Chef Jason McKinney’s Modern American Supper at the Leela

For two evenings, 20th and 21st February from 7 pm to 11 pm, Raen The Chef ’s Studio at The Leela Hyderabad hosts the Hyderabad leg of Chef Jason McKinney’s Elizabeth India Tour. The seven-course tasting menu introduces diners to his interpretation of modern American cuisine, shaped by fine dining discipline and family nostalgia, with subtle Indian accents woven in.

India was not part of a long, strategic rollout. It happened quickly. “It’s pretty crazy. We had nothing organized like 45 days ago. And now we basically got the whole year booked out,” Jason says. He met Prasad, who runs The Hedonist, by chance while working in Bangkok. “He told me about this program where he brings chefs around India. I was like, wow, I would love to do that.” Within weeks, dates were locked across Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune, making India the first leg of his 2026 World Supper Club tour.

For Jason, starting in India was intentional. “The hardest thing for me to do would be to go to a country I know nobody and try to organize a dinner,” he says. The collaboration made that leap easier. “Having someone that has done this before, like The Hedonist, has been a game changer.” The association with The Leela also carried weight. “When they heard I was doing something at the Leela, immediately, yes, absolutely.”

Diners curious about what modern American cuisine means beyond fast food will find Jason’s answer rooted in memory and refinement. His time at The French Laundry remains central to his philosophy. “When you grow up in America, the food you eat is the food your mom would cook. That’s the benchmark,” he explains. “What I want to do is take stuff that I grew up eating and turn it into fine dining dishes.” The aim is to offer both discovery and familiarity. “If you have never had it before, it’s an introduction. And if it has familiar flavours, it brings back that nostalgia.”

That approach defines the seven-course menu at The Leela.

   Chef Jason McKinney

The meal opens with Cheese It, inspired by his favourite childhood cracker, reworked into a refined bite of cheddar and parmesan Mornay. The truffle cappuccino follows, a dish born out of necessity when his early truffle business struggled. “The first order we ever made was four kilos of truffles. We sold none of them,” he recalls. Hosting dinners led to the creation of the truffle cappuccino and a white truffle mascarpone ice cream, both of which became signatures.

And for my food companion, chicken and waffles arrives as a playful one-biter featuring smoked chicken liver mousse, maple brown butter and pickled onion relish. It nods to comfort food while embracing fine dining structure. There is escabeche, influenced by his years handling seafood at The French Laundry. “There’s no water in the brine. It’s all vinegar, all sugar,” he says of the saffron and fennel preparation that gives the fish its bright hue and sharp finish.

A deeply personal course reimagines his mother’s chicken noodle soup. The broth is cooked for two days, finished with homemade miso and poured over tortellini filled with carrot, spring onion and roast chicken. Vegetarians receive a mushroom dashi version built with the same patience and care.

California appears in the form of tacos. “California cuisine is almost as important as Mediterranean cuisine,” Jason says, describing it as a mix of cultures and influences. His Hyderabad version features tempura sole with a chilli sesame mole, while vegetarians are served whole roasted garden cauliflower or eggplant variations layered with spice and texture.

For the main course, grilled peppercorn lamb is paired with pommes Anna, pomme purée and asparagus, reflecting his classical grounding. Dessert closes with a hazelnut and chocolate Basque cheesecake inspired by his love for peanut butter chocolate candy, followed by Thai tea baked Alaska, his mother’s favourite. “My mom has never travelled outside of America. So there’s an ironic part of doing this outside of America,” he says. Naming the tour and his upcoming restaurant Elizabeth is his tribute to her and to the recipes she passed down.

His years at The French Laundry continue to guide his restraint in the kitchen. He recalls a moment when carrots arrived slightly smaller than usual and cooks began trimming them. Chef Keller told him, “We put this farm here, the gardeners put the carrots in the ground. They are already the nicest carrots you can find.” The lesson was simple: respect the ingredient.

At The Leela pop-up, that philosophy remains intact, even as he adapts gently to local tastes. “We have tried to go a little spicier on some things,” he says, crediting his Hyderabad team for helping fine-tune the seasoning.

This two-night showcase is more than a dinner. It is a preview of Elizabeth, a testing ground for recipes that blend heirloom family dishes with global technique. “This first dinner will allow us to refine the recipes and keep getting better and better,” Jason says. “I hope from here to when the restaurant opens, you guys will come and tell me how it has improved.”

In Hyderabad, Elizabeth begins far from home, but firmly rooted in it.