25 Years of DIVA: Chef Ritu Dalmia On Legacy, Italian Cuisine, And India’s Dining Evolution

For over two decades, Chef Ritu Dalmia has been at the forefront of redefining Italian dining in India. When she opened DIVA in Delhi back in 2000, she set out with a simple vision—to cook honest food and create a warm space where people could gather. What began as a single restaurant has since grown into a celebrated legacy. Over the years, Dalmia has expanded her footprint with multiple award-winning restaurants, leading a team of more than 300.

Her journey has also come full circle internationally. With Cittamani in Milan, she flipped the script—introducing Italians to the vibrant flavours of the Indian subcontinent, just as she once introduced Indians to true Italian cooking. 

Back home, she brought her culinary philosophy to Mumbai with The Tasting Room by DIVA in collaboration with Good Earth, and later, Motodo in BKC—a trattoria-style restaurant rooted in regional Italian traditions. And two years ago, she also opened her restaurant Atrangi in Dubai. 

Today, as DIVA turns 25, it stands tall as a landmark in Delhi’s dining culture, famed for its authenticity, seasonal menus, and dishes that regulars refuse to let her take off the menu.

As the restaurant celebrates this milestone, Dalmia reflects on the restaurant’s journey from the early days of sourcing challenges to serving Italian classics to world leaders, and shares her thoughts on the evolution of India’s dining culture, what keeps her inspired, and where she sees the next 25 years going.

Excerpts from the interview ahead…

ELLE Gourmet: When you opened DIVA 25 years ago, what was your vision for it? Did you ever imagine it would become such a legacy brand in Delhi’s dining scene?

Ritu Dalmia (RD): Honestly, when DIVA opened, I thought it would just be one restaurant where I would cook and chat with the guests. I've never thought too much about the future, so it was really a restaurant for the present for me. And I didn't know we would be here 25 years down the line. And now I can say I'm looking forward to the next 25 years.

ELLE Gourmet: Can you take us back to the early days? What was the dining culture like in Delhi then, and what gap did you want DIVA to fill?

RD: Compared to my first restaurant, MezzaLuna, a few years earlier, the scene had definitely improved. It was still difficult because the ingredients were hard to come by. I wanted a proper wine list. There were no proper wine importers. Guests would still spectate. But honestly, it was still much better received than I thought. And it is something which has evolved a lot more in the last 25 years, but so have I.

ELLE Gourmet: Was there a turning point when you felt DIVA had truly “arrived”?

RD: There really isn't one particular moment where I can say that it had truly arrived. But if I were to really think about it, the year 2005, when we managed to sell a kilo of truffles in a season, maybe that was really the time when we were okay.

ELLE Gourmet: Over the last two and a half decades, how has DIVA evolved in terms of food, design, and philosophy?

RD: When DIVA started, the menu was quite bold, or maybe a little bit of an overreach. I was so much into proving a point to myself that I wanted all unknown ingredients – ingredients that people really didn't know or weren't comfortable with. And then at some point, I think sensibility and practicality got in, and the ingredients became a lot easier to find, and people didn't get intimidated by it. In the last few years, we have taken that courage and the step again to do it, because now people don't wonder what celeriac or what Jerusalem artichoke is, and so it's been an up-levelling.

ELLE Gourmet: Italian cuisine is at the heart of DIVA – how have you adapted it to keep up with changing tastes in India without losing authenticity?

RD: I've always been a purist, so I’ve never bastardised Italian food for the Indian audience, nor have I bastardised my Indian food for the Melanesian or Dubai audience. But what you have to do is you have to be very clever about what you choose so that it is authentic, yet something which people don't find too strange.

ELLE Gourmet: What dish or element of the menu has stood the test of time?

RD: Our Melt-In-Your-Mouth gnocchi has been on the menu since 2000. Although we keep changing the sauces, gnocchi is a must on our menu. The Lamb chops, the Scottadito again, have been there for 25 years. Even if I want to change it, I cannot. And now with dessert, Old-Time Sake, which is basically an Italian way of doing a chocolate soufflé, has again been there for 25 years. So these three we cannot change, even if I want to. I'll be murdered by the guests. But the rest, the menu keeps on changing seasonally, once every four months, keeping in mind the weather and the ingredients available.

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ELLE Gourmet: You’ve seen the Indian F&B industry change dramatically. What are the biggest shifts you’ve observed?

RD: Clients are more troubled; they are more aware. The hangover of having restaurants and hotels is over. It’s become a thing of the past. And a lot of chef-run restaurants have opened up, which is amazing because, honestly, restaurants should be run by people who know their produce.

ELLE Gourmet: If you could go back and give your younger self (the one opening DIVA in 2000) one piece of advice, what would it be?

RD: Well, if I were back in 2000, honestly, there's nothing I would have done differently. I would say whatever I did that time has laid the foundation of what I've done today and what I'm doing today.

ELLE Gourmet: What has been your proudest moment with DIVA in these 25 years?

RD: I think the proudest moment for me and DIVA was when we were asked to cook for the Italian President, Mr Champi, in 2004 or 2005. There were several restaurants serving Italian food in the hotel with Italian chefs. And they chose us to cook all the meals for the President on his state visit to India. I think that really was an amazing moment, that as an Indian, they found our food to be more authentic, our Italian food to be more authentic than most of the Italians who were cooking in Delhi or India at that time.

ELLE Gourmet: Is there a story or memory from DIVA that still makes you smile today?

RD: Oh, there are so many memories that make me smile. Remember little kids who used to come with their mommies and were very happy to eat a chocolate torta, which used to go to them on the house because they were future clients, and now they come with their wives and their children, and ask for the same little chocolate torta for their kids. So yes, there are many moments, honestly, too many to recall.

ELLE Gourmet: Where do you see DIVA going in the next 25 years? Any plans for expansion, new concepts, or collaborations?

RD: As I said, I am a person who plans for today, and not for the future, and that’s how DIVA happened. So, if you ask what the plans are for future expansion, honestly, I cannot answer that. However, saying that we have an amazing team now, of younger people, more energy, more enthusiasm, and more new ideas. And I just want to enjoy the next 25 years, let others work, whilst I reap the benefits.

ELLE Gourmet: How do you balance staying rooted in tradition while continuing to innovate?

RD: I think it’s very important for any chef to stay true and honest to what the genuine, authentic food is, and yet feed that creativity so that boredom doesn’t creep in. What’s very important for me is not to bastardise the recipes; the flavours have to be correct; it has to be representative of the area from where the dish comes from; and yet play with ingredients; play with texture, otherwise, honestly, why are you a chef?

ELLE Gourmet: What excites you most about the future of India’s dining culture?

RD: If you ask me, when I hear about AI-experience restaurants and how food in the future will be all about virtual experiences, I don’t understand even a bit. What I love about the food future is how it’s the chefs who are running the restaurants. And it’s no longer about fine dining, no longer about Gizmo, it’s not about smoking mirrors. It’s about really good, local ingredients, and making something amazing out of them without really defining it or calling it the stereotype of a single cuisine.