian fusion.” Look through the menu at Fitoor, however, and you’ll quickly discover plenty of other influences.

Dishes like the butter chicken stracciatella bao bun, Korean gochujang salmon and crispy masala nachos reflect Maheep’s culinary journey, while there’s still room for storied Indian dishes like the famed galouti kebab. “Legend says that the King of Lucknow lost all of his teeth but still wanted to eat kebabs,” explains Maheep. “So his chefs minced the meat four or five times until it was a fine paste, then added raw papaya as a tenderising agent and made a kebab that’s so soft and tender it melts in your mouth when you eat it, and that’s how we make it at Fitoor.”

Add in signature dishes like the slow-cooked beef cheek curry and lamb shank nihari as well as some “Indianised” cocktails including a whisky sour with tamarind paste and a Mumbai Margarita spiked with mango puree and rose syrup and you have a truly international menu.

Fitoor Fusion Kitchen + Bar is open for dinner from Wednesday to Monday and for lunch on weekends, when they offer a 15% seniors discount