Make a reservation at Farro, Pune's newest premium dining restaurant

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. An unexpected dish was placed on the table: parmesan jalebi with saffron aioli, a savory take on the zulbia, a Middle Eastern dessert that became jalebi in India. This delightfully innovative appetizer was served at Farro, a new restaurant in Pune that opened in January.

Farro, a group of ancient wheat species—einkorn, emmer, or spelt—inspired the restaurant’s name. The sixty-seater establishment explores the evolving journey of wheat across civilizations, countries and sub-regions of India. The kitchen is helmed by 30-year-old chef Vardaan Marwah, who has creatively reinterpreted Mediterranean, Levantine and Middle Eastern flavors in a modern Indian context.

He holds a patisserie degree from the International Institute of Culinary Arts (IICA) in New Delhi, worked at the two Michelin-starred Gaggan in Bangkok, and was the executive pastry chef at Rooh in New Delhi. “The restaurant is deeply personal because everything I learned from my mother, my mentors chefs Suvir Saran and Sujan Sarkar, and my travels has come together in the food at Farro, and that’s what makes it unique," Marwah says. As a young chef, Marwah understands the significance of interacting with diners and seizes every opportunity to share the stories behind his dishes.

His driving force is the pursuit of nuanced flavors. He believes that a hot pan on high flame and a quick cook do not allow the gentle release of flavors, “which is what gave our ancient dishes a nuance that’s impossible to replicate. For instance, we have a Pashtun Kebab, inspired by the Chapli Kebab, but cooked in a wood-fired oven and served with pillowy bread, and a Kerala-inspired Kuttanad Seabass, paired with a velvety raw mango sauce and puffed