Long before chef Enayatullah Safi walked the lanes of Delhi or breathed in Kochi’s salt air, he had mapped India in his heart. Not through borders, but through Bollywood romances and the scent of tadka rising from a pot of dal. Also read | Want to cook up a feast at home? Chef Enayatullah Safi shares recipe to prepare the perfect raan
Today, chef Enayatullah is the force behind Dhaba Indian Kitchen, one of Scandinavia’s most celebrated Indian restaurant groups. With seven locations, two bestselling cookbooks, regular TV appearances, and a European Street Food Award, he’s become one of the Europe’s most compelling champions of Indian cuisine.
His path to becoming a culinary ambassador for a country he wasn’t born in is a story of exile, identity, and the power of food.
From wartime exile to the kitchen
Born in Afghanistan, chef Enayatullah’s childhood ended at 13 when war forced him to flee alone. After a perilous journey, he found asylum in Denmark. In those early, isolating years, the kitchen became a refuge and a school. “Cooking was therapy,” he tells HT Lifestyle in an interview.
“I started as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant, then prep in Mexican and Italian kitchens. When I found Indian cuisine, it became my anchor,” he adds. That anchor was set years earlier by culture. For chef Enayatullah, India was an adopted homeland of the mind — discovered through dal and Hindi cinema.
“The first Indian dish I tasted was dal. The flavours, aroma, spices, the tadka — it was nothing like the simple dal we made in Afghanistan. It opened a new world,” he says. “The movie was DDLJ (Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge). Since then, India has never been just a country to me. It’s been an emotion. Through Bollywood, I found a culture of colour, family, music, and love,” the chef adds.
Translating the dhaba for the Nordic palate
India’s rugged roadside dhabas — known for robust, no-nonsense comfort food — sit worlds apart from Denmark’s minimalist design. Chef Enayatullah’s challenge was translating that raw energy without losing its soul. “Our mission is to give Scandinavia a modern dhaba,” he explains, adding, “Same soul and vision, but we had to understand our guests. When we started, many only knew salt and pepper. We introduced them to spice, aroma, and the complexity of Indian flavour.”
He bridges past and present through culinary instinct: “My Afghan heritage shapes how I cook meat. But my travels across India taught me its regional diversity. I’m often more confident with Indian vegetarian food than meat. Afghanistan and India have always shared deep cultural and culinary ties.” Also read | Chef Enayatullah Safi shares his signature kaddu makhani recipe: ‘A vegetarian interpretation of butter chicken’
Shattering stereotypes with gobi aloo
For decades, Western ideas of Indian food were flattened by generic curry powders and sweetened, cream-heavy dishes. Chef Enayatullah works to dismantle that. When Dhaba Indian Kitchen won the European Street Food Award, it wasn’t with fusion. It was with authenticity.
“We won with gobi aloo (aloo gobhi) and lamb kadhai,” he says. “Simple, deeply authentic dishes. We change our flagship menu twice a year to showcase regional India. Our current menu draws from Jaipur, Lucknow, Delhi, and Kochi. The goal is to show Scandinavians India’s true regional diversity, the chef adds.
His two bestselling cookbooks in Denmark teach home cooks to use spices with intuition, not fear. “The hardest part is explaining spice combinations,” he says. “In my latest book, I break down each spice’s role — something every Indian mother knows instinctively. Spices are the soul of Indian cuisine,” he adds.
Gastro-diplomacy: cooking for prime ministers
Chef Enayatullah’s gift for weaving cultures together reached its peak when he cooked alongside the prime minister of Denmark at the Indian Embassy in Delhi. The menu was a cross-cultural dialogue on a plate: vegetarian hot dogs with Indian spices, naan open-faced sandwiches nodding to smørrebrød, butter chicken tartlets, and dal elevated with Nordic kale.
He says, “Food speaks a universal language. It creates conversation, builds understanding, and reminds us how much we share.” By pairing Scandinavian design with Indian depth, the meal showed how cuisine can cross borders and build kinship.
The new frontier of soft power
As Indian cuisine sees a global renaissance, chef Enayatullah sees food as diplomacy. “Every 100 kilometres, Indian food changes with climate, geography, history,” he says. “Few countries have that diversity. Talented Indian chefs worldwide are now presenting authentic regional food. India is finally getting recognition, and food can be one of its strongest forms of soft power,” he adds.
Globalising cuisine, he insists, doesn’t mean diluting it: “The only thing I adapt is chilli level. People think Indian food is all heat. It’s not. It’s layers of flavour, aroma, balance, and technique. Keep those intact, and the soul stays authentic — even with local ingredients.”
Ahead: Abu Dhabi and the dream of India
With his Scandinavian base secure, chef Enayatullah looks outward. His next venture opens at Abu Dhabi Airport on September 24. Still, the full-circle moment remains ahead. “I’d love to open in India one day,” he says, adding, “A place that blends my Afghan heritage, my love for Indian cuisine, and the techniques and design I’ve learned in Denmark. Whether it happens tomorrow or later, I hope it becomes real.”
For the boy who fell in love with India through a screen, the journey that began in war found light in the tandoor. By turning emotion into craft, he’s proven that home isn’t always where you’re born. Sometimes, it’s where the flavours take you.
