Archive · 3 Oct 2026
Chef Ekaterina Alehina Brings Contemporary Russian Cuisine to Delhi
Chef Ekaterina Alehina cooks at a restaurant called Biologie.
She says the kitchen uses local foods that are in season.
Instead of following the same recipe all the time, she lets ingredients guide each dish.
She also uses old Russian ways of preserving food, but gives them a modern touch.
During a visit to Delhi, she is working with Chef Shantanu Mehrotra.
Their menu includes borscht, a fish dish with pearl barley, and spiced gingerbread.
Alehina says some ingredients and food traditions feel familiar in both Russia and India.
She hopes guests enjoy the meal and learn about the food, nature and ideas behind it.
Chef Ekaterina Alehina says Biologie builds dishes around local, seasonal ingredients and their flavours.
She describes sustainability as a system involving shared values, education and connections with guests.
Alehina draws on Russian fermentation and preservation traditions, reinterpreting them with contemporary techniques.
For a Delhi collaboration with Chef Shantanu Mehrotra, the menu features borscht, a kasha-inspired fish course and pryanik gingerbread.
She hopes diners leave with a stronger connection to Russian cuisine, nature and the ideas behind a dish.
- Who
- Chef Ekaterina Alehina, in conversation about her work at Biologie and her Delhi collaboration with Chef Shantanu Mehrotra.
- What
- An interview about seasonal cooking, sustainability, Russian food traditions and a collaborative menu.
- Where
- Biologie and Delhi.
- Why
- Alehina discusses how she expresses Russian culinary traditions through seasonal ingredients and contemporary techniques, and how food can connect guests with nature and ideas.
- Chef
- Ekaterina Alehina
- Restaurant
- Biologie
- Collaboration
- Chef Shantanu Mehrotra in Delhi
- Menu dishes mentioned
- Borscht, a modern kasha-inspired fish course with pearl barley and seaweed, and pryanik (gingerbread)
- Cooking approach
- Local and seasonal produce, with dishes shaped around ingredients and their flavours
- Sustainability approach
- A broader system and community built around shared values, education and guest connections
- Recognition
- Biologie has been recognised with a Michelin Green Star, according to the interview