Chef Prateek Sadhu

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One of the most exciting chefs in India who has a passion for food, and understands the nuances of Indian cuisine, Chef Prateek Sadhu was recently in Bengaluru to showcase his beautiful restaurant in the hills NAAR.

I sampled a stunning meal at Le Cirque Signature Restaurant at The Leela Palace, Bengaluru and spoke to him after that on a call. Here are some quick snippets:

Indian food when he was abroad.

Today, at this point of time in my career, you know, I’m very sure that you know what I want to do, what I want to cook, and you know what direction that I want to take, and what is my take on Indian food. And I feel like all those things, all the trainings, have really helped to, like, shape that mindset as well. I wanted to come back as while working outside of the country, I felt very proud to talk about India, Indian culture. But one thing which sort of bothered me was that I didn’t know enough, or rather, very little about Indian cuisine as from the north to south, east to west, this is a gold mine.

What is Indian cuisine all about?

Why are their Indian restaurant only serving five things which people want to eat – Rogan Josh, Butter Chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala, Biryani and Naan. That’s it. Great. Nothing against it. But I was just like, thinking to myself, where I come from the Kashmir food culture is, is brilliant, so are the others. And why aren’t we sort of digging deep into that. Why aren’t we talking about ingredients so there were multiple factors. Of course, I also feel that, you know, last 15 years like it has been the best time for Indian food and beverage, the kind of restaurant that have come up, the kind of chefs that are opening restaurants. And I feel very proud as well. And I feel like this is best time for Indian food and beverage industry.

How hard is it to move away from success?

It is not hard at all. You know, it’s not that you can do it again if you’re done before. The idea was, for me, the biggest question is, what’s next? You know, reach at a certain level and you know, what’s next, and it becomes boring for me. I mean, I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. I feel it’s a disease in me. I get bored of things very easily.

How often do you change menus at NAAR?
We have changed it five times. We are going to change it last time this year. So basically, six times a year, every two months, and then you change any change. So the based on the ingredients that are available, yes, because, because during mountains, you get the best seasons, you get the perfect seasons in the mountain.

Monsoon menu at NAAR
Monsoon menu at NAAR

The produce also changes quite a bit, right?

Oh, yeah, absolutely, we are in the fruit bowl of India. The best fruits of India come from this region.
We are in the mushroom capital of India. There’s a big research institute, Mushroom Research Institute. We are in the in the rainbow trout right, of India. So, so we get the finest produce. And I think we’re very lucky that we can work with this kind of produce every single day. The idea is to showcase seasons on the plate as well.

What would your advice be to anyone who wants to, you know, be an independent chef?
You have to be very true to your roots. I think your roots, or where you come from, really defines who you are. So that is really important. We shy away from cooking Indian food. But let me tell you, like India is most very exciting. So, so understand, as an Indian, understand that, you know, you don’t only have one dimensional food culture. We have multi dimensional food culture. And, you know, try to stick to it, get a good mentor, learn and work and cook every single day. Usually I feel like chefs don’t cook. I feel like chefs need to cook every single day. The more you cook, the more you connect it.

When you do have time away from the kitchen and from cooking, what is it that you like to do?
Nothing! I would love to just sit in the couch, watch TV, drink my coffee and just chill, because sometimes doing nothing is also very powerful. You’re going to stop and that pause is very important. If you don’t pause, then you burn out. So for me, the pause is not about, you know, extensively traveling, because fortunately, and I’m blessed that, you know, my work takes me to the world.

Read the full story that first appeared in Global Indian here:

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