I tip toe in carefully. I’ve hung out with enough chefs to know that it’s never a good idea to ask too many questions just before dinner. Besides, this isn’t just any ordinary meal. Tonight, tempers are flaring, knifes are out and stakes are high.
Five celebrity cooks, three chefs, two hotels, one cause. And a partridge in a pear tree. Well, to be more accurate, it’s actually a quail in a broad bean salad, but that’s tougher to fit into a Christmas carol.
Sandy’s in Nungambakkam, normally a bastion of easy casual dining seems an unlikely setting for a designer five-course dinner. But it’s this very juxtaposition of disparate ideas that forms the crux of tonight’s dinner party. Organised in less than a week to raise money for flood relief, it brings together four of the city’s favourite culinary stars. Then, just to up the ante even further, adds a Michelin star to the mix.
Chef Alfred Prasad, currently one of Britain’s top chefs, got his first Michelin star at the age of 29, making him the youngest Indian chef to receive one. He retained it at London-based Tamarind for 12 years, till in December last year, he decided to move on and strike out on his own. As he meticulously puts together plates of bright beetroot, drizzled with creamy golden turmeric-mustard-ginger yoghurt, Praveen Anand walks in. Chef Praveen, known for his award-winning fine-dining restaurant Dakshin, which focuses on researching, documenting and recreating traditional South Indian food, has decided to live dangerously tonight. His course features quails, riffing off a Franco-Tamil recipe from Pondicherry and updating it into a modern Indian main course. Mystery Chef Number Three turns out to be Rajesh Radhakrishnan from The Park, known for his edgy take on world cuisine. True to form, he’s braising lamb shanks to serve with a quirky sausage and bean ragout.
That leaves two more courses. Deepak Suresh of popular gourmet ice cream brand Amadora seems the most laid-back, as he leans against a wall and watches the rest of the chefs scurry about with keen interest. “My work was done yesterday,” he grins. However, he’s visibly less relaxed when Alfred arrives holding up the first course, a carefully constructed plate of beetroot in unexpected textures. “There’s tomato thokku , which works well with the sweetness of the beetroot. The bright red powder is dehydrated beetroot. There’s a jelly of chia seeds to bring a softer texture. And beetroot sabudana crisps I dried myself on the terrace over the last couple of days,” Alfred says. “Uh oh,” says Deepak. “Now I feel like I should run back to Amadora and pick up more ingredients. All I have is a filter coffee ice cream and sauce!” Despite the jokes about rivalry, it quickly becomes clear that tonight is really about collaboration, as all five begin to work together seamlessly ladling, plating and serving each others food once dinner is served.
Sandesh Reddy, founder of Sandy’s, and host for the evening, is particularly tough to pin down, and he bounces from stove to stove to tie up loose ends and ensure that everything is running on schedule. Between explaining how they put the evening together as a group of friends, rather than a network of professional chefs, he carefully opens a pressure cooker and pulls out a single plump grape which he hands me. Unsuspecting, I absent-mindedly pop it in my mouth, then instantly stop talking because it’s frozen and unexpectedly fizzy. Fizzy? “Yep,” Sandesh nods looking pleased. “We force carbon dioxide into the grapes by adding dry ice and putting them in a pressure cooker.”
As you have probably guessed by now. This was no ordinary meal.
Once the chefs decided on their courses, and finalised a date, the event was announced on Facebook. They had a total of 35 seats, all of which were sold out in 23 minutes flat. “How do you get a city that is just so overwhelmed with sorrow and relief work back on its feet?” asks Sandy, explaining why they organised this. “I want people to look at relief work as something that can be joyful — because the longest haul is still ahead of us. And what better way to do this than with food.”
Not surprisingly, the chefs are on top of their game tonight. Dinner turns out to be a chaotic, but fun, pastiche of styles. Chef Alfred’s adventurous minimalism, followed by Chef Praveen’s confident South Indian flavours. Chef Rajesh’s hearty quail brings a modern edge to Indian food. And Deepak needn’t have worried, his ice cream cake laced with fragrant filter coffee and topped with crunchy sliced almonds manages to be familiar comfort food, yet retains a sophisticated edge. The fifth and final course is suitably cheeky. Titled “Taste of my childhood in Madras,” it’s Sandesh’s love letter to the city. “I grew up on bananas, payasam, Maltova, Bovonto, ragi malt and bad chocolate,” he grins, “So I wanted to put it all together.” The result? A sphere of chocolate filled with coconut payasam, which is frozen with liquid nitrogen right at the dining table. It’s served with addictively crunchy Maltova crumble, Ragi malt crème anglaise and Bovonto caramel sauce.
As it nears midnight and guests leave, the chefs relax. They take off their aprons and sit down together for a hearty ‘family dinner’ of home cooked biriyani, prawn curry and chicken 65. “This is the best part,” chuckles Chef Praveen, passing me an oversized appalam. He adds, “This is what we do best. Feed people.” Sandesh nods, “Which is why we decided this is the best way for us to contribute to rebuilding our city.”
