Orri’s food secret: What he really eats when no one’s watching

Ori is the coolest kid on the internet – fashion, travel and food, he’s got it all covered. If you’ve ever scrolled through her Instagram, you know it’s a wild ride of style, jet-setting, and literally drool-worthy food pictures. Over the years, she’s gained a massive following, and it’s easy to see why – she’s totally unapologetic and a little quirky, especially when it comes to food. We caught up with Ori at the launch event for his new Ori X Flying Machine collection and chatted about all things delicious, from his comfort snacks to some pretty wild food adventures. Get ready to meet Ori, a foodie who’s not afraid to mix it up!

Q: Your Instagram is a mix of fashion, travel, and amazing food. What’s the dish you always want to eat, no matter where you are in the world?

Answer: One dish I always crave for, no matter what…I actually crave a lot of dishes. See, the thing is, I never really crave food. But if I feel like eating, I feel like having Blue Lay’s with yogurt. But I may also crave rajma rice. But I don’t mean it to be concerning. Sometimes I just love good kidney bean rice, but I also love pink pasta and shin ramyun noodles with mushrooms and baby corn.

Q: We’ve spotted you at some of the hottest restaurants around. What is your favorite order when you are eating out in Mumbai?

Answer: When I am dining out in Mumbai, my first favorite restaurant is Bastian. At Bastion, I love the Mongolian noodles and crab thermidon. They also have this fun bread that’s like a swirl and it tastes like marshmallow but it’s a bread. Then I have Kung Pao Tofu and then truffle fries. It’s all with Diet Coke and you have to tell them not to put chili in it because my stomach is really sensitive. So if they add even a drop of chilli I will explode. I grew up with a sensitive stomach. In boarding school I had to eat curd rice every day.

Q: If you could only eat one dish for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

Answer: Eggs. I will eat eggs. If I’m stranded on an island and I can only choose one dish, I know eggs aren’t a dish, but it would be eggs. Because I can make an egg, you can make an egg. You can make many types of eggs. I can eat an omelette, you can eat it fried, you can even cook it. Did you know I can poach an egg? In college, I was known for my viral poached eggs and no one believed me, but I made them. And I’m also known for my viral fluffy omelette.

Q: What’s the most unique food experience you’ve ever had while traveling? And did it live up to the hype?

Answer: I ate chicken leg. Chicken leg. Oh, and it was delicious. It looked disgusting, everyone watched me eat the chicken leg, but it was divine.

^{Photo: Instagram/Auri}

Q: Is there a particular dish or ingredient that immediately reminds you of home?

Answer: Chaat Masala. And if you have too much chaat masala, it will smell like home in 30 minutes.

Q: So we’re obsessed with breakfast. Are you a coffee and toast person? Or do you prefer something more elaborate to start your day?

Answer: I like my coffee black. And I like it every morning and I like it before the gym. No milk, no sugar, the blacker the coffee, the better. In the morning I wake up, go to take bath and by the time I take bath, my breakfast is ready. Every day it’s half a fry and a piece of toast and if I’m feeling experimental, a sausage.
Also read: “Pani Puri”: Foodies react to Ori eating Pani Puri for the first time

Q: We know you travel a lot. But is there any food spot or street food vendor in India that you think everyone should try?

Answer: I used to go to this stall outside my school in Kodaikanal and I used to go there like a naughty little boy and eat chilli chicken from the stall and then get an upset stomach because it was spicy, but I loved it. Earlier this year, I fulfilled my childhood dream of visiting Kodaikanal by train. So I took a train to Kodaikanal, and everyone was saying that Ori couldn’t take the train, he just took pictures but I took the train.

But the thing is that I went back to Kodaikanal and the car left. He was gone. Can you imagine? I wanted to cry. I stood there looking at this dark spot in the corner where my car was. And we didn’t even know the name. We used to call it the car.

But I’m dying to eat at Vada Pav Girl’s Vada Pav station. And Dolly Chaiwala and I have recently become friends.

Q: What’s your favorite delicious snack to snack on when no one is looking?

Answer: When no one is looking I will go on Swiggy and I will go on Instamart and I will order every flavor of Kurkure and Lays and then I will start chewing it and then I will eat it and dip it in curd) and I Eat it again, like it’s my dip. And in the morning my staff will get all the wrappers and papers and stuff.
Also read:“Matka Shots”: Orri and Siddhant Chaturvedi take drink shots from kulhads

Q: Food and friends go together. So if you were hosting the perfect dinner party, who are the three people you would want at your table and what would you serve?

No, no, no, no, there are so many people at my dinner parties, I can’t get it down to three. There are about 30 or 300 people in my party, there is no one in between. As far as what I serve, you know what, I love hosting so I change it up every now and then but I do a lot of weird things. Once I hosted a ‘dinner for the dead’ at my home. And in ‘Dinner for the Dead’, the entire meal was themed around dead things. So we had little brains on the table like little plates and chocolate skulls and everything was death themed. Everything was dead or dying. But it was delicious. The food was delicious, just its shape was strange.

Q: So if you were a dish, what would it be and why?

Oh my god, if I were a dish, I would be lasagna because I have so many layers. And maybe a full spoon of chaat masala below.