The Bite Magazine - Spring 2019 - Issue 24

bite cuisine and France. In Geneva, in particular, Dayas- hankar recalls going to the city up to 10 times and especially has fond memories of a beautiful luxury 5-star hotel there during one of the food festivals. He came to the UK following a visit from a po- tential restaurant owner who had travelled to In- dia and having heard about Dayashankar, wanted him to help him open a restaurant in Reading. There for two years, the chef decided he wanted to go mainstream so that people could under- stand the authenticity of Indian cooking. He also revealed that some dishes have been changed such as vindaloo, which being a tradition dish in Goa, is only made with pork and not chicken or beef, as in the UK. Taste is an essential part of India cuisine. You could use all the spices that are available say like in a curry but as Dayashankar said, it would be like ‘confused curry’ because the taste would be lost. In the UK, vindaloo is this super spicy, hot burning curry but in Goa, it is a harmonious bal- Rawalpindi Ka Chapli Kebab  ance of sweet, sour and spice. It was introduced to the colonised India by the Portuguese in the 16th century and has its roots in a dish called ‘carne de vine d’alhos’ meaning ‘meat with wine and garlic’. Finally landing in London, Dayashankar was the head chef at the Michelin-starred Mayfair Indian restaurant Tamarind and Kensington classic Zaika. He also designed flight menus for Air India for their flight from London to Delhi and American Airlines, following a tasting event in Dublin in which his Chicken Tikka Masala was chosen out of a total of 20 chefs from around the world. At the same event he was approached by an owner who wanted help in changing the menu at his restaurant in Dubai. When he arrived in Dubai and viewed the menu at the restaurant, he found that it wasn’t within his territory of purely authentic Indian cooking and told the owner he couldn’t help him unless it was totally changed. Being open-minded and open to ideas, he allowed him the freedom to do so. Dayashankar stayed there for seven months. The head chef also explained that as India is a large country, there are so many local spices that it seems to change every 20 km as does the language. It was through the experience of travelling along the Grand Trunk Road with co-owner Rajesh Suri who has been in the hospitality industry for over 30 years, that gave them the idea for the name of the restaurant. Only a few of the dishes designed by the head chef is made with yogurt with the rest being oil-based. The menu is quite extensive and is made up of appetisers, grill and tandoor, mains with excellent vegetarian options, side choices and a six-course tasting menu with wine pairing. Before we began our extraordinary dining ex- perience, we were served a selection of poppa- doms along with condiments of chilli mango, mint yogurt, beetroot & cinnamon, and apple & ginger. The difference with these poppadoms was that they were not your usual plain flavour