Pale blue antique wooden doors, set in a wall with bougainvillea cascading over it, beg you to push them open and look inside. I do and find myself in a pretty porch where Shreeya Adka, the ridiculously young executive chef and owner of The French Door, welcomes me. “That is a challenge,” smiles Shreeya. “People find it hard to take a 23-year-old seriously.”
But her age has not come in the way of her considerable achievements. A graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in New York, (Anthony Bourdain also studied here), Shreeya graduated with high honours and won the President’s Award for the highest Grade Point Average in her fifth term with a scholarship. She also won the Management Award for excellence and The Katharine Angell Academic Achievement Award. Katharine Angell and Frances Roth were the two gritty women who founded the CIA in 1946.
Shreeya says she was exposed to the best of chefs and food at CIA. And of all the cuisines, it was French food that caught her imagination. “It is a cornerstone of cuisines, isn’t it? So many take their inspiration from French food and its many and varied techniques.” But it was not all easy as pie, as Shreeya who grew up a vegetarian found out. “I had to work with meat and fish and often the lobsters that I had to cook came to me alive!” But more difficult than that was her struggle to comprehend the thick French accent of an instructor and, as a consequence, not be able to follow his instructions much to his annoyance and her mortification. “But that just made me more determined than ever to prove to him that I could do it,” she says. It was a sweet moment when the same instructor appreciated her achievements.
Shreeya chose Coimbatore for her first restaurant as it is her home. “I feel very positive about the Coimbatore crowd and I wanted to give something back to the city where I grew up. And I know this is an opportunity for me to stand out.” She hopes the guests to her restaurant will linger over their meal and savour every mouthful. “We take a lot of pains with each plate we send out of the kitchen. So many techniques are used to prepare food that not just smells or tastes good but also looks beautiful.”
Pumpkin soup all dressed up at The French Door
On cue, a dish is put before me. It has a coconut panacotta with a nice wobble in the centre. Caramelised carrots and some nasturtiums balanced on top of it provide a nice contrast. Specks of micro greens and pumpkin seeds decorate the edge of the bowl. Then, with some drama, silky pumpkin soup is poured from a little jar around the centrepiece of the panacotta. “The coconut panacotta cleanses the palate between each spoonful of soup,” explains Shreeya. A salad follows the soup and it has wine-cured grapes, fig compote, candied walnuts, beetroot balsamic gel, aragula leaves and edible flowers. It is so pretty that it seems a shame to eat it up. But of course I do and it tastes as good as it looks. “We would like our diners to experience what we only see on the food shows,” says Shreeya.
Fig and goat's cheese salad at The French Door Restaurant
The highlight for her in her American culinary adventure was working under Thomas Keller. “I worked at his three Michelin-starred restaurant, Per Se, and it was a huge boost to my self-confidence.” Her first challenge in his kitchen as an intern was to make ginger tarts from a complicated recipe. But she did it and won kudos from the chef there. She recalls her first encounter with her idol Thomas Keller. “I was preparing chocolate cookies when someone put their arm around my shoulder and asked how I was doing. I looked up and was stunned. It was Thomas Keller himself,” she gasps, clearly still in awe. Stalwarts such as Keller made all the difference to her culinary education and work experience in the U.S.. “I learnt so much. They unleashed my creativity, allowed me to use the most expensive ingredients and encouraged me to do the best I could.”
That is why there is no compromising on the ingredients she uses in her food. And why she has worked within a strict budget for the decor and created a fabulous ambience with bargains from flea markets, antique shops and inherited furniture from fond grandparents. So there are old wine bottles, wrought-iron lamps instead of the chandeliers she had originally dreamed of, lace mats from a store in Coonoor and pots and pans. “My only indulgence is the Ralph Lauren wallpaper; that I just couldn’t resist” she smiles sheepishly.
While Shreeya has plans of expansion, at the moment The French Door is her only focus. “I am taking things slowly. It is all about perfecting the dining experience for my guests.” She is working on an SOP to ensure smooth running of the restaurant, with or without her presence. And it is becoming clear to her that turning out gourmet meals is the least of her worries. “When I dreamt of starting a restaurant, I never thought a malfunctioning generator would be my biggest challenge,” she laughs.
Five things I love to make
- Fresh puff pastry and baking a vol au vent. Sometimes I make à la minute soufflés. I enjoy watching them rise in the oven
- Pastas from scratch. And the roasted pepper sauce that I make to toss the pasta in.
- Baking sour bread has been a magnificent obsession. I make my own culture that takes about 10 days before I can finally use it to bake bread.
Three toughies:
- Consommé, A well made consommé will be very clear in appearance and that is the biggest challenge
- A savoury or a sweet soufflé can be quite challenging at times. Getting the right texture and a fluffy appearance to a savoury or sweet souffle is something that not many would easily accomplish in their first attempt
- A French macaroon. Even the most experienced chefs find it arduous to bake a perfect macaroon shell.
Cooks who have inspired me:
Thomas Keller
Paul Bocouse
Julia Child
Shakuntala Sampigethaya my grandmother from whom I learnt to bake and make jams that I sell at the restaurant. The recipes are all her she has collected over the years
Shubadha, my aunt who taught me the art of flavour pairing. She comes up with random pairings that come together so well.
