Media365
Mumbai-based restaurant Torii, co-owned by Gauri Khan, was slammed by a YouTube food blogger for serving ‘fake’ paneer. Now, the restaurant has addressed the allegations in the comment section, clarifying the stance of the blogger. The restaurant said they stand by the purity of their paneer and detailed why the paneer turned dark upon contact with iodine.
Taking to his Instagram handle, Sarthak shared a video that shows him ordering a paneer dish and then checking the quality of their paneer using iodine. In the video, he removes the fried coating from paneer, rinses it thoroughly in water and then adds a few drops of iodine. Soon after the paneer turned black, promting him to say, “Shah Rukh Khan ke restaurant mein paneer nakli tha. Ye dekh ke mere toh hosh udd gaye the!”
The video shows the blogger visiting other celeb-owned restaurants like Virat Kohli’s One8 Commune, Shilpa Shetty’s Bastian and Bobby Deol’s Someplace Else, and in all these places, the colour of the paneer remained unchanged.
Soon after the video went viral, Torii’s official Instagram page took to the comment section and issued a clarification. “The iodine test reflects the presence of starch, not the authenticity of the paneer. As the dish contains soy-based ingredients, this reaction is expected. We stand by the purity of our paneer and the integrity of our ingredients at Torii,” read the comment.
On noticing Torii’s statement, Sarthak commented, “@toriimumbai so am I banned now?😵💫 btw your food is amazing.”
Gauri Khan, who co-owns the pan-Asian restaurant in Pali Hill, Bandra, is yet to issue a statement.
