With her tongue piercing and rugged overalls, Chef Jay Adams seems too edgy for pink. Yet here she is, resplendent in her blushing bungalow restaurant, swiping though pictures of proudly pink tagliatelle on her phone.
Despite being tucked away in Puducherry, Coromandel Café, set in salmon-hued La Maison Rose, has been attracting the right kind of attention ever since the 29-year-old British Chef moved in. And not just because of its active Instagram page, studded with crimson ravioli, beetroot Bloody Marys and hot pink eggs Benedict.
It’s made the inevitable ‘best restaurant’ lists. And online reviews, generally a hot bed of bruised egos, fetid fury and over-exercised adjectives, rave about the flavour-packed, locally-inspired menu. Its Great Gatsby interiors help, though the service is lackadaisical, at best.
Food at Coromandel Cafe by Chef Jay Adams
Breakfast involves banana bread French toast served with a squiggle of creamy jaggery butter. There’s a bagel with sunshine yellow lemon sauce and smoked sail fish. And that signature Benedict, bright with beetroot stained hollandaise. It sums up Jay’s style: Modernist with a deep respect for locale. Plus a quirky sense of humour.
Soaking up the morning sunshine, Jay looks contently into the garden. “I came here towards the end of 2017, intending to stay for two weeks... And I’m still here! I’ve never stayed in a place this long before,” she says. Hailing from Hertfordshire, Jay is from a family of farmers that is deeply rooted in the land. “We have been farming there for five generations. My dad is obsessed with farming.”
However, she decided to travel, which is how she ended up waitressing in Darwin, Australia, when she was 18. Six months later, she was back in England, studying wildlife conservation. Finding a job was challenging, so she signed up with a caterer in Northamptonshire. “Sarah Hollowell was doing classic British food for weddings: duck canapés, stuffed chicken, sticky toffee pudding. I started by helping her peel eggs and stayed for a year.” Intrigued by the kitchen, Jay signed up for a three- day Cordon Bleu course. “It concentrated on super simple, classic French techniques.”
Food at Coromandel Cafe by Chef Jay Adams
Jay’s first job ended up being more challenging than she expected. “Sarah recommended me for a job at a ski chalet in Châtel, France. Both of us panicked when I got it! I had to do three-course meals, and run the kitchen myself. Google was my best friend. The kitchen was chaos, but I made the most of the local produce, pork, strawberries and lovely vegetables.”
On the move
Six months later, she landed a job at Claude’s Kitchen in Parson’s Green, London. “Claude Compton is a really good chef. He likes to play around with flavours. And his flavours are very bold, which is what drew me. We did beef short ribs with chimichurri sauce and a salted caramel cloud with apple ice. It’s contemporary British and looks amazing but it’s really a working restaurant where you produce good food fast, rather than mess around with molecular gastronomy.” She stayed seven months. “I felt I had learned what I could, and it was time to move on.” Since it was winter, she signed up for another ski season, this time in Austria. “My food had changed by then. It was bolder. I would go to the market, then decide the day’s menu.”
Then, again, she moved on. “Sorry this is never ending, isn’t it,” she laughs. She landed a job as sous-chef on a superyacht, the Maltese Falcon, in the Mediterranean... I was cooking for Russian billionaires. It had a fairly big, well-equipped kitchen with a huge walk-in fridge. Filled with caviar. So much caviar!”
Working 18-hour days proved challenging. “I was setting my alarm for four hours of sleep, and the work was tough. My bed was coffin-sized, and there was no personal space.” Guests were demanding: “my worst nightmare was a woman who wanted a whole chicken covered in mayonnaise and cooked. I thought ‘You can order literally anything you want, and you pick that?” says Jay, rolling her eyes. “We would barbecue on islands, and make salt baked fish. We stocked up on lobster. And bought amazing deep sea fish and prawns from fishermen who came up to the yacht.”
Food at Coromandel Cafe by Chef Jay Adams
A stint at the Andaman islands followed, where she worked with Wild Orchid on Havelock. “They had a jungle restaurant called Cicada and a beach restaurant. I changed the menu every day: I secretly love chaos. These restaurants were a mile apart, and I would be sweating, carrying produce up and down the jungle path myself.” One more stint on a boat in the South Pacific followed, where Jay worked on fish skills: sashimi, ceviche, and tuna tartare.
Then she ended up in Mumbai. “I was a little lost and not sure what to do next, when someone introduced me to Kiran Rao.” (Rao, who runs Amethyst, also runs La Maison Rose). Talking about how much she enjoys the cafe, and Puducherry, Jay says, “The produce is great. It’s from Solitude Farms in Auroville: amazing mustard and rucola. They have clitoria flowers (butterfly pea). It’s really in demand in England. Here, it grows like a weed! I made blue rice and it looked so cool.” She adds, “There is a guy who raises free range chickens, and it’s adorable. They run towards you and let you pick them up.”
Jay seems to be happily settled in Pondi — for now. But just to be safe: eat there soon.
Coromandel Café is at La Maison Rose, Puducherry
