Butter chicken with garlic naan has been my favourite food combination since I was in school. While now I am open to trying local cuisines, back when I would travel with family I would tire of experimentation and want butter chicken. However, not many restaurants in Mumbai got the recipe right. At such a time, in 2016, Chef Saransh Goila introduced a revolutionary rendition of this dish through his cloud kitchen Goila Butter Chicken (GBC). Eight years after its launch, the iconic brand that’s been serving this beloved dish, among other delicious Indian food to patrons in the city has hit its 100-store mark across 40 cities. There’s no stopping the chefpreneur as he’s got plans.
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The Culinary Spark
Born in New Delhi, Goila’s interest in food began at the age of 12, inspired by his grandfather, a hobby cook who prepared meals every Sunday. “Him, me and my grandmother would sit and watch Chef Sanjeev Kapoor’s cooking show Khana Khazana. I would run back from my school bus so as to not miss even the beginning. I used to maintain a book of all his recipes back in the day. So that’s how my cooking journey started,” Goila shares.
He initially wanted to get into acting but no one in his family supported the idea he admits. It was his grandfather who suggested he become a chef. After graduating in culinary arts, he worked with the Leela Group of Hotels in Bengaluru, where his talent for food presentation and communication was repeatedly noted. This feedback sparked the idea of pursuing a career as a TV chef. In 2010, Saransh quit his job and moved to Mumbai to chase his dream. Merging his two passions of cooking and acting, his big break came with the show Food Food Maha Challenge hosted by his idol Sanjeev Kapoor and actor, Madhuri Dixit Nene. Goila was one of the youngest contestants and eventually won the contest in 2011. This victory opened the doors to a world of teaching recipes, an exploration of Indian cuisine and eventually, GBC.
A People-Pleasing Venture
You might think GBC launched because of Goila’s love for the Indian dish. Contrary to popular belief, the love for the dish had nothing to do with GBC. “Launching a butter chicken venture was never on the cards for me,” he reveals when I caught up with the chef on call. “I used to do a lot of pop-ups in Mumbai with dishes that inspired my journey as a chef, from Northeast to Sindhi delicacies. However, people would keep coming back for my butter chicken.” Goila’s butter chicken recipe, initially created for his vegetarian family as a butter paneer dish, stood out at his Mumbai pop-ups. Its unique smoky flavour and reduced creaminess distinguished it from the standard restaurant fare, making it a hit among his friends and family.
“It had become so popular on Twitter that #GoilaButterChicken was trending. This hashtag was made by two of my friends. After that, a lot of people started asking where they could get this butter chicken. The tribe became so big that I was not able to keep up. It felt like I was doing a disservice by not launching this. That’s when I realised I was sitting on a recipe that might be special. Though butter chicken might not be my favourite, it’s something that people honestly want in this city.”
By 2016, the demand for this butter chicken had grown so much that Goila and his college roommate, Vivek Sahani, decided to launch Goila Butter Chicken. They opened a small takeaway-only outlet in Mumbai, which gained immense popularity. And that was the beginning of their butter chicken venture.
The Authenticity Debate
Reducing butter chicken to merely a dish can offend many; butter chicken is an emotion, I would know. There are always debates about which place makes the best one. Goila acknowledges the ongoing debates. He believes that authenticity in food is subjective and that every version of a dish can be authentic in its own right. “It’s unfair when anyone claims ‘this is the only recipe,’ or ‘this is the only way you can make a certain dish,’ because the same dish could be made in a hundred ways in different parts of the country,” he says while admitting that the authenticity debate won’t take us anywhere. “We all have our favourite butter chicken. One of my favourites is served at Invitation restaurant in Delhi’s Ashok Vihar, which is the first butter chicken I truly fell in love with. It’s very close to Goila Butter Chicken in flavour–super smoky, not heavy on cream, robust, and slightly more masaledar,” he adds.
“Having said that, people who make a certain dish popular for instance, Moti Mahal’s legendary Butter Chicken deserve their due recognition and respect. So I won’t take away the hard work that brands like these have put into making the recipe more popular,” he shares. Goila also puts out his butter chicken recipe online, believing that sharing food knowledge only spreads the love for food further.
Building His Delishaaas Army
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Today, Goila has gone beyond being just the founder of a revolutionary butter chicken brand. The chefpreneur and content creator is known for his fusion recipes that he shares on his Instagram account, which has given rise to his #Delishaaas army. It’s not surprising if one goes down a rabbit hole scrolling through his videos as they are so informative and entertaining. How does being in front of the camera come so naturally to him? “I did a lot of theatre in school and my theatre teacher pushed me to pursue acting seriously,” he says. “After quitting my job at The Leela, I went to Barry John’s Acting Studio and was fortunate to train under Barry himself. I think that changed my outlook as an artist towards food. It helped me understand how cameras and production work, and the nuances behind shooting recipe videos.”
Goila finds joy in teaching recipes and interacting with his followers. For him, making food content is a creative outlet free from the constraints of running a restaurant. “I like to experiment a lot on my profile because I’m having fun. I don’t care about views, likes or shares.”
What’s Next?
On its eighth anniversary this year, GBC has also announced a strategic acquisition by Biryani By Kilo (BBK) to scale GBC’s presence further across India and beyond. Goila plans to expand it to 200 stores by 2027. He is also working on a food show that presents Indian cuisine in a fun format for OTT platforms. Though this is on his radar on a business front, what Goila wishes to do is promote Sindhi cuisine as he grows older. He still enjoys home-cooked food. “Comfort food for me is my mother’s Sindhi kadhi, matar wale chawal, and aloo tuk. As you start to age, you start to value what you grew up with and I think that’s what’s happening to me as well,” he shares. As for me, my love for butter chicken only grows stronger, so much so that I’m placing an order for it as I complete this story, a well-deserved meal, I reckon.
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