Gauri Khan-Owned Torii’s Head Chef Reveals Fake Paneer Row Increased Business
Torii's head chef, Stefan Gadit, recently addressed the infamous paneer controversy, where a content creator claimed that the paneer served at Gauri Khan’s restaurant was “fake”.
Controversies often have the power to either make or break a business, especially in the competitive restaurant industry where reputation and customer trust are key. In some cases, a negative incident can unexpectedly boost a brand’s visibility and attract more customers. This was the case for Shah Rukh Khan’s wife and interior designer Gauri Khan's Mumbai restaurant, Torii, which found itself in the middle of a storm earlier this year. Content creator Sarthak Sachdeva accused the restaurant of serving adulterated or fake paneer in its dishes, sparking a significant backlash. The restaurant swiftly dismissed the claims.
Now, in a recent interview with Screen, Torii’s head chef, Stefan Gadit, has revealed that the controversy actually had a positive effect on the business, attracting more attention and customers to the restaurant.
Chef Gadit explained that the unfounded accusations only made a bigger impact, emphasizing that Torii’s ingredients and quality were top-tier. He also acknowledged the content creator's good intentions, stating the individual simply wanted to verify the claims.
He noted, “It makes an impact when we point fingers at something baseless. The quality, the ingredients, everything we provide is top-notch; we had nothing to worry about. We issued the statement so that people could know what is happening and how things are done. There is a lot of stuff going on with food chemistry and food science, it takes four years, just pouring something on something was just…don’t get me wrong. He did that with his pure intentions, just wanted to check.”
Sharing what further action was taken against the content creator, Stefan added, “We did speak to the gentleman and tried to get a sense of how things are done in the culinary world and how food science works. He understood and took off the post. We, as a team, as the management, believe that people are smart enough to understand what was going on.”
On being asked if these allegations affected the restaurant’s business, the head chef shared, “It increased our business and I got more than 20-30 followers on Instagram, so that was a blessing in disguise, I would say.”
For the unversed, In April, Sarthak Sachdeva had conducted an iodine test on paneer he ordered from Virat Kohli, Shilpa Shetty, and Bobby Deol’s restaurants besides Torii. While he had no comments to make on those, he claimed the paneer used at Torii was fake based on the test.
Following this, the restaurant issued a statement saying, “We are utterly surprised at the news of ‘fake paneer’ being served at Torii. The iodine test reflects the presence of starch, not the authenticity of the paneer. For all dishes that contain soy-based ingredients (a staple in Asian food), this reaction is expected. From sourcing our produce to the food being served on the plate to our patrons, there are quality checks at every step of the way. Our commitment to excellence in the food we serve remains unwavered.”
Gauri Khan's Torii, which opened its doors on Valentine’s Day last year, saw a star-studded launch event attended by celebrities such as Sussanne Khan, Maheep Kapoor, Bhavana Pandey, Neelam Kothari, and Seema Sajdeh. Despite the controversy, it seems that Torii's popularity has only continued to grow.
