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March/April 2015
BACK OF HOUSE Chef Sanjay Gour
MOVERS & SHAKERS Hiron Miah
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EDITOR’S LETTER
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Presentation is a highly important element of the food you serve to your customers. Get it right and you’ll be lauded, get it wrong and you’ll be derided. So in this issue of Tandoori we’ve asked a master of presentation the, executive chef and MD of The Cinnamon Club, Vivek Singh, about what he thinks chefs should be doing and the tips he can offer. Another hugely talented chef gracing our pages is in the back of house section – executive chef Sanjay Gour, of the newly launched Zaika of Knesington. His cooking, thanks to stints in some high profile non-Indian restaurants and hotels – is beautifully rendered and here he talks about his background and his new base at Zaika. New kid on the block Inito come to London’s fashionable Shoreditch with the aim of being a branded high street Indian serving quality Indian cooking. We speak to one of its owners. Our marketing page takes its cue from Chakra with its operations manager telling us why event catering can be a lucrative affair for restaurants. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the pages – with movers and shakers focussing on multi-cuisine restaurateur Hiron Miah.
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Marketing Event catering Chef Profile Chef Vivek Singh Supplier Profile
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Recipe of the month
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B ack of House
Chef Sanjay Gour
Front of House Into Inito
Movers & Shakers Hiron Miah
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news
Cyrus Todiwala launches restaurant in India One of the UK’s most renowned Indian chefs Cyrus Todiwala, has opened a restaurant in the Goa’s newest deluxe resort, the Acron Waterfront Resort on the banks of the Baga River. Todiwala, who already owns a handful of restaurants in London, including his flagship establishment Café Spice Namaste and the recently opened Assado in London’s Waterloo, has appropriately called his new venture The River Restaurant. The 60-seater restaurant aims to strike a delicate balance between the expectations of international epicureans and locals seeking to experience the tastes, textures and flavours associated with Todiwala’s culinary style. Run on a day to day basis by executive chef Mark Smith, who has been working closely with Cyrus and Pervin Todiwala in the development of dishes that make
Returning to The Sun & 13 Cantons Often regarded as the creator of London’s finest Indian supperclub Darjeeling Express, Asma Khan, has returned to the pub where she initiallydid her residency last year, The Sun & 13 Cantons, in London’s Soho. With a three month stint, which began in January, Khan will be overseeing a short menu of freshly cooked dishes that will change on a weekly basis. Sample items may include tamatar gosht,
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full use of Goa’s fresh produce, the restaurant is Todiwala’s first and only restaurant in India. “I spent eight formative years in Goa,” said Todiwala, “so The River Restaurant marks a homecoming for me. Before I came here as executive chef of the Taj properties, I was mostly enamoured of classical French
and other European cuisines. It was my need to learn more about Goan food to meet the demands of our guests then that led me into a deeper exploration of what Indian food is all about. Today is evolving into India’s culinary hub. I hope that this new restaurant enables me to bring to Goa the food innovations I
either developed or absorbed as a chef working in Britain, while raising the profile of Goan food in the eyes of the rest of the world. It is still early days and we are treading carefully and will be evolving ourselves, but in time we hope The River Restaurant will be considered a true bastion of fine cuisine in Goa.”
chicken chaap with lachedar paratha, and Bengali aloo dum with paratha. “Last time I had done a very short stint,” said Khan, “just eight weeks as I was worried to make a longer commitment. One reason was the impact it would have on my family as I had not worked full time out of the house before. I also wanted to test the ground and see if I could survive and hold my own in a place like Soho which is overcrowded with restaurants serving such a diverse range of cuisines.” Khan added that the big difference between a supperclub and a residency is that with the former the tickets are pre-sold and you know exactly how many people will be catered for. With a residency the stint can
sometimes be more stressful in that you never know when a large group will turn up or how quickly they might want to be served. Nevertheless, with Khan enjoying the residency thoroughly, she stated that a lot of her supperclub clients also come to the pub: “I always
try to keep one of my classic supperclub dishes on the menu like kala chana, chicken chaap and paratha or prawn malai curry as I know these will be popular choices for my regulars. At the same time, I’m also enjoying meeting new people who turn up for a meal and making new contacts and connections.”
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Young Tilda Chef of the Year 2015 Proving that he’s as good as anyone, Krishan Makol, a 1st year apprentice at Lexington Catering and working at Thomas Miller, Fenchurch Street, has been named Young Tilda Chef of the Year 2015 in the inaugural competition at this year’s Hospitality Show. Makol cooked a winning dish of kedgeree basmati with smoked haddock, soft boiled Legbar egg and curry sauce, using Tilda original pure basmati rice. The 30-minute contest saw eight young competitors prepare two portions of a main course, using rice as the base ingredient. Chefs needed to be aged 21 and under on or before 1 January 2015, and could choose any rice from the Tilda range,
including easy cook basmati, brown basmati, fragrant jasmine, arborio risotto, original pure basmati, and basmati & wild. As part of his prize, which also included a medal and commemorative plate, Makol has now been entered into the senior Tilda Chef of the Year competition at Hotelympia 2016. Judges included Frank Coughlan, executive chef at
BaxterStorey; Steve Munkley, executive head chef at the Royal Garden hotel; Tony Murphy, executive chef at Chartwells at Compass Group; Matt Davies, group executive chef of the Lewis group; Gareth Billington, executive head chef of Everton FC; Diane Lane, editor of the Craft Guild of Chefs’ Stockpot magazine; and Danny Leung, head chef at Lexington Catering,
and winner of the senior Tilda Chef of the Year 2012. Other dishes created included a wild mushroom risotto with Cornish halibut and leek; pea and ham risotto; golden pineapple rice with spiced prawns; and lamb cutlet with jasmine rice. Commenting on the contest, which is in its first year, Leung congratulated the young chefs and explained that his judging was based on taste rather than presentation, and the extent to which the rice was considered a key part of the menu. Mark Lyddy, Tilda head of foodservice, explained that it was important for Tilda to introduce new young chefs to competition cooking using rice, especially with the growing interest in Asian and Mexican cuisine, of which rice can form a central part.
Treat yourself with Tilda Pure Basmati Tilda, the UK’s number 1 basmati brand, has paired up with Bonusbond® High Street gift vouchers and since November, thousands of consumers each day have been redeeming gift vouchers worth up to £15 from promotional packs of Tilda Pure Basmati. Bonusbond gift vouchers are redeemable at over 18,000 high street retailers, restaurants and even spas across the UK and Republic of Ireland. They are the perfect gift idea for family or friends; or even collect them for yourself as a well-earned treat! The way it works is simple. When you purchase two 20kg bags of Tilda Pure Basmati, you can claim for a £15 voucher and if you purchase two 10kg bags you qualify for a £10 voucher; and can earn up to £5 back from purchasing two 5kg bags. The process is quick and simple – you will find an insert inside promotional packs. Simply fill this in and send in with proof of purchase/ till receipts and you can expect your vouchers delivered directly to your door within two weeks. Hundreds of caterers across the UK have already taken advantage of this fantastic offer – so now is your time to make the most of the opportunity! The best part of all is that you can redeem unlimited amount of times; but be quick, as promotional packs won’t be around for long!
Where can Bonusbond® High Street Gift Vouchers be redeemed? Argos Babies R Us Beaverbrooks BHS Boots Boots Opticians Burtons Buyagift Champneys Clarks Coast Debenhams Dorothy Perkins Early Learning Centre Ernest Jones
Gold Smiths H Samuel Halfords Hamleys HMV Homebase House of Fraser Iceland Interflora John Lewis Marriott Hotels Miss Selfridge New Look Mothercare River Island
Spa Finder Superbreak Thorntons Topshop Topman Virgin Experience Days Wallis Warehouse Watches of Switzerland Waterstones WH Smith
For a full list of the 18,000 retailers to spend at, visit www.bonusbond.com
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national news
Alfred Prasad to open his own restaurant Alfred Prasad, director of cuisine and executive chef at restaurant group Tamarind Collection, has left the company after 13 years with plans to open his own London restaurant. Prasad joined Tamarind of Mayfair in 2001 as a sous chef and became head chef when Atul Kochhar left in 2002. He maintained the restaurant’s Michelin star until 2009 and won it back again in 2010. He took the decision to leave the Tamarind Collection so that he
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could showcase more of the cuisine of the region of Chennai in India, where he comes from. “The years I have spent at Tamarind,” said Prasad, “have been fantastic especially because London is now considered a destination for Indian food across the world. However, I do feel that most of London restaurants could offer so much more than the usual chicken tikka masala and rogan josh. Having recently been to India
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on a research and sourcing trip and planning a recipe book, Prasad is examining opportunities to open in London. The chef has not yet identified a site for his new venture, although he is looking and is in talks with a number of potential investors. His aim is to open a new restaurant by the end of the year. “I have had opportunities to do a concept in other cities,” added Prasad. “But I have been adamant to do something with my name above the door in London first, having been in the city for 15 years. If things go well, we can look at taking that to other cities.”
Most influential in food and drink The Sunday Times has teamed up with Debrette’s, the traditional guide to British social skills and etiquette, to list the 500 most influential people in the UK today. Among the various categories is one for food and drink with several familiar – and perhaps the odd none too familiar – names on it. The full list of 20 names is as follows: Jason Atherton, Mary Berry, Heston Blumenthal, OBE, Richard Caring, Scott Collins and Yianni Papoutsis, Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, Martin Dickie and James Watt, Jonathan Downey, AA Gill, Angela Hartnett,Tom Kerridge,
Bengal Quay celebrates 10 years with new menu
Hospitality businesses struggling for skilled managers
The premier London Docklands Indian restaurant Bengal Quay, which celebrated a decade in business last year, is launching a new a la carte menu, overseen by an as yet un-named top London Indian consultant chef. Owner Faruk Kamali said that the new menu will focus on a mix of modern and traditional dishes that not only give customers a reassurance of familiar items, which will have improved recipes, but also items which give them a “wow” factor. “After 10 years of trading,” added Kamali, “I felt it was time we gave our regulars and new comers something different to enjoy. We are after all, the Docklands leading Indian place.
People 1st, the employment and learning organisation, has published its latest Insight Report which cites that 6% of hospitality businesses have managerial vacancies, with 42% of those considered difficult to fill. The report said that the range of skills required continues to expand, making finding the right candidate even harder. It added that the industry was not competing as effectively as other sectors to attract talent. People 1st’s executive director Martin-Christian Kent said the organisation predicted that the industry will need 66,000 more managers by 2020. “Finding these people is going to be really challenging if hospitality and tourism employers don’t think differently about how they recruit, develop and retain their managers,” he added.
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REVOLUTIONARY HEATED DELIVERY BAG SYSTEM
in brief... Birmingham’s Pushkar to open Praza Pushkar, Birmingham’s renowned Indian restaurant will be celebrating its fifth birthday this year with the launch of a new restaurant venture, named Praza by Pushkar. With a six figure investment,which help create 15 jobs, Praza, in Edgbaston - formerly the Rose Murree restaurant - will have an art deco inspired look with lots of monochrome colourways, glass and chrome. Overseen by Pushkar’s Creative Director, Rai Singh, the menu at Praza will focus on north Indian cooking. Currently, Pushkar is seen as one of he great success stories of the Indian restaurant scene in Birmingham.
Tourist spend to British regions breaks records International tourist spend across Britain is at record levels according to new figures from the Office of National Statistics and analysis by tourist board VisitBritain. The figures show that in the first nine months of 2014, all regions and countries within the UK saw faster-growing, record spend compared to the same period in 2013. Spend in Wales was at £303m, Scotland at £1.5b, the East of England at £693m, the North West at £849m and the South East at £1.7b. London spend was at £8.9b. The results come ahead of VisitBritain’s launch of its Countryside is Great campaign, which seeks to encourage visits across the UK, and push tourists to travel beyond London.
For FREE information pack phone 01924 488619 or 07880 239524 www.sweetheat.co.uk sales@sweetheat.co.uk
Mowgli comes to Liverpool Hailed as very much the first of its kind, Mowgli, an Indian street food concept, has been launched in Liverpool’s Bold Street by barrister, food lover and star of a successful YouTube Indian food series, Nisha Katona. With a design emphasising a stripped back Scandinavian aesthetic and food which is being described as “real” and quite the opposite of what a high street Indian would serve, The menu is relatively short and includes dishes such as Indian brunch, Himalayan cheese toast, poppyseed potatoes, tamarind treacle ribs, gunpowder chicken, bunny chow along with accessible non-traditional desserts. Katona is also planning to launch other sites of the Mowgli brand.
Calling the next generation of Food Photographers The young categories of the Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2015 competition are now being invited to submit their entries. The free-to-enter children’s categories for 2015 are in three age groups, 15-17, 11-14 and 10. Images being sought – with all featuring food – include food in the field, food on your plate and food in the street. Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year is inspired by the proliferation of food photography in a huge variety of applications. From eye-catching advertising hoardings, to sumptuous editorial features, from tempting food packaging to daily blogs. The awards celebrate this diversity. Each young category winner will receive a prize of £100 and be presented with a prestigious trophy at a Champagne Taittinger awards reception.
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A dispute over awards A dispute has broken out between two distinguished chef-restaurateurs of the Indian restaurant sector, Chad Rahman, owner of Chez Mumtaj, in St Albans, and Oli Khan, proprietor of Surma Takeaway and Spice Rouge Exquisite, in Stevenage. The difference of opinion stemmed from the claim made by Khan in an interview on Foyer magazine, claiming that he had won the CIEH/ FSA (the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and the Food Standards Agency, respectively) Indian Curry Chef of the Year titles in both 2002 and 2003. Contrary to the claim though is Rahman’s assertion that official records
cite that he won the said awards consecutively in both 2002 and 2003. “I am appalled that Mr Khan
McDonald’s launches campaign for employers to push ‘soft skills’ Fast-food giant McDonald’s is teaming up with entrepreneurs including James Caan and organisations such as the CBI and the National Youth Agency to call for a focus on “soft skills” within business. The campaign warns that many employers and educators do not sufficiently appreciate or encourage the importance of such skills, particularly within the accommodation, and foodservice sectors. Socalled soft skills are defined as communication, interpersonal skills, teamwork, and time- and self-management. In its report from development Economics and survey by polling agency YouGov, the campaign estimates that these skills are worth £88b to the UK economy. But despite many employers seeing them as more relevant than academic qualifications – 75% said that they felt there was already a “soft skills gap” in the
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Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has lost his high court claim that his father-in-law fraudulently used a ‘ghost writing’ machine to sign him up for a pub deal. Ramsay sought a declaration that because his signature was not “lawfully authorised”, he was not bound to the 25-year lease signed in 2007. He took the pub’s owner, Gary Love, to court in a bid to get out of the deal. But Mr Justice Morgan dismissed his claim and ordered him to pay all of Love’s estimated £652,000 bill, his own costs, taking the final bill to over £1m plus the £1.3m owing in rent.
TOP QUALITY TAKE AWAY BAGS
Photo by Asian Awards Ltd workforce, and over half (54%) of UK employees admitted they struggled to sell their soft skills and had never included them on their CV. Entrepreneur Caan is helping to lead the campaign with a three-month consultation on current practices and attitudes towards soft skills, ahead of the publication of an expected list of recommendations intended to help employers recognise the value such skills can bring to the workplace.
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has misrepresented himself in this way and I have contacted the awarding body CIEH and Food Standards Agency FSA to raise my concerns along with contacting Jenny Morris, senior policy maker of CIEH, who was also a judge at the time of the national curry chef competition in 2002 and 2003.” Morris responded to Rahman’s enquiries by stating: “Looking through our records, I am happy to confirm that you were judged to be the winner of the competition in both 2002 and 2003. We see it as a considerable achievement to win this in 2 consecutive years.” Tandoori magazine’s attempts to contact Oli Khan for his side of the story went unanswered.
Gordon Ramsay loses high court claim
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Pub and restaurant groups enjoy festive boost UK’s leading pub and restaurant groups enjoyed an extra festive Christmas with collective like-for-like sale up 2.8% on 2013. The party season was in even fuller flow in the capital, with London operators reporting an increase of 4.4%, compared to 2.3% for those outside the M25. The latest figures from the
Tips should be limited to 5-10% Tips should be between 5-10% of the bill as an appropriate amount for customers to give to staff and tipping should never be expected as a matter of course, say restaurateurs. That’s according to a poll by reservation system provider ResDiary, which asked UK restaurateurs their views on diners and tipping habits. Almost half (47%) of
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Coffer Peach Business Tracker, which looked at the six weeks to January 3, found that total sales – including new openings – were up 6.6% on 2013 among the 30 leading groups that make up the Tracker sample. Overall, restaurant chains had a better Christmas season than pubs, with collective like-forlikes 4.7% ahead of last year,
restaurateurs said that tipping between 5-10% of the bill was appropriate, making that the most popular choice, compared to 32% who said that tipping 10-15% of the bill was appropriate, and less than 1% who said that tipping over 20% of the bill was ideal. Nearly one in five (18%) of respondents said that tipping should be down to the customer, and not expected as a matter of course. The poll results also showed that many restaurateurs find that no extra “cash tips” are left by departing customers if the establishment adds an automatic service charge to the overall bill.
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compared to a 2% collective increase for managed pub and bar groups. “What’s clear is that the eating and drinking out market is performing more strongly than retail,” said Peter Martin, vice-president of CGA Peach, the business insight consultancy that produces the Tracker, in partnership with Coffer Group, Baker Tilly and
The eating out sector to see 2% growth It’s expected that the eating out sector is expected will see a steady growth this year, although it is still a long way off peak 2008 levels. That’s according to foodservice consultancy Horizons, which has predicted around 2% sales growth for the UK’s restaurants, hotels, quick service dining outlets, cafés, contract caterers and takeaways - a similar level to 2014. “It won’t be a meteoric rise this year, but sales are likely to see steady growth if consumer confidence continues to improve,
UBS. “The latest British Retail Consortium figures show a 0.4% like-for-like decline in December for the retail sector against 2013. “For the British public it is not just about acquiring things any more it’s about buying experience – and perhaps this sector rather than retail should be the accepted measure of economic health.”
prompting a rise in average spend,” said Horizons’ managing director Peter Backman. Backman highlighted limited product takeaways such as juice bars, Mexican street food and bakeries and coffee outlets as those types of businesses expected to fare particularly well. These occupy small outlets in high traffic areas and mean that consumers can satisfy their need to buy food when they want, where they want. “We envisage this trend continuing as entrepreneurial operators come up with novel ideas for brands. It is these operators who will bring new food trends to the market by renting small, cost-effective spaces that larger brands can’t,” he added.
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Maria Fernandes has been an immigration lawyer for 28 years and is accredited by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Fernandes Vaz is based at 87 Wembley Hill Road in Wembley and can be contacted by telephone on 020 8733 0123, by email on info@fernandesvaz.com.
in focus
licencing ISSUES SPONSOR
Now that the New Year has begun, one of your resolutions must be to put your affairs in order. Maria Fernandes looks at how this can be done with sponsor licencing
T
he licensing system you maintain can either be manual or electronic or both. It is entirely up to you to dictate how this should be done. If asked you must be prepared to demonstrate the system adopted. Visits can be announced or unannounced. Unannounced visits take place in sectors that are deemed to be high risk. Restaurants and care homes appear to fit this bill. The person who should be interviewed should be the person who maintains the system and although the UKVI may insist on carrying out the interview without this person, they can only interview the owner or Manager. If there is no senior person on the premises they should be asked to return. At the end of an interview the UKVI asks the employer to sign the record. This must be checked carefully despite the fact that it may have been a tiring and stressful event. You are entitled to refuse to sign it if you do not agree with the record. You could offer to check it and return it by post. Otherwise check it thoroughly, correct in writing any inaccuracies or additional comments that you wish to make and state your objections if you went through the interview reluctantly. This should ideally be on the record itself. In the section that states “are you well and fit to be interviewed” you should record
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your objection. If the officer refuses to allow you to put your comments on the document, this is not lawful and you should follow up the matter in writing immediately. Do not assume that you will have an easier time if you do not object. And finally time and time again it is necessary to remind employers to keep a copy of the interview for their record. Preparation and maintenance of a staff list by name, date of birth, nationality and immigration status/ expiry date is an essential starting point. This document should be reviewed on a regular basis. Any dates of expiry of a visa should be recorded in a manual or electronic diary and acted upon by that date. In the past it was expected that employers were required to record these dates of expiry three months beforehand. However it is no longer required. However by the date of the expiry of the visa, you should have a record of an application for an extension and this should take the form of a top copy of the form and evidence of a delivery receipt.
contracts. They need not be available immediately and can be sent within a reasonable period agreed with the officer. There should be a system to record absences, for holiday or sickness. The information provided must tally with the Certificate of Sponsorship. Finally, the person appointed on the system, the Authorising Officer, the key contact and Level 1 user must never share their password as this is a breach of security that can merit a revocation. This includes the password of the Sponsor Management System (which underpins the licensing system) or the email address they gave for contact. Once you receive a decision, positive or negative it is good practice to request a copy of the visit report for your records. ■
Beware an applicant who states that he/she used ordinary post. After 28 days have passed from the date of the expiry you are expected to contact the Home Office Checking service to confirm that the application is pending. If they do confirm that it is pending and that the applicant is allowed to work this protects you for a period of 6 months.
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By then you should either have obtained a copy of the new visa or repeat the checks. Where migrant staff are hired and they are not exempt from the resident labour market test you will need to keep the evidence of advertising efforts, any applicants shortlisted and any notes of an interview with the candidate to satisfy the authorities that the test has been properly conducted. Advertising itself can only be conducted in a particular manner and using particular mediums. Local advertising and word of mouth is not acceptable. There is a requirement to keep copies of certain documents. This includes passport copies, biometric cards, payroll summaries which can include P35, P46, payslips, P60, P11, P14, employment
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marketing
Opportunities for event catering
Event catering markets your restaurant name and makes for lucrative earnings. Taimur Khan, operations manager for Chakra restaurant explains why you should be doing it too
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unning a restaurant operation can be difficult enough as it is, keeping your hands full at the best of times. But if your business is successful enough and you are making a name for the restaurant, which your customers have got to know far and wide, then it makes perfect sense for you to add event catering as another string to your bow. Of course, nothing is as easy as it seems. Then again, the mere fact that you have a popular restaurant and your customers appreciate your food, must surely mean that now and then you’ll have had enquiries for you to cater for their parties or any other gathering or event. Therein lies the important question – are you able to do any event catering or are you stuck on how to go about it, or even simply lack confidence? “Any restaurant owner worth his salt will know,” says Taimur Khan, operation manager at the London restaurant Chakra, which also has a highly successful event catering wing to its business, “that providing catering for outside events can not only be very finically beneficial, but also
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provide a secondary platform for your restaurant which automatically markets its name.” Yet it’s one thing providing food for a table for four or five in the comfort of your own restaurant, but quite another when you’re churning out 400 starters in one go and then mains and desserts. That would be tricky to say the least for a trained chef let alone your novice chef doing it for the first time. “It has a lot to do with skill and one’s level of understanding,” states Khan. “You need to know for instance, the right quantity of food to make. There is the basic issue of kitchen space because for an event you need to do think like store, preserve, chill, cook and get the food ready to be taken to the event. You need to have knowledge of setting up and event kitchen. There is ultimately the whole issue of capital expenditure where you will need all kinds of kitchen equipment including sometimes having to transport – and transportation is another add on – several tandoors for one event along with having the expertise of setting everything up from event to event.” Another important element in the equation is the right staff.
Sure, there are agencies out there where you can hire staff, but they need to be able to understand what Indian food is about as well as issues such as allergens as they’ve become increasingly important. Chakra has been catering successfully for some time with its clients being primarily high
net worth Indian families and corporate clients. Generally, it wins event assignments via referrals whilst the restaurant puts emphasis on quality and working with selective clients. It also offers a range of cuisines for its catering arm – aside from Indian - ranging from Lebanese, Persian and Mexican to pan-Asian.
VACANCIES Birmingham’s leading independent restaurant group is expanding and seeking to appoint key team members. Lasan Group are looking for Restaurant Managers Bar Managers Assistant Managers Supervisors Head waiters Chefs You must have leadership experience, good attention to detail, have a customer focused approach and experience in working in the industry. If you are looking for an exciting and rewarding career opportunity with one of the UKs leading restaurant groups send your CV to jobs@lasangroup.com
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Khan looking should off mor passion get too you fee get you with pa dinner becaus busines get thin are limi
food
first
Feed the eyes
Good food presentation is essential in contemporary restaurant dining. But as chef Vivek Singh of Cinnamon Club fame tells Humayun Hussain, freshness and simplicity also matter
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ith restaurants becoming ever more sophisticated and customers always searching for a better dining experience, it’s hardly surprising that the better the quality of the restaurant, the more the chef will strive to make his presentation eyecatching. After all, the old adage of “you eat with your eyes first”, does indeed ring true. So what’s in fashion and what’s out? Piling the place on high with all the different ingredients is definitely out, but then it was never quite “in”, in Indian restaurants anyway – at least not the majority of them. Edible flowers are certainly a fad these days and yes, even top-notch Indian restaurants are using them. Now that’s really verging on the pretentious! You may wonder that dazzling one’s customers with a beautifully presented plate that makes a customer want to stare at it endlessly as though he were in art gallery is something that can only come from a highly knowledgeable chef, but that isn’t necessarily the case. Experience certainly counts, but the ability to judge the plate and its various components along with the different colours and how to make that puzzle work in a seamless way can also just be down to common sense. After all, if you are expecting your customers to pass judgement on how fine your presentation is then surely you can do so yourself too before the food is sent out to the table. Executive chef and managing director of the famed London group of restaurants The Cinnamon
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Club, Cinnamon Kitchen and Cinnamon Soho, Vivek Singh, is a master of presentation. What he achieved at those restaurants was unprecedented, where he “deconstructed” Indian food by cooking techniques, using a myriad of hitherto ingredients not always associated with Indian cooking – and yes, striking presentation – and turned it into something resembling western cuisine without losing that uniquely specific Indian flavour. “The sense of sight is an all-important one for customers,” says Singh, “and it has a huge and important part to play in what is deemed desirable or not. How you achieve a dish or a plate of food to be attractive is where the difference begins between a chef who knows what he’s doing and a chef who doesn’t. An overly fussy plate filled with food and on top of that accompanied by rose petals made of tomatoes isn’t something one would associate with good presentation skills even though so many chefs do it up and down our high street Indian restaurants. But all chefs should remember that paying too much attention to presentation and no enough to substance will not win you over any customers.” Food aside, naturally, what it’s served in can also have a significant impact on how the overall presentation. The norm would be too have it served in a white dish or large white where plate. But then we are living in an age of modernity where different serving materials have also started to play a part. Certain items for instance can be
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10/03/2015 19:57
TIPS ON
PRESENTATION By Bivek Singh
served up on stone or wooden boards or platters, or some elements even served up in a jar! Nowadays, the possibilities are endless. “There is unlimited room to get creative,” adds Singh. “The shape or depth of a dish can easily change the perception of the food for a customer. Sometimes you can use a shallow but wide dish thereby giving the impression that the food portion is a lot more generous than it actually is. Equally, you can present food in a deep sized dish.” Singh notes that the mere fact that Indian food was deconstructed at The Cinnamon Cub from the outset, took it away from its traditional look, which allowed for better presentation. As an example of what should or shouldn’t be deconstructed, he’s at pains to state that the former may apply to a piece of chicken breast with the sauce being cooked separately, whereas the latter applies to a
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lamb shank which should remain as is having been cooked in its own sauce for several hours. “An essential element to how good food looks on the plate for the customer”, points Singh, “is that it should be cooked fresh. When you take a curry dish off the cooker and have either just tempered it with garlic or perhaps garnished it with coriander leaves, you’ll notice that it will look much better than something, which has just been ladled out of a bain marie. So there is no substitute for cooking fresh. The more item you have on the menu, which are cooked to order rather than being cooked beforehand for hours, the fresher, lighter and cleaner your food will taste and look.” The ingredients you are using are another key to presentation. For instance, the cut and the shape of the type of meat you are using along with whether it’s thinly or thickly sliced can play a lasting role in how the dish one’s cooked ends up looking. Slow braised shin cooked in its own juices will look shiny and glossy once done compared to say a saddle or chop would look. Again though, that is all about the impact of the cooking process you are using.
Good presentation cannot make up for bad cooking and good cooking cannot come from bad ingredients Try and create a blend of colours and textures If you are going to garnish the plate then do it with simplicity and easily accessible herbs that you can source rather than anything fussy and expensive Enhance the dish and have a sense of continuity on the plate rather than distracting from it Be thoughtful about what you have on the plate and take greater care. Remember: less is more!
March/April 2015 // T A N D O O R I
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food
“Colours, textures and the overall assembly of the plate,” says Singh, “are all at the heart of what your customer is looking at. Put in red chilli in the curry and your dish will have a dark and reddish hue. Put in yoghurt and turmeric and the appearance will be yellow. Ground spices can bring about a certain colour too, but if you want to use crushed whole spices it will give the food a crust and texture. With fish, are you using a round fish or a flat fish? Is it a white fish or an oily fish? Black onion seeds and fennel seeds can be used with white fish for instance to give a dramatic appearance. Add ginger and garlic paste, and red chilli and you have a tandoori-like effect. Cut the fish into small pieces,
cook it in a coconut sauce and it becomes a curry. These are all different techniques, which a chef can use to alter the presentation.” With vegetables, the variation of colours and textures is of course natural, but the more you cook them the more you will lose those attributes. “Don’t overcook vegetables,” adds Singh, “because you just end up losing all the goodness in them. To enhance the colour and texture of a vegetarian dish, supplement the vegetables with proteins such as paneer or soya. They make the dish far more interesting. What I also like doing is adding any of the vast repertoire of lentils that the subcontinent has to offer.” ■
The Mint Room opens in Bristol After months of anticipation, Bath city’s award-winning modern Indian restaurant The Mint Room has finally launched its new site in the affluent area of Clifton, in Bristol. The restaurant, which is based in a multi-level premises aims to be Bristol’s most upmarket Indian restaurant with a menu which veers between well-made traditional and signature items along with a string of adventurous dishes. Overseen at inception stage by consultant chef Hrishikesh Desai of the Michelin-starred Lucknam Park country hotel, the menu also boasts modernist desserts. Overseeing the kitchen is head chef Saravanan Namibrajan, who was previously based at London’s Michelinstarred restaurant Tamarind of Mayfair, with the designation of speciality chef. Luthfur Rahman, owner of The Mint Room and a leading entrepreneur in
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the south-west said of the opening: “The over 70-seater restaurant has been long time in coming. We had some teething issues at the beginning, but it has all been resolved and I’m now proud to say that we are in full swing. Everyone in my team has done such an unbelievably fantastic job and with a talented kitchen team, great front of house support and cooking which will likely knock off everyone’s socks off, our new place is already getting great word of mouth.” Dishes include home smoked salmon with Earl Grey tea, cinnamon and star anise with kalonji naan, tawa scallops with kaffir lime and cucumber, tandoori
halibut hara bhara with Cornish crab, pickled carrots and cumin, marinated lamb rumps ‘Chettinad’ style, and signature items like seafood moilee and chicken lababdar. Desserts feature the likes of a trifle-like pudding called raspberry – star anise – cinnamon as well as white chocolate parfait- carrot halwa bitter chocolate. “It takes a fair degree of skill to pull off a sophisticated menu such as this,” said chef Namibrajan. “We have perfected everything, tasted everything and taken care to have some lovely and beautifully presented dishes. All that now remains is for the customers to keep coming back to us!”
March/April 2015 // T A N D O O R I
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Supplier profile
Table lighting and more
Tableware Distribution Ltd has fast become a leading name in both table lighting and other tableware. Company owner Richard Hogg talks to Tandoori about its products
W
e all know how important tableware can be in the hospitality business. It’s what the customers will first set their eyes on when they are being seated so those first impressions – whether it’s some kind of lighting, glassware, china or even cutlery – will make a lasting impression and say much about your level of customer care. Tableware Distribution Ltd, based in Blackwell, near Shipston on Stour, Warwickshire, has fast become a name to reckon with when it comes to tableware products. Originally formed in 2007 to import and sell fuel cell lamps from Candola of Austria to UK catering distributors, in 2013 the company acquired the goodwill of Caterstyle Ltd. The latter being a catering distributor majoring in the sale of table lighting products including Candola and similar lamps from Karl Sauer and Heliotron, both of Germany. In addition there was a considerable amount of chafing fuel business. “Caterstyle had expanded into other tableware products,” says company owner Richard Hogg, “to maximise the potential of its
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customer base and as a result of this they were approached by the then owner of Little Red Hen to acquire their stock and customer base.” Other than dealing with all the main suppliers of china, glass and cutlery, the company does have certain niche market products. “In terms of table lighting,” adds Hogg, “we specialise in fuel cell lamps an area in which there is very little competition. The lamps use fuel cells that have a deco sleeve over them. The advantage of this system is that whilst having a naked flame they result in no messy wax and importantly safety as the fuel itself is non-flammable and will only burn in conjunction with the wick and the flame is extinguished if accidentally knocked over. The company has to adapt to what the market requires and is now able to offer battery candles that are almost indistinguishable from real candles due to the design incorporating a moving flame. We try and work with our customers to offer a highly personal service and are able to source most requirements due to our extensive knowledge of the catering supply business acquired after 23 years in the business.”
Hogg states that since 2007, as the economy has largely been in recession, the notable change has been on the prices that restaurant customers are willing to pay. This results in him trying to find products for customers that are well priced but offer quality and durability. “With the Indian restaurant sector,” says Hogg, “the requirements are fairly standard,
but there is always a need for chutney trays and rice bowls. I’ve also noticed that increasingly so, there is a demand for stylish serving platters and generally more contemporary styles. Table lighting still dominates in the Indian restaurant sector. Generally the owners prefer the one stop option so in this sector we sell tableware products from across the board.” ■
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recipe of the month
Lasooni Scallops Chana Masala By Rohit Ghai – Group Head Chef JKS Restaurants Trishna, Gymkhana and Verandah Copenhagen
in muslin cloth to form a bundle and add it to the cooker. Cook under pressure for six to eight whistles or till the chickpeas are completely cooked and soft. Drain the chickpeas and reserve the cooking liqueur. Discard the bundle of tea leaves and spices. Heat two tablespoons oil in a pan and sauté whole spice. Remove from pan then add carom seeds, onions and green chillies till lightly browned then ginger garlic paste. Cook it for another 3-4 min. Add the powder spices into the onions and continue to sauté for half a minute. Add the chopped tomatoes and mix and sauté for two to three minutes. Add boiled chickpeas and salt and mix. Add cooking liquour as required and simmer for three to four minutes. ■
INGREDIENTS 6 Hand divide Scottish scallops (clean and rinse in cold water then put aside) FOR MARINATION
100 gm coriander 2 green chillies 1” piece of ginger 8 cloves garlic 1 tbls lime juice 1 tbls yoghurt 50 gm baby spinach leaves Salt to taste METHOD Take all the ingredients given above and put them in a blender and blint. Make a fine thick paste and apply the marination on scallops. Keep it in fridge for thirty minutes. Skewer the scallops. Cook it in charcoal tandoor for 3-4 minutes - 250c temperature. Alternatively, use the oven with the scallops placed on a grease proof tray – 250c/450f.
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Served with chana masala (see recipe below) FOR CHANA MASALA
1 cup chickpeas (kabuli chana) 1 tbls tea leaves 1 tsp carom seeds whole spices 1 piece cinnemon, 2-3 cloves, 2 black cardamom,2green cardamom 1bayleaf 5 tbls oil 2 medium onions, chopped 4-6 green chillies, slit ginger julienne 1 tbls MDH channa masala 1 cup chopped tomatoes 1 tbls coriander powder 1/2 tbls chilli powder 1/2 tsp garam masala 1 tsp ginger garlic paste salt to taste METHOD Step 1 Drain the chickpeas and place them in a pressure cooker with four cups of water. Tie tealeaves
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Striving for excellence
Kensington. With a menu, which is inspired by India’s Awadhi cuisine, not surprisingly, Gour has executed a repertoire of dishes, which are highly refined, intricate and skilfully rendered with oodles of flavour to boot. Equally though, it’s no surprise either that with high-level food and surroundings, price levels at Zaika aren’t for the faint hearted either! Gour though is delighted at his post at Zaika and whilst well aware of the restaurant’s Michelin start in its previous guise, he says he’s “striving for excellence” and consistency. He adds: “There are so few quality Indian restaurants and I want to make the best of the fantastic team and concept we have here at the restaurant. If I get a Michelin star it’s because I deserved it, not because I ran after it!” ■
A highly talented Indian chef who’s worked with some of the top British chefs in non-Indian restaurants, Sanjay Gour is now heading up Zaika of Kensington. He talks to Tandoori
F
or someone of Brahmin faith, it was a given for Mumbaiborn Sanjay Gour that vegetarianism would be an integral part of his upbringing. Then, aged 14, an innocent Sunday lunch with a friend changed everything. Quite by chance, thinking he was eating something else, he was told no, what he was eating was in fact chicken! What’s more is that Gour thoroughly enjoyed it and the rest as they say is history. Not only did he change his culinary habits, Ghour was also to follow a career path in the culinary profession. Having studied in hotel management in Goa and then worked at Mumbai’s Juhu Centaur Hotel, Gour decided to up roots in the year 2000 and worked in the pastry section under top British chef Angela Hartnett, in Dubai, before coming to London four years later. Remaining under Hartnett at The Connaught in the same post, Gour decided it was time for a change. “One requires a degree of precision in pastry, “says Gour, “and I suppose I was picked for that particular section because I had an eye for detail. I rather enjoyed it. Yet, I feel that as a chef, you have to project your career a few years down the line and keep in mind what you might want to do in five years time. So when the vacant post of pastry chef came up at The Connaught and Hartnett offered it to me, I thought it would be restrictive and I wanted to learn about each and every section of the kitchen.” Instead, Gour ended up running the larder section, overseeing a team of seven chefs, the hot
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and cold starters along with the whole service. He then moved on for a short stint at the Savoy Grill before returning to work for Hartnett again at her Murano restaurant. Only this time he took the post of head pastry chef. Much as though Gour admits that he harboured ambitions to be a top chef, particularly as he was well aware of the high level of success certain London Indian chefs were achieving, he was realistic enough to know that culinary good fortune doesn’t quite come overnight. With a baby and the long hours he was already putting in, Gour took another break before working under chef Gary Hollihead at the Corinthia Hotel. But with his days as a pastry chef coming to an end, he next took up his post in the kitchens at Tamarind of Mayfair before being appointed by the group as the executive chef of the “reimagined” Zaika of
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With the idea of a branded Indian restaurant to counter high street style pizza and chicken outfits, co-owner Behrooz Khossousi talks about his newly launched concept Inito
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estaurants concepts, regardless of cuisine type, come and go on a regular basis. There are a myriad of reasons why some businesses work and some don’t though suffice to say, you get the food and service wrong and your restaurant won’t be around for very long. Literally in the past few years alone, the buzz word for new Indian restaurants appears to be “street food”. It’s easily replicated, relatively fast to make – or even eat – and is generally light and even affordable for the mass market. But has anyone genuinely been able to pull off it successfully? Without revealing any names, restaurants that have just about pulled it off with aplomb can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Whether the new kid on the block Inito – the name is an amalgam of “roti” and “burrito” say the owners – in London’s trendy Shoreditch enclave, hits the bullseye or not in bringing Indian street food to the fore is debatable. The quality of cooking is highly accomplished thanks to the man heading up the kitchens, chef Suarav Nath, whose CV includes the
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Michelin-starred Gymkhana. “The concept we wanted to bring to the market,” says Behrooz Khossousi, who, along with co-owner Bruce Kamp is behind Inito, “was one where we could create a well-known Indian brand on the high street. With Khossousi and Kamp having a background in such food chain names as Nandos and the salad and soup bar Vital Ingredient, the former adds: “It wasn’t that we were going to compete with anyone, more so that we have an Indian brand that will eventually become a familiar name.” What you get on the menu are roti rolls, salad bowl, a handful of biryani and curry dishes along with “sides” such as chicken wings, samosas and a couple of other items. Come the evening and the weekend though, the menu takes on a distinctly more substantial feel with tandoori items added on as well more curry items, sharing plates and last but not least, fortnightly changing specials. The location chosen for their first site may be a tad off the beaten track, tucked away on a side street as it is, but it’s also a mere stone’s throw away from such hubs of East End dynamism and popularity as
Spitalfields Market, Brick Lane, Petticoat Lane and Liverpool Street station. “What struck us most about moving to the site,” says an enthusiastic Khossousi, “is that right above us in the building are residencies for about 1200 students, of which 20 per cent are Indian. If that isn’t a good stroke of luck, I don’t what is!” Sure enough, there are a daily and steady number of students who dive in to eat at Inito, in addition to the local office workers and an increasing number of people who have heard about the restaurant. “It’s still early days for us,” says Khossousi. “I’m still trying
to work out framework of the menu with Nath as to how it will ultimately look in terms of the dishes we chose to have on it and what we want to remove. We’re getting closer and closer to defining that with the final goal being that we are accessible to the mass public and lovers of good but affordable food.” ■
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s r e v Mo kers a h S & news
-Indian n o n d an Indian y n a m ved in try. l o v n i us ur aurate e in the ind t s e r d rience bout his tim e p x e ia ly a high to Tandoor s i h a Mi ks Hiron nts. He tal ra restau
How long have been in the restaurant industry and what made you want to get into it?
Papad and Neem Tree in Hertforshsire along with Muri, Smoky Joe’s and Mung. So what makes a good restaurateur and what makes bad restaurateur?
I have been in the restaurant industry for over 25 years. Initially, it was on a part-time basis only. My brother and cousins were also in the industry. Gradually, I started to work full-time.
A good restaurateur is one who is innovative, creative and makes the customer his number one priority. He’s also someone who looks after his staff and has a high level of patience. A bad restaurateur is one who only thinks of the profits, takes advantage of his staff in difficult situations and disrespects them.
When you started out, what were the things that you felt were easy to handle and what were the difficult ones? Due to my young age when I started working, people were very helpful. The staff became like my family. What I found difficult to deal with were the late nights and the long hours at the weekend along with the rowdy and drunk customers. Also, there were so many different curries, I had to recognise them by just looking at them plus I was away from my family whom I missed very much.
Does the restaurant business become easier as you go along or more difficult? A bit of both really. It
30
What do you like to eat and drink yourself? gets harder in terms of customer satisfaction because their expectations are much greater nowadays when it comes to wanting quality food, good service, and overall ambiance. In terms of the running of a business for me it has gotten easier. For instance, modern technology enables us to take orders on a handheld machine, which is connected to the kitchen and orders are printed out directly for the chef, Before such innovations, we would be
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taking orders on a pad and then hand them over to the chef explaining everything. Also, when I first started out, the owner would have to do everything himself, from purchasing the poultry to buying the spices etc. Whereas today there are so many different suppliers we can choose from and have everything delivered to us.
You are currently involved in a host of restaurants including the award-winning
I like trying new cuisines. Currently, my favourites are Peruvian, Vietnamese and of course, traditional home cooked food.
What are the aspects that you feel could make the Indian restaurant sector much better than it is and how can one implement them? There needs to be a greater degree of professionalism and better staff training. We should also offer
apprenticeship schemes to youngsters and motivate staff with incentives. Also, more restaurants need to be offering authentic traditional food and introduce more regional dishes. Who are the people that have inspired you from the restaurant industry? There have been several, but the key ones are Amin Ali of Red Fort fame, Namita and Camillia Panjabi of Masala World, the late Kal Dhaliwal of Shimla Pinks and the people who created the Jimmy Spices concept.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to become a restaurateur? I would say, do your research, be passionate about the industry, have a solid team around you and pay attention to detail. Also, never give up! How would you like to be remembered? As a decent human being who helped others and was always there for family, friends and fellow restaurateurs. n
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