New Delhi, Oct. 10 -- Indian onions made chef Jack Jarrot cry. "In the UAE, you can chop hundreds of kilos of onions and you wouldn't tear up. Indian onions, on the other hand, are super fresh, flavourful, and so, for the first time in over a year, I cried as someone cut onions in the kitchen," he laughs. The chef de cuisine at Sand & Koal, an open-fire restaurant at Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental, Abu Dhabi, Jarrot was in Bengaluru for a five-day fire-side dining pop-up at The Polo Club, The Oberoi in September. While he'd vacationed in India before and was familiar with the country, this was the first time he was helming a pop-up here.

"If you cook only in your country, you're like a frog in a well that's not exposed to other places...