New Delhi, Feb. 15 -- It's a rainy New York day when chef Regi Mathew shows me around his new restaurant Chatti, located in the OG maximum city's Garment District, over a video call. Holding his phone aloft, he nimbly steps outside to show me the storefront, even as commuters rush past under massive black umbrellas; a surreal experience because here I am, approximately 13,500km away, in dry, warm Bengaluru.

That's how far the chef has travelled to open his third restaurant; his last was Kappa Chakka Kandhari, his signature Kerala restaurant, which opened in Bengaluru in 2019. "The further the place, the more difficult it is. Better you do the difficult way first," says Mathew about the leap he has taken, bypassing Delhi, Mumbai or even L...