Gauri Khan’s restaurant grew after ‘fake paneer’ claim, reveals Torii’s head chef

In April this year, Gauri Khan’s Mumbai-based restaurant Torii found itself at the centre of a controversy after a content creator alleged that the eatery served dark, iodine-stained paneer in one of its dishes. While the video sparked widespread debate, the restaurant had quickly issued a clarification denying the claims.

Now, several months later, Torii’s head chef Stefan Gadit has spoken out about the incident. Speaking to Screen, the chef stated that the situation surprisingly worked in their favour. “It makes an impact when we point fingers at something baseless,” he said. “The quality, the ingredients—everything we provide is top-notch; we had nothing to worry about.”

Chef Gadit explained that their clarification was issued not under pressure, but to ensure transparency. “We issued the statement so that people could know what is happening and how things are done,” he added. He also addressed the nature of the viral video, saying, “There’s a lot involved in food chemistry and science—it takes years. Just pouring something on something was just… don’t get me wrong. He did that with pure intentions, just wanted to check.”

Interestingly, instead of hurting business, the controversy gave it a push. “It increased our business and I got more than 20–30 followers on Instagram, so that was a blessing in disguise,” Gadit admitted. The video in question was created by YouTuber Sarthak Sachdeva, who later removed it. Torii had responded to the clip, stating, “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.” Launched on Valentine’s Day last year, Torii had a star-studded opening attended by Sussanne Khan, Maheep Kapoor, Bhavana Pandey, Neelam Kothari, and Seema Sajdeh.