Dominic Chapman | Curry Life Festival

Dominic Chapman is visiting India in order to showcase the best of British curry at The Curry Life festival in Delhi. Dom tells The Staff Canteen about his experiences.

My cooking trips to India have been an incredible experience, I have cooked at the Hyatt in Kolkata and the Park Hyatt in Hyderabad, both totally different in so many ways. Kolkata is hard-core India, horrendous traffic and a real culture shock to any first time visitor. Hyderabad is a lot more relaxed, you don’t get that overwhelming feeling that you have arrived in complete mad house. Both cities are beautiful in their own right, but different.

>>> Read: Dominic Chapman, a farewell to India

My trip to Delhi began in Soho at Red Fort, before an appointment in the House of Commons with the Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP. An official press launch and message of good luck to the Curry life team. He even asked Hugo Swire, Minister of the foreign office to add his support and best wishes during a debate in the commons, and Lord Karan Bilimoria mentioned the festival in his budget speech to the House of Lords. My flight left from Heathrow, a direct flight to Delhi. I arrived at 2am, Delhi is a large airport and having negotiated immigration and collected my bags I was met by a driver from the hotel. This year’s festival was to be held at the ITC Maurya, a beautiful five-star hotel that has welcomed President Barrack Obama, Bill Clinton, Robert Mugabe and many other world leaders, as well as top sports stars and Hollywood’s A list.

The Hotel is host to the Afghanistan, Ireland and Pakistan Cricket teams, the 20/20 cricket world cup is currently on in India, and India has a deep obsession with the sport. Pakistan played India in Kolkata on 19th March, the streets were quiet, the hotel was quiet while India watched cricket. India won and life resumed. Having arrived late at the hotel, I checked in straight away and had about 2 hours sleep before we all met for breakfast, it was launch day, a huge press release with journalists from India and around the world. Lord Karan Biliamoria was our guest of honour, Syed Bilal from Curry Life magazine welcomed us all to Delhi and then invited myself and Chef Manisha Bhasin to say a few words. Chef Manisha is a strong Indian lady that has been trained within the great hotels of India for more than 30 years, a highly knowledgeable woman that controls 150 chefs and never suffers fools. One morning I enjoyed watching her busy sous chefs arrive for a 10 o’clock tasting, more spice, more seasoning, slightly bigger were her comments, this on a selection of marinated meats and simple kebabs My role at the festival is to support the team of British curry chefs, fly the flag for the great British curry and talk about food in the UK today. We are bringing the British curry to India, as well as Fish and Chips, Scotch Eggs, Pickled Herrings, braised rabbit and delicious pies. The festivals are supported by the British high commission and business leaders around India. They are always a great success and the people of India are hugely supportive of the event. I am given a restaurant to cook in and a team of chefs to help with my preparation, the restaurant I am cooking in is the West View, a restaurant on the 18th floor of the hotel with beautiful views over the the Delhi Ridge, a huge forest and a conservation area that makes Delhi one of the greenest cities in the World. Green because of its trees rather than its environmental credentials.

The team at the West View are trained in European food, all trained in five-star hotels around Asia and Europe and very enthusiastic to help. The kitchens at any 5-star hotel are always impressive, at The ITC Maurya there is more than ten different food operations with-in the hotel, Chinese, Indian, buffet, banqueting, fine dinning Indian, Room service, a staff restaurant and more. The ITC Maurya’s operation works through a maze of lifts, corridors and systems that have been developed for many years. Many of its chefs have been with the company for 35+ years. The hotel is also home to Bukhara and Dum Pukht, both ranked amongst the top 50 restaurants in Asia, previously the top

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50 in the world. Bukhara is world famous with the stars, rated as one of the very best places to eat traditional food from the North-West frontier of India. Food that is prepared in a clay oven (tandoor) or cooked over coals for many hours. The restaurant has been here for 35 years, not changed its philosophy or menu in 35 years and stayed true to its roots, the food it produces is delicious, packed full of flavour, honest and incredibly enjoyable, my kind of cooking. Chef JP Singh is a reserved man, full of experience and knowledge. He’s also very passionate about his craft, his ingredients and the restaurant he and his team have created. Bukhara is a fine restaurant, steeped in history and a must visit on any trip to Delhi. Our team of British curry chefs are working in the Pavilion restaurant, this is based on the ground floor of the hotel, they produce eight different dishes on a daily basis, as well as breads, rice and vegetables. Abul Monsur of the Taj Cuisine, Medway, Kent leads this side of the team, with Vijay Panwar from the Red Fort, London, Syed Islam, the Capital, County Durham and Abbas Ahmed from Chilli lounge, Hertfordshire. They are in charge of bringing the Great British curry back to India.

Classic dishes sit alongside a more modern offering. The infamous Chicken Tikka Masala next to Shatkora Lamb, Chichinga Chingri, Broccoli Masala and Pumpkin Chana Masala. Abul and his team work incredibly hard to bring the best of Britain and our amazing curry industry to India. Their food is always delicious, Abul is a man with huge standards, he does things properly and its evident in his cooking. The festival is so much more than just cooking, we share ideas with other chefs, visit historical sites like the Red Fort, Taj Mahal or Presidential Palace. We visit the wonderful street markets, experience the sounds, colours and smells of India. We enjoy invitations from exclusive private clubs, try a variety of street foods and any highly recommended restaurant. We experience the spice markets, where spices are piled high in the street, as well as tea leaves, dried apricots, lentils, beans and many other pulses. Delhi has a wealth of interesting places to visit and is an easy city to get around, both Taxi’s and Tuk Tuks are good, the underground is brilliant. Incredible value, clean and easy to navigate, a hugely impressive underground system and another example of how diverse India is.

The biggest market in Asia is Chandni Chowk, above ground the markets is intense and not for the faint hearted, in the middle of this total, “madness on earth” is a train station, once you enter this station and begin to drop below ground it couldn’t be more different, the contrasts of India are extreme in everyway. ITC Mauyra is a very busy hotel and well known throughout India as a hotel that delivers great food. The Curry Life festivals are always promoted well by food journalists, bloggers and local professionals, the hotels PR teams advertise the event on posters, flyers and glossy magazines. These are in the lifts, on advertising boards around the hotel and placed in all of the 450 bedrooms. The Times of India wrote a brilliant introduction to the festival, probably the biggest paper in India, a wonderful start for the team. We now need to perform and make sure our food is worth the hype.

Dominic Chapman is Chef-Patron at the Beehive. During the early stages of his career, Dominic worked at the 3 Michelin starred Fat Duck under Heston Blumenthal, as chef de partie. After four years working with Heston, Dom moved on to work at Kensington Place bistro under Rowley Leigh for a short time before being offered a head chef position at The Hinds Head by Heston. In 2007, Dominic took up the position of head chef at The Royal Oak. During his time there, Dominic helped the restaurant to earn a Michelin star. Seeking something new, Dominic took on the Beehive where he was able to serve a combination of traditional comfort food with refined twists. Dominic travels to India every year to experience cooking in different kitchens, using local produce and learning new techniques.

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