‘Senior chefs would hit you’: Kunal Kapur says it was ‘normal’ in India’s top hotel kitchens

However, his perspective began to change when he started working on television with home cooks rather than trained professionals.

“When you’re doing a show where people have cooked with all their heart and tried to do the best they can with the exposure and experience they have, I realised that being harsh wasn’t really me. I didn’t like it myself.”

Kapur said that while blunt criticism may be acceptable in a professional kitchen environment, it felt misplaced when dealing with passionate amateur cooks.

“If I said those same harsh words to one of my commis chefs or colleagues in a professional kitchen, it was considered normal feedback. But when you’re dealing with home chefs who are pouring their hearts out, it doesn’t feel right.”

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‘I realised that wasn’t the real me’

The chef revealed that television gave him an opportunity to reassess his own personality.

“I started realising that the person I had become in hotel kitchens wasn’t really me. This gave me an opportunity to be myself. I could let my guard down. I could be vulnerable.”

The experience also made him reflect on his own journey.

“Somewhere along the way, I realised I never got that kind of encouragement. We were constantly told what was wrong with us and why we would never become chefs.”

‘At the time, it was normal to hit chefs’

Kapur then shared shocking details about the kitchen culture he encountered as a trainee.

“At the time when we joined, it was okay to hit chefs. We have been beaten up. Senior chefs would hit you. It was normal. There was an HR, but there was no HR.”

Recalling one incident from his training days, Kapur said he was tasked with fetching boiled potatoes from another kitchen for a rushed order.

The potatoes turned out to be undercooked, and the dish was sent back by the customer.

“I was barely eight months into the system and still learning. I didn’t know how to tell if the potato was fully cooked. The customer complained, the head chef came back from the dining room, picked up a palta and hit me.”

Despite the humiliation, he felt powerless to react.

“For me to get a job in a hotel in 2000 was a huge achievement. Around 250 students appeared and only five of us from our North India batch got jobs. We were fighting for a Rs 3,500 salary. I couldn’t risk losing my job.”

‘It broke me’

Kapur admitted that such experiences left a lasting impact on him.

“It broke me. Every mistake came with consequences, and over time it toughens you up in the wrong way.”

He believes that mindset followed him for years. “That’s what happened when I first came on television. I was brutal because that’s what my grooming had taught me. That’s how chefs were expected to behave.”

Yet he insists he never held grudges. “Thanks to the show, I realised that wasn’t who I really was.”

The day a plate was thrown at him

Kapur also recalled another incident from his training period involving late chef Arvind Saraswat.

As part of an exercise, trainees were asked to prepare a three-course meal. Excited to impress, Kapur presented a yoghurt soup inspired by a recipe from a Madhur Jaffrey cookbook.

What followed left him devastated. “The chef looked at me, then looked at the plate. His face kept getting redder and redder. Suddenly, he picked up the plate and flung it. It missed my ear and shattered behind me.”

The reason?

“Do you think I am an animal? How will I eat soup? Where is the spoon? Where is the f***ing spoon?”

Kapur said he broke down in tears in the kitchen. “Nobody had ever shouted at me like that before. I was crying.”

Years later, however, he understood the lesson the chef had been trying to teach. After opening his own restaurant, he discovered that food was reaching tables cold because waiters were placing hot dishes on chilled plates while searching for cutlery.

“That’s when it struck me. He wasn’t just teaching me how to cook. He was teaching me that a chef’s responsibility doesn’t end when the food leaves the kitchen. You’re responsible for how it reaches the guest.”

‘It’s only a meal’

Today, Kapur follows a very different philosophy with his own team.

“I tell my chefs, make mistakes, learn from them and move on.”

Asked for the most important advice he would give aspiring chefs, Kapur replied: “Laugh out loud. Make mistakes. Learn from them. Move on. It’s okay. It’s only a meal.”

He acknowledged that the profession remains demanding, but believes success should not come at the cost of personal relationships or mental well-being.

“Sometimes the ladder of success comes with a very heavy price. You lose out on personal relationships and personal health. It’s brutal.”