Herald
Café: Is this your first time in Goa?
Kumar Mahadevan:
No, this is my second visit to Goa. I last visited
Goa while doing research for my book. Since I worked at the Taj Hotel in Bombay
in my youth, I had my connections in Goa so I stayed at one of their properties
and got acquainted with Chef Rego, a respected chef in the Goan circle, to
learn some tips about Goan cuisine. I also visited a few households in Goa to
learn how to make a few Goan dishes. It was a three-day visit and it was only
for research about food. I hope to experience the finer things like the beach
and shacks on this visit.
HC: You
are the only Indian Chef to feature on Masterchef Australia. What was your
experience being on the show?
KM:
I’ve been on the show several times as a mentor and as a judge. It has been a
very interesting and fruitful experience as the episodes I worked in were about
me elevating a local dish by giving it my own twist and catering to a wedding
reception with the Masterchef contestants.
HC: From being a chef in India to becoming
an ace restaurateur in Australia... how did it all happen?
KM:
The Government of India sent me to Australia to work as a chef after I returned
from a stint of work in the war zone country of Iraq. It was a joint venture of
the tea centres in India and abroad. At the time, they only used to promote tea
but then they decided to send culinary experts. So I went to promote the Indian
cuisine abroad and worked in a restaurant; from there on I built a career and
opened my own restaurant.
HC: You
wrote a cookbook titled ‘From India: Food, Family and Tradition’. It’s not like
every other cookbook that is written out there. Can you tell us more about this
book?
KM:
As the book title says, I have focused on food, family and traditions. I got
into book writing because of my love for food and this book is based on the
five senses of taste which are salty, bitter, sour, spicy, and sweet. The
reason I did this is to describe the rich cuisine of India as well as the
various walks of my life. In the first chapter, I talk about salt as the prime
ingredient of food. In Tamil, we have a saying that if the food has no salt,
it’s rubbish. So salt is a fine ingredient. In my life, my grandmother and
mother have influenced my cooking so I have focused on this fact in this
chapter of my book. The bitter chapter is about me joining the hospitality
industry and being exposed to catering college in the ‘70s. The sour chapter is
about my sour journey to parts of India and Iraq. The spice chapter is
dedicated to my wife as she is the spice in my life. When I moved to Australia,
she came in, and we got married and the spice of my life changed. The sweet
section of my book is the birth of both my sons and the inception of my
businesses. When my first son was born, I opened my first restaurant that has
been operating for 27 years, and by the grace of God, it is the number one
restaurant in Sydney.