Food is the foundation stone upon which a restaurant is built. It is one of the most integral parts of the culinary and food industry. The customers will not mind a bit of lack in service if the food is worth it and more often than not, food is what creates customer loyalty and word-of-mouth publicity.
As the food is the foundation stone, chefs are the soul of that stone. The success of a restaurant relies heavily upon the culinary skills of the recruited chefs. In the last decade, we have experienced a phenomenal change in the way the food industry operates. This change can be attributed to the inspirational success stories of some of these successful chefs mentioned below:
1. Tarla Dalal
Tarla Dalal published her first cookbook in 1974 and never looked back after it. She was the first individual from the culinary industry to be conferred with Padma Shri by the Government of India (2007). In her career spanning over thirty years, she wrote more than 100 cookery books and hosted two cookery shows. She also had a bi-monthly magazine named Cooking & More, and she was the owner of the largest Indian food website back in the early 2000s.
2. Sanjeev Kapoor
Discussion about top Indian chefs is incomplete without the mention of Sanjeev Kapoor. He rose to fame with the famous cookery show Khana Khazana in 1993. The show ran until 2012 and was the longest-running cookery show in the history of Indian television. Today, Sanjeev Kapoor has become a brand in himself. He is an entrepreneur who has a chain of restaurants, food channel, crockery, tableware, glassware, kitchen linen, and cutlery. He is also a food show judge and author of a plethora of cookery books. He was conferred with the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2017.
3. Madhur Jaffrey
Madhur Jaffrey – the actress who could cook. She took to cooking at the age of 19 when she shifted to London for her higher studies. In 1973, she published her first cookbook ‘An Invitation to Indian Cooking’. In 2006, the book was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Cookbook Hall of Fame. She enjoys the credit of bringing Indian cuisine to the Western hemisphere. She has written several cookbooks, hosted cooking shows in the UK and is a food critic at Dawat – one of the best Indian restaurants in New York City.
4. Vikas Khanna
Born and brought up in Amritsar, India, Vikas Khanna has set his base in New York City. He owns the famous restaurant Junoon in Manhattan, which was started in 2010. He received Michelin Star for Junoon for three consecutive years from 2012-2014. He is one of the most famous chefs in the USA, not just for his culinary skills but also for his looks. He was given the title of ‘The Hottest Chef of America’ in 2011 by the People’s magazine. He came to limelight during Master Chef India where was a part in the panel of judges along with Master Chef Junior India edition. He is the only Indian chef who has worked with Gordon Ramsay.
5. Ranveer Brar
In 2003, at the age of 25, when Ranveer Brar joined Radisson Blu in Noida, he became the youngest executive chef in the country. Post his stint with Radisson Blu, Ranveer left for Boston, USA, where he started a Franco-Asian restaurant named Banq. The restaurant was awarded the Best New Restaurant in the World by the Wallpaper magazine. Following the success of Banq, One World Hospitality Group – the oldest restaurant group in Boston, appointed him as the Corporate Chef. He has hosted and judged various cooking shows including Master Chef India alongside Sanjeev Kapoor and Vikas Khanna. He opened a patisserie centre English Vinglish and TAG Gourmart Kitchen by Ranveer Brar in Mumbai in 2016 and Mayura in GTA, Canada in 2017. He is an honorary member at the James Beard Foundation.
India is a land of diverse culinary flavours which has helped in making a significant contribution to the world culinary scene. Indian chefs have been making a mark around the globe with their food knowledge, flavours and food fusions.