Interview: Chef Amit Ghorpade: The Memory Keeper at Aragma

At Aragma, food doesn’t arrive at the table, it unfolds like a memory you didn’t know you still carried. Chef Amit Ghorpade, the force behind the kitchen, has built a culinary language rooted in soil, emotion, and intention.

“Produce-first, emotionally intuitive” isn’t just philosophy for him it is a practice.

“When I innovate, I don’t abandon where I come from,” he says. “I pick a memory, a traditional dish, or an ingredient, break it down, and rebuild it with a contemporary lens, but never at the cost of its charm or integrity.”

The grounding is personal. Amit grew up in a farming household, surrounded by the cycle of sowing, tending and harvesting. “I’ve lived the journey of fruits, vegetables, and grains from soil to hand. It’s in my DNA. When I cook, I’m carrying the weight of that effort and the respect that comes with it. I use everything. Nothing is taken for granted.” That instinct to honour the whole ingredient is stitched deeply into Aragma’s menus. Many of the dishes are born from flashes of childhood or travel stories. A colour triggers a memory. A forgotten grain sparks a revelation. “We use ingredients we’ve grown up eating and somehow left behind. That’s where nostalgia hits. Then we add surprise maybe something is tucked under another element, maybe the combination feels familiar but looks nothing like what you expect.”

If his menus were a mood board, he doesn’t hesitate: “Experimental, vibrant, colourful, intentional, innovative, traditional yet evolving. Full of textures like hot, cold, warm, gummy, meaty, charred, crunchy, herbaceous.” It’s not a list, it’s a palette.

Even sustainability at Aragma is executed with grace, not guilt. With only prior reservations and no walk-ins. There’s precision in planning. “It lets us avoid freezing or hoarding. Trimmings from meats, vegetables, and fruits become our daily staff meals. Nothing dies in the fridge.” Luxury here isn’t excess it is clarity. Then there’s emotional intelligence, the ingredient most chefs don’t name but most diners taste. “Your state of mind shows up on the plate. If you’re angry or anxious, the food loses its soul. Technique can’t hide that.”

When asked what memory he hopes the world carries from Aragma, his answer lands softly, without theatrics. He speaks of harvest days at his family farm, the look on his father’s face when a crop finally bloomed into perfection after months of labour. “That joy, that pride & that’s the memory I want to leave behind through Aragma.”