In an interesting session at The Orient Express, Taj Palace, master perfumer Nicolas De Barry paired fragrances with food. He told Divya Kaushik what made Coco Chanel use vanilla extract to get the desired sensuous scent and why citrus flavours are used as a base of most perfumes
Overpowering, captivating and enchanting. These words resonated from the luxe corners of The Orient Express and the eyeballs chased the shimmering, shiny edges of the glass bottles as Nicolas De Barry moved with them in his hands. What made this balmy afternoon pleasant for the gathering at this restaurant at Taj Palace hotel, was that everything around was soaked in some fragrance. Pairing of food with fragrance is something unheard of and Barry was here to talk about this unique initiative. The perfumer was here with his collection of special oils and fragrances that went along with the menu, crafted by the chef for the afternoon. “When we prepared the menu we tried to mix the Oriental influence of the 19th century, the time when European aristocrats used to travel in the Orient Express. Coco Chanel was fascinated by the Orient. For some part of her life she lived in Greece and therefore you will find the use of Oriental products in her perfumes. like vanilla. She used vanilla extracts as it lent a sensual fragrance to her perfumes,” said Barry.
The good thing, he said, was that Indians are used to fragrances in their food. “Most of your spices have strong aromas that add distinct fragrance to the food. Flowers like rose are also used in the cooking. While we were designing the menu, our idea was to match the flavours used in the food with various flower extracts and other fragrances. For example, amuse bouche here is Madagascan vanilla scented white onion soup with olive and mushroom toast. Here the flavour vanilla matches the vanilla fragrance. Then there is sandalwood smoked balik salmon with compressed watermelon, avocado and jasmine and artichoke barigoule with grilled zucchini, tomato and thyme essence. In the former it is the sandalwood flavour and in the latter it is thyme. So the aim is to introduce you to different fragrances that can easily be a part of food. Most of these fragrances are flower extracts,” said Barry, who ranks perfumery as work of an art.
Barry is famous back home for his masterclass that allows men and women to explore the magical and evocative perfume world, discovering essential oils of first quality, then trying mixtures, select four or more essential oils that will be bases of unique and personal perfume. “The perfume is a unique signature of your personality. I have many clients from the Middle East and other regions who want special perfumes. I try a mix of fragrances, read a little about their personalities, give them options of base smell, which generally is of a fruit or flower extract, and then we go on to add essential oils or even spices to get the right kind of fragrance,” shared Barry.