Farmlore’s 1497 AD Menu Brings Ancient Indian Cuisine To Life This Independence Day

Chef Johnson Ebenezer pondered over the theme for this year’s Independence Day menu for a while before hitting the jackpot. At his restaurant, Farmlore in Bengaluru, diners can currently experience his vision through the 1497 AD menu, which reimagines ingredients and dishes before Vasco da Gama reached the shores of Calicut in 1498 and forever changed the country's fate. “Also, if you rearrange 1497, you get 1947, the year we became an independent nation,” Chef Ebenezer says, winking at his own genius. 

I dined at Farmlore in early 2022, at a time when Farmlore was known only by a few connoisseurs in Bengaluru. The team, led by Ebenezer and his returning protégé Avinnash Vishaal, remembers the exact spot where I sat and reserves it for my returning visit. The thoughtful gesture has me even more excited to try the 1497 AD menu. 

A Taste Of History With Each Bite

The first course of small bites arrives on the table with a small image of the country’s landscape with certain coloured elements that give a clue to what the dishes contain. We pick out lotus stems and Chef Ebenezer adds jamun and moringa leaves as we bite into the small savoury and fruity bombs. The course sets expectations, and anticipation runs high as an egg-shelled dish comes in. 

“This is an egg in egg dish,” Chef Johnson chuckles, as he hands over the next course. Called Ghrta and Agni, the egg dish with greens pays homage to fire that symbolises purity, nourishment and selfless offering, both spiritually as well as from a culinary perspective. Ghrta, the Sanskrit word for ghee, is another ingredient that gets the hero treatment in this inventive dish. 

The next course celebrates betel in all its glory. Championing the widely-used ingredient and recognising its Ayurvedic health benefits such as improving oral health and aiding digestion, the course introduces shaved betel leaves as its hero ingredient to retain its original flavour profile with an illustration of Ghiyas Al-Din – the founder of the Tughluq dynasty who ruled the Sultanate of Delhi from 1320-1325 – eating a betel from the British Library. 

Chef Ebenezer lets us in on a little secret before serving the next course and whispers, “Do you know idli isn’t really an Indian dish?” So begins our foray into the next course called Kedli, Bhindi and Kalpasi, where we learn that idlis’ origins might lie in Indonesia’s kedli dish that was later refined in South India during the Vijayanagara Empire, with early Kannada texts like Vaddaradhane and Lokopakara showcasing its evolution through cultural exchange. 

We try the kedli sprinkled with okra dust alongside kalpasi, or stoneflower, a lichen used in Indian cooking for its earthy and smoky aroma.

A palate cleanser shaped like an orange called Kamala and Mullai turns out to be a sorbet made with Kamala oranges that are native to Tamil Nadu’s Shevaroy Hills. The sorbet comes along with Madurai Malli (jasmine) pearls that look like tiny ice pieces to the naked eye but pack an aromatic punch and complement the citrus to perfection.

This brings us to the three main course dishes – each with its own distinct story. The first main course is titled Tiller of the Soil, which is also the title of a 1938 painting by Nandalal Bose commissioned by Mahatma Gandhi to honour rural India’s role in nation-building. 

The dish itself combines pigeon pea and millets along with lamb (or breadfruit if you’re vegetarian) and is topped with microgreens to resemble the nation’s fertile land. In a final flourish, the course is presented in a photo-frame-shaped dish to complete the connection with the painting.  

The second main course is the most inventive dish of the entire menu and combines multiple ingredients that reflect India’s diverse culinary heritage. A litti from Bihar, a khakhra from Gujarat, an ant chutney from Central India, an apple from Himachal Pradesh, sauces that reflect the nation’s tricolour and its states, and so much more. This is a course that one needs to take in slowly and savour each bite. 

The last main course, Mongil, is a pork course with diners encouraged to scoop out rice from the bamboo shoot it is served with, a fun and interactive way to end the meal, while desserts come around.

The 1497 tasting menu comes with two desserts, beginning with Amrita Phalam, the Sanskrit word for pear, which is inspired by a 1982 painting by B Prabha titled Woman With A Pear Basket. The dessert itself consists of a pear sorbet paired with a mild tea to cool as well as cleanse the palate. 

The final dessert is called Mukkani and features the superheroes of the Tamilian fruit family, viz., mango, jackfruit and banana. Revered as the royal trio, these fruits are central to rituals and hospitality and the perfect way to end one of the best-tasting menus anywhere in India today. 

A few gummies and chocolates also come out as Chef Ebenezer explains how the entire menu features no tomatoes or chillies, two of the most ubiquitous ingredients in Indian cooking today, which came only after Europeans arrived in the country. “We tried to find the best way to bring acid and heat from other ingredients such as ant chutney and learnt so much about our food along the way,” he says, mentioning K T Achaya’s seminal book Indian Food as the main inspiration when asked about the research process behind the menu. 

While the food across courses is sublime, the curation and the care with which ingredients that our forefathers had centuries ago come on the plate, leave a lasting impression more than any other. It is also perhaps why this is one of the most important tasting menus to ever exist at any Indian establishment. It also shows me that three and a half years later, Farmlore is still the best when it comes to experiential fine dining anywhere in India.

We highly recommend that you try it for yourself before it goes away for good. 

Details: 

1497 AD is on at Farmlore, Bengaluru, until August 17, 2025, for lunch and dinner. The 10-course menu is priced at INR 6500 plus 5% tax. Reserve your table at farmlore.in