Meherwan Wrote a Cookbook & Now He Wants to Take You to India!

If you've eaten at Chai Pani or Botiwalla, you already know. The chaat that makes you close your eyes, the kebabs that ruin all other kebabs.

But even if you haven't made it to one of his restaurants yet, there's a good chance Meherwan Irani's food has already found you...through a friend who won't stop talking about it, a Bon Appétit video you fell down a rabbit hole watching, or just the general hum of people saying you have to go.

Now he's written all of it down. Every family recipe, every technique, every "this is how we actually do it" that his restaurant teams have kept close for years. And because Meherwan doesn't do anything small, the book launch comes with a chance to win a trip to India with the man himself.

Here's everything you need to know!

There are cookbooks, and then there's what Meherwan Irani just pulled off.

The No. 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World is a collection of over 100 recipes straight from the heart of Chai Pani, Botiwalla, and the streets of India, where Meherwan grew up eating. The book drops in September, and if you've ever sat down to a bowl of bhel puri at Chai Pani and thought I need to know how to make this, your moment has arrived.

But here's the part that stopped us in our tracks: to celebrate the book launch, Meherwan is doing something he's never done for anyone outside his own team...he's inviting you to India with him.

That's right. Pre-order the cookbook, and enter to win a spot on a curated culinary trip to Mumbai. With Meherwan. In person.

For context on what that actually means: Meherwan has been leading annual trips to India with his restaurant teams for over 16 years.

It's not a tour. It's not a food crawl. It's eating at the street grills, stalls, and vendors he grew up loving, the places that became Chai Pani, the flavours that became this book.

Teddy Bourgeois, VP of Training & People Operations at Chai Pani Restaurant Group, went on one of those trips. Here's how he described it:

"Calling the trip life-changing feels both cliché and an understatement. A different type of glue holds that country together.

The combination of tenacity, optimism, beauty — I have never experienced elsewhere in that combination or that magnitude. I was enchanted, and the experience continues to color how I see the world.

And Meherwan in India is a kid in a candy store. His wonderment and affection for his home country are infectious. You just have to keep up."

If you want a taste of what that looks like before you book, Bon Appétit has been following Meherwan through the streets of Mumbai and Delhi for their Street Eats series. Watch him track down Mumbai's most famous biryani, eat vada pav the way it's meant to be eaten, and get deep into Delhi's legendary seekh kebab scene.

Then imagine being there with him.

Four winners will get exactly that. Four more will win a live virtual cooking class with Meherwan. The sweepstakes runs through June 8th, so don't sit on this one.

Pre-order The No. 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World and enter the sweepstakes here →

Back to blog

Your cart is empty

Your cart

Estimated total