the British High Commissioner for this region.
We welcomed the local news teams and journalists and introduced the festival, we then opened the floor to some questions and answers about the festival and why we were bringing curry to India -what was different about our offering compared with the food the locals were used to eating.
The response was brilliant, the local people were hugely enthusiastic about our mission and the fact we were interested in sharing our knowledge about food and learning more about where this food had originated.
We then enjoyed some of the dishes available throughout the festival and gave various interviews to news teams and journalists.
It was a successful press launch, and a good start to the festival for the Curry life team.
Next I met the executive chef of the Park Hyatt, chef Lars Windfuhr, a German man, trained in Germany and London, he showed me around the massive hotel kitchens, 75 chefs and 4 separate hotel restaurants, a huge operation, banquets for 1000 covers, a staff canteen (apparently the busiest restaurant in the hotel), 24hr dinning, a Chinese restaurant, an Italian restaurant, a meat preparation room, a fish preparation room, a huge pastry area, a stock making area, different fridges for eggs, vegetables, meat and fish, a very Indian grinding room, and a demonstration kitchen - the place was huge!
There was every piece of equipment you can imagine - wood fired ovens, 20 grid rational ovens, tandoor ovens, huge pots for making biryani's in, induction and gas kitchens, these kitchens were properly equipped and incredibly well organised.
My role at the festival was to run my restaurant for 10 days, I would offer dinner and an 'a la carte' menu alongside a tasting menu. Guests would be able to enjoy my dishes in the Italian restaurant at the hotel, this would be a more traditional British offering, classic fish pie, roast chicken, braised Lamb and some good honest desserts. I was in charge of the more traditional British food and in another restaurant the rest of the team would offer a selection of British curries.
After a good meeting with chef Lars and his kitchen team, I placed my orders, arranged to meet my team of chefs in the kitchen the following day. I was now ready for my part in the 2014 Hyderabad festival of food to begin.
