Masala Theory, Bondi: Restauranter Yashpal Erda reveals vision behind new eastern suburbs restaurant

Indian food is more than just Butter Chicken says restaurateur Masala Theory boss Yashpal Erda – who has just unveiled his flavours of India to the crowds of Bondi Beach.

Masala Theory boss Yashpal Erda is expanding his “neo-Indian” flavours to a new crowd of good-food lovers, with the opening of his second store just off the shoreline of the famous Bondi Beach.

Erda sat down with The Wentworth Courier this week to showcase his vision for Indian food in Sydney’s east.

What does your business do?

Masala Theory serves traditional Indian food, in a “modern, hip” way, or “Neo-Indian” food.

It is a combination of modern Indian, progressive Indian and traditional Indian food.

We present the traditional “pani puri” in a very different way, with different ingredients and we call it a “curry bomb”. The traditional batter fried chicken, we have bound it with chilli juice and vindaloo sauce, and we have named it “smashed vindaloo chicken”, and our Indian chart we call it, the Three Sisters chart: made with spinach waffles on a bed of rash gulla and bhalla bits, with tamarin, yoghurt and mint chutneys.

Traditionally known as “Pani Puri”, the Masala Theory calls it a “curry bomb”, picture: Rahul Bhattarai

What is the level of spice?

It’s a “myth” that Indian food is meant to be spicy, which is not true, and we have created our menu with a medium spice lever, as our market is, and we don’t go over the spicy.

Where is it located?

We have two branches one in Surry Hills and we just opened at The Hub in Bondi Beach.

What was the motivation behind starting it?

There is so much to our food beyond the usual Butter Chicken. And I want to bring awareness to the wider public about our Indian food. The current market is not reflecting the experience, nor the DNA of our food.

What’s your signature dish? 

Our most popular dish is called the Curry Bombs for plate with eight bombs, or top alcohol is Mumbai Margarita and smashed chicken.

Three sisters chart, made with spinach waffles on a bed of rash gulla and bhalla bits, with tamarin, yogurt and mint chutneys, picture: Rahul Bhattarai

What are the challenges you faced while starting the business and how did you overcome them?

When we started Masala Theory in 2017, people were not aware of Indian food beyond Butter chicken, Rogan Josh, chicken vindaloo, etc. And it was a challenge, but after couple of months people began to become more aware that there are other variety of Indian food. But once they came to know, there was a lot of appreciation, love and support from all of them. Now we have passed the initial hurdle, people have come to love our food.

Masala Theory’s Head Chef Sreekanth Munnangi. Munnangi has been working at the Surry Hills branch since it's inception in 2017 and now he heads the Bondi Beach branch as well, Picture: Rahul Bhattarai

Do we have enough interest for one more Indian Restaurant in the block?

I think there has always been a market for Indian food, it’s just that the variety of Indian food was not been depicted. We brought a different variety of Indian food and people also love and accept that. There is a market for traditional food but as well as there is a market for the progressive modern and new Indian food

Where do you see yourself in the five years’ time?

We would love to grow and take our business global.

What advice would you give to people who are looking into getting into this industry?

It is like opera. There is so much hard work and dedication that goes behind to give a great show what people see in front but have no idea of what happens at the back. And it needs to be repeated everyday live and is not like a recorded version.

Also what you do and the way you work on day one, needs to be all the 365 days.