#169 Aseem Sood & Kunal Bhardwaj | Kahaani

I sat down with head chef and owner, Aseem Sood and his business partner, Kunal Bhardwaj at Kahaani in Lygon Street. Kahaani means story in Hindi and Aseem wants to tell the story of India’s regions and history through his food, which he describes as “unreasonably authentic”. The pair looked for a while for a venue, originally imagining that South Yarra would be the place until they came across the space in Carlton. Aseem and Kunal did all the renovations themselves over five months, using as much as possible repurposed material, “handmade”, says Aseem, referring to the sanding of the table tops and the exposed brick wall on one side and a clay wall on the other. The bar is made out of an old wooden work bench with bright blue tiling around its base. Upstairs can be used for private dining and functions and is creatively filled with branches and greenery. Aseem and Kunal are currently working on a tiffin box lunch offering and for adventurous foodies, a surprise dish where apart from the protein, you won’t know anything about the dish until it arrives at your table. Kunal made me a delicious chai and I very happily listened to their story.