Beyond BuHi: 3 restaurants where globetrotting owners bring international flair

One of the best things immigrants bring to our city is a variety of different perspectives. We are all mosaics of our personal experiences, and immigrants carry pieces from other parts of the world — knowledge of ingredients from one chapter of their lives, perfection of techniques from another — creating a wholly unique composite that then (luckily for us) settles down in Atlanta.

This month, we feature three restaurateurs who turned their connection to their heritage into something new and uniquely Atlantan. A culinary homecoming for a chef whose signature is a chameleon-like ability to take on global styles. A couple of citizens of the world who bring the romance of their shared lives into every detail of their establishment. And finally, a newly opened restaurant where the modern menu is rooted in the chef’s homeland but pays loving homage to his current one.

Honey Bubble & Mama Lin’s Chicken Delight

For the past decade, Chef Mei Lin’s flagship restaurant, The Consulate, has been bringing flavors from all across the world to the Atlanta food scene with literal spins of her own. Every 90 days, a lucky customer gives the restaurant’s globe a whirl, and where their finger lands dictates where Lin focuses her culinary curiosity, learning all she can to put dishes from that heritage on her revolving menu until the next turn of the globe.

But with Honey Bubble & Mama Lin’s Chicken Delight, Lin’s new casual restaurant, she and partner Douglas Hines are keeping things close to home and close to heart.

The “Mama Lin” in the restaurant’s name is her mother, who she credits for her passion for cooking and the fried chicken recipe at the center of the recently opened concept. As a professional chef, she first made her family fried chicken recipe for a pre-shift family meal the team just couldn’t forget.

“I didn’t think that much of it, but my staff were so blown away by the flavors and uniqueness of it that they agreed I had to share it with Atlanta one day,” she said.

Four years later, it’s made its public debut, introducing flavors influenced by her native city, Fuzhou, which she left for New York when she was 15.

Located in China’s Fujian province, “Fuzhou has a rich culinary culture, and many of our recipes are inspired by flavors I grew up with,” Lin said. “We make our own sauces, marinades, teas, desserts and seasonings in house using ingredients commonly found in Chinese cooking.”

Fresh spices, five-spice and braised soy sauces, Chinese black vinegar, Shaoxing wine, rock sugar, roasted sesame seeds and a litany of other home cooking ingredients familiar to many Chinese families make up the marinade and dry rub for the Halal-certified chicken that goes on Mama Lin’s oversized sandos.

Other menu items that feel personal to her include the wood ear mushroom salad in Chinese black vinegar dressing, a cucumber salad with Japanese yuzu and a slaw with Asian pears and jicama – all “cooling” sides that are meant to balance with the “yeet hay” (internal heat) of fried dishes. Wash it all down with bubble tea made from fresh tea leaves and dark brown sugar, and take home house-made taro brownies and pistachio-topped Turkish coffee cheesecake.

935 Memorial Drive SE, Atlanta. 404-835-2009, instagram.com/mamalinschickendelight

Fia Restaurant

There’s well-traveled and well-cultured - and then there are Burges and Freny Jokhi, global citizens of proud Indian descent who have lived all over the world – three countries for him and four for her. Now settled in Atlanta, they not only have a restaurant that represents their life together, but a whole hotel.

As co-owners of the Burgess Hotel in Buckhead, Burges Jokhi works as executive chef while Freny Jokhi serves as the property’s Director of Sales. Their boutique hotel is a testament to the many places they’ve called home, like Hong Kong, where the both of them grew up. The building is richly appointed with the art and furnishings collected throughout their travels, and several bookable suites double as themed galleries dedicated to origins like Casablanca, Fiji and China.

However, after 20 years of hotel ownership, the Jokhis decided they were hungry for more — after renovating the former Wyndham, they dove back into food and drink. First, they created a tribute to Freny’s father, Keki Bunshah, who led the first Indian expedition to Mt. Everest, in the form of craft cocktail bar Mr. B. At the same time, classically trained chef Burges also decided he was ready to get back in the kitchen and opened Fia.

There, Mediterranean flavors lead the way, but glimpses of Asia and India peek through in wood-grilled dishes like chicken with saffron orange basmati rice, a tomahawk pork chop with a honey-soy glaze and meatballs with coconut-mint chutney.

“Among the dishes we serve, the meatballs are especially meaningful to me because they connect me back to my Indian roots. They were inspired by my grandmother and uncle, who first introduced me to the joy of cooking. The recipe draws on traditional flavors and carries the essence of the food I grew up with,” he said.

Another dish that reflects his Indian heritage is the short rib, which is marinated in a blend of spices before being braised for two days and served with Indian-ish lentils. That and the giant prawns, which brings back fond memories for him of Portugal, in coconut curry inspired by his mother are particular favorites of his. This melding fits his philosophy, “that great food should honor where you’ve come from while embracing new experiences.”

3600 Piedmont Road NE, Atlanta. 404-949-1450, fiaatlanta.com

Pataaka

Anish Nair flips the script at Pataaka, his new restaurant in Midtown’s Spring Quarter, where Indian food is filtered through an international lens. Conversely to Fia, which adds flashes of Indian flavor to a broadly Mediterranean menu, Nair centers the cuisine of his heritage, letting the flavors and techniques of his French and New American training play supporting roles instead.

“A lot of my inspiration comes from finding connections between South Indian cuisine and dishes from the American South; I like to interpret my favorite parts of Indian cuisine through an American lens,” he said.

He points out dishes like sea bass with coconut and tamarind, char-grilled rack of lamb with rogan nihari demi-glace, oysters Rockefeller enhanced with paneer cheese and pimento dahi kabob yogurt croquettes with passionfruit reduction. For indulgence, few other examples are as illustrative as goat cheese truffle naan from the creative bread selection, baked Brie with cherry and coconut naan bites and cardamom crème brulee for dessert.

These fusions are all the product of Nair’s many years in the U.S., which began in 2002. He was a 22-year-old pastry chef trained at the Institute of Hotel Management in Chennai, India, at the time and “wanted to come to America and meet Michael Jackson!” he laughed.

Instead of meeting the King of Pop, he found himself cooking his way through South Carolina. He came to Atlanta in 2013 and served as Savi Provisions’ corporate chef before moving on to other endeavors. Now, he’s finally developed the “fine dining restaurant serving a menu that showcases the breadth of Indian cuisine” he’d been dreaming of.

That philosophy extends to drinks, too, where Pataaka’s beverage director, Prrateek Chaundhary, brings his personal journey from India to America to the bar. Each drink represents a city or state in India that shaped him, from childhood through college and beyond, providing an even deeper perspective of the country’s diverse palate.

1020 Spring St. NW, Atlanta. 470-559-6258, pataakaatl.com