Being Top Chef: The importance of food basics and the art of gastronomy

When he was made executive chef of Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, in May last year, Chowdhury, 52, knew he wanted to turn the focus away from “fusion foods” and instead innovate based on the presentation of dishes. At the hotel’s Chef Studio, where guests can ask a chef to create a completely original menu, Chowdhury once prepared soup in front of his guests using two glass bowls placed on top of one another. The top bowl was filled with vegetables and meat, and the bottom, connected by a stem, with stock. After gentle heating, the difference in pressure forced the liquid through to the top bowl, resulting in a soup that was ready to serve. “It is not about altering the original taste of the food. With this presentation, the original taste is not corrupted and it is still something exciting for customers,” Chowdhury says.

His dedication, equable personality and approach towards food is probably why he was chosen to take over from Hemant Oberoi, who had been the hotel’s executive chef for thirty years. Chowdhury, who attended The Culinary Institute of America and Le Cordon Bleu, entered as a trainee chef at the Taj in 1985 when he was 21. Since then, he has worked at Taj properties in Delhi, Maldives, and Dubai. “I was going to be a dentist,” he says, “but the glamour of the hotel industry pulled me in and I ended up going to catering college. My father was very angry.” His speciality was, and remains, European food. “With European food, you can really eat with your eyes, and that’s so important to me,” he says.

Since he joined last year, Chowdhury has been guiding Taj Palace’s restaurants “back to the basics”. The transformation is best seen in Masala Kraft. A little more than a month ago, the restaurant scrapped its old menu of contemporary Indian dishes and replaced it with pure Lucknowi cuisine. The man leading this change, Chef Qureshi, was hired last year. He is the seventh generation of chefs from his family; preparing Awadhi food has been a family tradition. Qureshi testifies that a dish his great-grandmother cooked would taste exactly like his. “We felt that the guests were confused about what they were going to get,” says Chowdhury, about Masala Kraft’s previous menu. “You had Indian food cooked in olive oil. But now, when you are served a dish you know exactly where it is coming from.” Similarly, restaurants Wasabi and Golden Dragon are returning to their traditional Japanese and Chinese roots.

Before a dish is added to the menu of any of the nine food outlets, Chowdhury subjects it to several food trials. He also plans banquets, working on everything from its theme to menu with customers. “My canvas has graduated for a plate to a hall,” he says. Recently, he had a client who spurned a typical buffet style dessert and wanted the dishes to hang from the walls and ceiling. Interacting with colleagues and customers takes up most of Chowdhury’s time.

At 8:30 am, Chowdhury can be seen on his restaurant rounds. He usually visits the Sea Lounge first, their most popular breakfast eatery, where huge glass windows allow visitors to watch the roiling sea. He meets guests and listens to their suggestions. “Although I am an artist, there is a key difference between a painter and me,” he says. “A painter does not care whether people like his work because he does it for himself. But I lose if I put something on the plate that people don’t understand. My art is first for other people rather than for myself.”

Chowdhury’s dreams of a world-class European restaurant at the Taj Mahal Palace. Zodiac Grill, where he previously worked, was closed down last year, leaving the hotel without specialised European cuisine.