Inside the kitchen of Ravneet Johar, the chef and owner of Barkat
Including masala-flavoured potato chips, a box of mangoes and a whole wall dedicated to spices
In 2015, chef Ravneet Johar left his family and home in New Delhi so he could expand his culinary repertoire. “Back in India, there are a lot of religious restrictions on what chefs can and cannot do,” he says. “I couldn’t cook with wine because the drinking age was 25 and I was only 22. The institute where I studied also banned beef and pork. I wanted more.” So he moved to Toronto to study at George Brown College—and while he was still in school, he landed a job at Susur Lee’s eponymous restaurant. “Susur’s contemporary approach to the long-standing traditions of Asian cuisine really spoke to me,” says Johar.
After three years working at Lee’s and then at Fring’s, Johar moved to Nota Bene to work under another esteemed Toronto chef, David Lee. The work was inspiring, but cook’s wages weren’t commensurate with the cost of living in the city. “I quit because I needed to earn more money,” Johar says. “Cooking is my passion, but it wasn’t paying the bills.” He spent the next four years catering sets for Netflix, Apple and Disney, putting aside money to open a restaurant of his own.
Last summer, savings in hand, he opened the doors to Barkat on Queen West. Lee, whose take on Asian food inspired Johar’s modern approach to Indian cuisine, was his very first customer. “He came through the doors to dine at my grand opening,” says Johar. “It felt like I had already made it.” Now, with one year under his belt, Johar has learned that running a restaurant and home cooking don’t mix. “I eat at Barkat a lot,” he says. “The only meal I regularly make for myself at home is breakfast, which is mostly just eggs.”
But, if the collection of sauces in his refrigerator is any indication, those eggs are far from basic. “I’m an Indian-raised cook, so I never eat my eggs plain,” says Johar. “Hot sauce is required.”
The sauce collection isn’t the only sign that this is a chef’s fridge. Inside those takeout containers is tandoori chicken, spiced Indian rice, a green salad, homemade whole-wheat tandoori roti and beautifully stewed beans. “The only issue with eating at the restaurant is that we cook with a lot of butter, which is not ideal for keeping fit. I gained 20 pounds in the three months after we opened,” says Johar. “Now, I use a meal-plan service called Fit Mafia. It’s healthy, totally affordable and delicious.”
Since he’s not making meals from scratch when he’s home, Johar employs a few shortcuts. “I have an air fryer, so sometimes I’ll marinate paneer cubes in ginger, garlic, yogurt and spices, then crisp them up,” he says. “Or I’ll buy pre-made Japanese curry sauce from TNT, which works well as a flavour bath.”
Related: Inside the kitchen of Solomon Mason, executive chef at Auberge du Pommier
Johar always keeps Aampanna, a raw mango beverage, on hand. “The drink isn’t sweet. It’s mostly saline, but gently touched with warm spices like cumin, mint and black pepper,” he says. He also keeps a box of fresh mangoes and baby bananas on his counter.
Johar frequents Augusta Fruits in Kensington for fresh herbs and chilies. “This is an Indian household, so it’s all about layering flavour,” he says.
Meanwhile, the freezer is stocked with tasty quick fixes. There are frozen dumplings (which he’ll zhuzh up with his impressive stock of sauces) and paratha from Ambal Trading, his favourite east-end store. “When I worked at Fring’s, I would make paratha for myself and my co-workers every day,” he says. “We were poor line cooks, and these are cheap and delicious. Now, I keep them around for guests.”
Other Indian snacks live in the pantry, including rice-based Kurkure puffs, Khatta Meetha (a crunchy blend of sweet and salty fried peas) and masala-flavoured Lay’s potato chips. “Not everything has to be imported from India,” says Johar. “If something is good and the spices are used correctly, I’m happy.”
When it comes to tea, though, he sticks to the proper imported stuff. “The Indian black tea we use for chai is much more potent than something like an orange pekoe,” he says. “North American teas just don’t hold up.”
Johar’s small condo kitchen struggled to accommodate his massive collection of spices. When his drawers started bursting, he turned to his walls. “I often build recipes at home, and I needed something that inspired me,” he says. “So I set up my spice wall. Now I can see everything in front of me and dream up beautiful flavour combinations.” His current favourite is a roasted cumin that his mother made for him.
He also has a collection of cookbooks for when he needs to get his creative juices flowing. “The lion’s share of my cookbooks are Indian,” he says, including his most-consulted tome, Indian Accent by Manish Mehrotra. For cuisines from other parts of the globe, Johar’s go-to is Home Cooking by Gordon Ramsay.
Johar keeps his liquor cabinet full for unwinding with his friends. “I’m pretty easy when it comes to spirits—but as a good Indian boy, I like my whisky.”
Erin Hershberg is a freelance writer with nearly two decades of experience in the lifestyle sector. She currently lives in downtown Toronto with her husband and two children.
